The War of the Worlds

Now we live in a time where everything is photoshopped so much and filmakers are rewarded for their stunning special effects. The unbelievable is ingrained into every part of our lives, through television and books, such that if aliens landed on earth now, we'd first demand "pics or it didn't happen," before we ever believed it true.

While the Time Traveller went to a distant future, The War of the Worlds brings martians to earth. For what purpose? Why, our destruction of course!

Some say that true science fiction must involve real science. Wells set that precedent with his works. But while I had trouble with the influx of science in the first book, it is more organically used in this book, which is told from the point of view of a philosopher in the midst of writing when the first martian cylinder arrives. He survives the chaos wrought by the martians and their deadly heat rays. Through his eyes, we see the human struggle for survival -- the fight, flight, or succumb instinct.

The most fascinating thing about Wells' writing is that he spends no time on characterization. Indeed, characters aren't even named, much less described. Those details are unimportant, yet through the narrator's eyes, we gain so much.

Even more fascinating? Wells wrote all of these out-of-this-world tales long before humanity ever took to the skies.