The World Set Free

ByH.G. Wells

Release Date: 1914-01-01
Genre: Fiction & Literature

Score: 4

From 179 Ratings

Description

The World Set Free is a novel written in 1913 and published in 1914 by H. G. Wells. [1] The book is based on a prediction of nuclear weapons of a more destructive and uncontrollable sort than the world has yet seen. [2][3][4] It had appeared first in serialised form with a different ending as A Prophetic Trilogy, consisting of three books: A Trap to Catch the Sun, The Last War in the World and The World Set Free.

Reviews

A world set free
3
By Ba455
Not too bad
Good read
3
By Maxwell Hemsworth
i liked the book but despised section 6
An interesting read
4
By Zootiee
This story was written before WW1. It describes what the world might have become had atomic power been harnessed at that time and how society might have been transformed with unlimited energy available. It is interesting to look at this from the current time (late 2013) and compare the story to how things have actually turned out.
Superb but a challenge
4
By BillyFP
It's a great piece of Utopian geo-political commentary, dressed up with a little narrative. It's occasionally a bit challenging to get through because Wells does like his lecture. Despite that, I found myself moved by the picture he draws. Burned through it in about thirty hours.

More by H.G. Wells

The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

4
The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

4
The Invisible Man

H.G. Wells

4
The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

4.5
The Island of Doctor Moreau

H.G. Wells

4.5
The World Set Free

H.G. Wells

4
A Short History of the World

H.G. Wells

3.5
The Invisible Man

H.G. Wells

4
The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

4.5
Tales of Space and Time

H.G. Wells

4
The invisible man

H.G. Wells

4
100 Classic Books

Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Charlotte Brontë, William Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Louisa May Alcott, John Steinbeck, Emily Bronte, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charles Dickens, L.M. Montgomery, A. A. Milne, Alexandre Dumas, Leo Tolstoy, Kurt Vonnegut, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anna Sewell, Hermann Hesse, Miguel de Cervantes, Herman Melville, Bram Stoker, Lyman Frank Baum, Jack London, Joseph Conrad, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, Niccolò Machiavelli, H. G. Wells, Franz Kafka, The Brothers Grimm, Kenneth Grahame, Jules Verne, J.M. Barrie, Thomas Hardy, Gustave Flaubert, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Theodore Dreiser, Nikolai Gogol, Émile Zola, Wilkie Collins, W. Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling, E. M. Forster, Edith Wharton, Henry Fielding, Robert Louis Stevenson, D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Homer, Voltaire, Johanna Spyri, Ivan Turgenev, Samuel Richardson, Honoré de Balzac, William Faulkner, H.G. Wells, Kate Chopin, Ernest Hemingway, Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ayn Rand, George MacDonald, Sinclair Lewis, Thomas Seltzer, Rafael Sabatini, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Thomas Paine, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Willa Cather, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Harriet Jacobs, Thomas Hobbes, Philip K. Dick, Frederick Douglass, George Bernard Shaw, L. M. Montgomery, Saint Augustine, Dante Alighieri, H.G.Wells, James Fenimore Cooper, Gaston Leroux, Stendhal, W.E.B. Dubois, L. Frank Baum, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Yevgeny Zamyatin & Isaac Asimov

3.5
The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

4.5
Short Stories

H.G. Wells

3.5
The Crystal Egg (With Audio)

H.G. Wells

3.5
The First Men in the Moon

H.G. Wells

4
The war of the worlds

H.G. Wells

4.5
The Sea Lady

H.G. Wells

3.5
Marriage

H.G. Wells

3
The Invisible Man

H.G. Wells

4
100 Greatest Books Collection

Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, Ayn Rand, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, D. H. Lawrence, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. M. Forster, Oscar Wilde, Alexandre Dumas, Anna Sewell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, Daniel Defoe, Dante Alighieri, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Émile Zola, Emily Bronte, Franz Kafka, Frederick Douglass, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, George Bernard Shaw, George Eliot, Gustave Flaubert, H.G. Wells, Henrik Ibsen, Henry Fielding, Herman Melville, Hermann Hesse, Homer, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Johanna Spyri, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Conrad, Jules Verne, Kenneth Grahame, L. M. Montgomery, L.M. Montgomery, Lewis Carroll, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Mary Shelley, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sinclair Lewis, Stendhal, Victor Hugo, Virginia Woolf, Voltaire, William Faulkner, William Shakespeare, Honoré de Balzac, J.M. Barrie, L. Frank Baum, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Giovanni Boccaccio, Frances Hodgson Burnett, George Gordon Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Anton Chekhov, Wilkie Collins, James Fenimore Cooperf, Stephen Crane, Philip K. Dick, Franklin W. Dixon, Theodore Dreiser, W.E.B. Du Bois, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ford Madox Ford, Sigmund Freud, Kahlil Gibran, Elizabeth Gaskell, Susan Glaspell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, J.W. von Goethe, Nikolai Gogol, The Brothers Grimm, George and Weedon Grossmith, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Hobbes, Anthony Hope, Aldous Huxley, Henry James, Harriet Jacobs, Rudyard Kipling, Gaston Leroux, John Locke, Jack London, George MacDonald, A. A. Milne, A.A. Milne, John Milton, Thomas Paine, Edgar Allan Poe, Rafael Sabatini, Felix Salten, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sun Tzu, J. R. R. Tolkien, Leo Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoi, Ivan Turgenev, H. G. Wells, Edith Wharton & Yevgeny Zamyatin

3.5
The Sleeper Awakes

H.G. Wells

3.5
The War of the Worlds Audio Edition

H.G. Wells

4
The time machine

H.G. Wells

4
100 Classic Book Collection (2025)

Louisa May Alcott, Dante Alighieri, Isaac Asimov, Jane Austen, Honoré de Balzac, J.M. Barrie, L. Frank Baum, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Bronte, Agatha Christie, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Geoffrey Chaucer, Kate Chopin, Wilkie Collins, Joseph Conrad, James Fenimore Cooper, Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Frederick Douglass, Arthur Conan Doyle, Theodore Dreiser, W.E.B. Du Bois, Alexandre Dumas, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, George Eliot, William Faulkner, Henry Fielding, Gustave Flaubert, E. M. Forster, Elizabeth Gaskell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, J.W. von Goethe, Nikolai Gogol, Kenneth Grahame, The Brothers Grimm, Thomas Hardy, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Hobbes, Homer, Victor Hugo, Henrik Ibsen, Harriet Jacobs, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Gaston Leroux, Jack London, George MacDonald, Niccolò Machiavelli, Sir Thomas Malory, W. Somerset Maugham, Herman Melville, A. A. Milne, L.M. Montgomery, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Thomas Paine, Ayn Rand, Rafael Sabatini, Anna Sewell, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, Mary Shelley, Johanna Spyri, Stendhal, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jonathan Swift, J. R. R. Tolkien, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Voltaire, Lew Wallace, H.G. Wells, H. G. Wells, Edith Wharton, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Émile Zola & F. Scott Fitzgerald

4
The Red Room

H.G. Wells

3.5
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth

H.G. Wells

4
100 Greatest Books

Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, William Shakespeare, Aldous Huxley, Victor Hugo, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Mark Twain, L.M. Montgomery, A. A. Milne, Alexandre Dumas, Leo Tolstoy, Kurt Vonnegut, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Gaskell, Anna Sewell, Miguel de Cervantes, Herman Melville, L. Frank Baum, Jack London, Dante Alighieri, Joseph Conrad, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, H.G. Wells, Franz Kafka, The Brothers Grimm, Lewis Carroll, Louisa May Alcott, John Steinbeck, Emily Bronte, Oscar Wilde, Hermann Hesse & Niccolò Machiavelli

3
200 Greatest Books of All Time

E.M. Berens, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Giovanni Boccaccio, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Dante Alighieri, Isaac Asimov, Jane Austen, Honoré de Balzac, J.M. Barrie, Louisa May Alcott, L. Frank Baum, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Bronte, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, George Gordon Byron, Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Robert W. Chambers, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Daniel Defoe, Philip K. Dick, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. M. Forster, Sigmund Freud, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Kahlil Gibran, Susan Glaspell, George and Weedon Grossmith, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingway, Homer, Anthony Hope, Victor Hugo, Aldous Huxley, Henry James, James Joyce, Washington Irving, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Sinclair Lewis, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Milton, L.M. Montgomery, Edith Nesbit, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche, Blaise Pascal, Edgar Allan Poe, John William Polidori, Samuel Richardson, José Rizal, Felix Salten, Thomas Seltzer, William Shakespeare, Adam Smith, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sun Tzu, Sunzi, Jonathan Swift, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoi, A. W. Tozer, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Vatsyayana, Jules Verne, Virgil, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Kurt Vonnegut, Horace Walpole, Gertrude Chandler Warner, H.G. Wells, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith, Geoffrey Chaucer, Kate Chopin, Wilkie Collins, James Fenimore Cooper, Frederick Douglass, Theodore Dreiser, W.E.B. Du Bois, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, William Faulkner, Henry Fielding, Gustave Flaubert, Elizabeth Gaskell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, J.W. von Goethe, Nikolai Gogol, Kenneth Grahame, The Brothers Grimm, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hermann Hesse, Thomas Hobbes, Henrik Ibsen, Harriet Jacobs, Gaston Leroux, Jack London, George MacDonald, Niccolò Machiavelli, Sir Thomas Malory, W. Somerset Maugham, Herman Melville, A. A. Milne, Thomas Paine, Ayn Rand, Rafael Sabatini, Anna Sewell, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes, George Bernard Shaw, Mary Shelley, Johanna Spyri, Stendhal, Bram Stoker, Harriet Beecher Stowe, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ivan Turgenev, Voltaire, Lew Wallace, Edith Wharton & Émile Zola
The War in the Air

H.G. Wells

4
The Salvaging Of Civilisation

H.G. Wells
The Time Machine

H.G. Wells

3.5
Science Fiction Stories

Philip K. Dick, H.G. Wells, Kurt Vonnegut, Randall Garrett, Jack London, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ayn Rand & Rudyard Kipling

3.5
The Door in the Wall and Other Stories

H.G. Wells

4.5
The Wonderful Visit

H.G. Wells

4
War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

4
When the Sleeper Wakes

H.G. Wells

3.5
In the Days of the Comet

H.G. Wells

3.5
100 Greatest Books

Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, James Joyce, Kenneth Grahame, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jules Verne, J.M. Barrie, Gustave Flaubert, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Theodore Dreiser, Nikolai Gogol, Émile Zola, Wilkie Collins, W. Somerset Maugham, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Rudyard Kipling, Daniel Defoe, E. M. Forster, Edith Wharton, Henry Fielding, Victor Hugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, H.G. Wells, D. H. Lawrence, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Homer, Voltaire, Johanna Spyri, Ivan Turgenev, Samuel Richardson, Honoré de Balzac, William Faulkner & Oscar Wilde

3.5
The New Machiavelli

H.G. Wells

4.5
The Time Machine: Audio Edition

H.G. Wells

4
50 Classic Science Fiction Works: Volume One

Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Edward Bellamy, G. K. Chesterton, Isaac Asimov, Edgar Rice Burroughs & George Allan England

3.5
100 Masterpieces You Have to Read Before You Die

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Edgar Allan Poe, Giovanni Boccaccio, Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, Jane Austen, Willa Cather, Robert W. Chambers, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Daniel Defoe, Philip K. Dick, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. M. Forster, Sigmund Freud, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Kahlil Gibran, Susan Glaspell, George and Weedon Grossmith, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingway, Homer, Anthony Hope, Victor Hugo, Aldous Huxley, Henry James, James Joyce, Washington Irving, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Sinclair Lewis, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Milton, L.M. Montgomery, Edith Nesbit, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche, Blaise Pascal, John William Polidori, Samuel Richardson, José Rizal, Felix Salten, Thomas Seltzer, William Shakespeare, Adam Smith, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sun Tzu, Sunzi, Jonathan Swift, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoi, A. W. Tozer, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Vatsyayana, Jules Verne, Virgil, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Kurt Vonnegut, Horace Walpole, Gertrude Chandler Warner, H.G. Wells, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Anonymous, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Grossmith & Weedon Grossmith
H.G. Wells: The Short Story Collection

H.G. Wells

4.5
H. G. Wells: Classics Novels and Short Stories

H.G. Wells
The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories

H.G. Wells

4
The War of the Worlds

H.G. Wells

4
100 Classic Book Collection II (2025)

Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Marcus Aurelius, Jane Austen, E.M. Berens, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Giovanni Boccaccio, Frances Hodgson Burnett, George Gordon Byron, Lewis Carroll, Willa Cather, Robert W. Chambers, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Daniel Defoe, Philip K. Dick, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alexandre Dumas, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. M. Forster, Sigmund Freud, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Kahlil Gibran, Susan Glaspell, George and Weedon Grossmith, Thomas Hardy, Ernest Hemingway, Homer, Anthony Hope, Victor Hugo, Aldous Huxley, Henry James, James Joyce, Washington Irving, Franz Kafka, Rudyard Kipling, D. H. Lawrence, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Sinclair Lewis, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Milton, L.M. Montgomery, Edith Nesbit, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Friedrich Nietzsche, Blaise Pascal, Edgar Allan Poe, John William Polidori, Samuel Richardson, José Rizal, Felix Salten, Thomas Seltzer, William Shakespeare, Adam Smith, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sun Tzu, Sunzi, Jonathan Swift, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Leo Tolstoi, A. W. Tozer, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Vatsyayana, Jules Verne, Virgil, Elizabeth Von Arnim, Kurt Vonnegut, Horace Walpole, Gertrude Chandler Warner, H.G. Wells, H. G. Wells, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Anonymous, Fyodor Dostoevsky, George Grossmith & Weedon Grossmith
50 Classic Books, Vol. 2

Mark Twain, Thomas Paine, Leo Tolstoy, Lew Wallace, George MacDonald, H.G. Wells, Upton Sinclair, Jack London, Herman Melville & Wilkie Collins

3.5
When the Sleeper Wakes

H.G. Wells

4