H.G. Wells

Herbert George "H.G." Wells (1866-1946) was a British science fiction writer best remembered for his classics The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. He is also the author of The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Invisible Man as well as numerous other works in several genres other than science fiction.

Wells grew up in Kent. In 1874, a broken leg left him bedridden for some time, and immersed himself in reading, which also gave him the desire to become a writer. Later, he studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley (grandfather of Aldous Huxley). He also became a teacher, and one of his students was A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh.

His "scientific romances" as they were called, began appearing in the 1890s, including The Time Machine (1895), The War of the Worlds (1897) and The First Men in the Moon (1901). Wells' first successful book was the non-fiction Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought, published in 1901.

In 1920, Wells published a three-volume work, The Outline of History, which introduced a new form of popular world history, criticized by professional historians but enjoyed by the reading public. As a lifelong socialist, Wells had a belief in a better-organized society and many of his works can be considered to be Utopian novels. However, other works, such as The Island of Doctor Moreau, are dark dystopian tales.

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