The Lost World
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

 

What one reviewer at amazon said about The Annotated Lost World:
Sherlock Holmes was not the first fictional detective but is surely the most famous. "The Lost World" may not have been the first novel of its kind, but as with the incomparable sleuth of 221-B Baker Street, Conan Doyle penned its first memorable novel of the genre; of prehistoric life defying all odds to live on in a virtually inaccessible portion of our planet. How many other writers can claim to have such a profound effect on two different types of literature?
"The Lost World" is a fast-paced and entertaining story of a small expedition to the wilds of the Amazon River Basin and the the dangers the 4 mismatched heroes face from slave traders, the jungle itself, and of course from the prehistoric beasts and ape-men roaming the plateau so dangerous to human habitation. The love interest in this story is negligible but the reader barely notices the absence, as this is an adventure story and not a romance. The main characters are all of a type that would have been familiar to Doyle's Victorian audience, with the egotistical and brilliant Professor Challenger dominating the book. Doyle's humor illustrated within many of Challenger's bombastic pronouncements is a touch that rarely is present in the Sherlock Holmes stories, masterpeices as they are. This is not to say that Lord John Roxton, Professor Summerlee and Edward Malone are pale shadows by comparison - they just don't think they are always right! Warning: Politically correct readers need not bother - Doyle would not get your stamp of approval, but remember he is writing this novel a hundred or so years ago.
Many books, movies and TV shows owe a great deal to Sir Arthur for his authorship of this book, which I certainly recommend for action, storytelling and a glimpse of the Victorian view of the effect of European civilization upon other worlds.