Tales of Wonder (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780803294523)

Mark Twain's unsettling imagination and passionate curiosity roamed far and wide--racing across microscopic worlds and interstellar voids, leaping ahead to fearful futures, and speculating on dazzling inventions to come. Tales of Wonder features some of the most notable but little-known science fiction available, penned by the famed American humorist and writer. With characteristic wit and acuity, Twain embarks on an epic journey into a drop of water, catches a glimpse of an invisible man, reveals a generation-starship-type world in the heart of a drifting iceberg, and imagines futuristic devices of instantaneous communication such as the "phrenophone" and "telelectroscope." Twain pioneered the use of time travel to the past in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. As for the future, he envisioned a radical utopia of absolute suffrage and future histories in which a global theocracy holds sway or a monarchy rules America. This entertaining and absorbing collection of tales reminds us that the former steamboat pilot dreamed about the stars, anticipated and dreaded the future, and above all was continually surprised and enchanted by the world around him.

Author: Mark Twain
ISBN-10: 0803294522
ISBN-13: 9780803294523
Publisher: Bison Books
Language: English
Published: 03/01/2003
Pages: 387
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.24lbs
Size: 9.04h x 6.04w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Univ PR Books for Public Libry 01/01/2004 pg. 68 - Strongly Recommended