Initially, you’ll probably be shaking your head and wondering just who Herbert George Wells is. But if I had used the moniker this man is commonly known as, you’d know right away of whom I was speaking: H.G. Wells. Wells has been called the father of science fiction, though an earlier novelist, Jules Verne, who wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, has also been dubbed such, and he did get about a thirty year head start on Wells in writing and publishing his works. But…Wells was a prolific writer and his science fiction novels include The Time Machine-considered the first modern science fiction story- The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, and The First Men in the Moon, all of which were later made into movies in the years following his death in 1946. He was also a teacher, an artist and a writer of many works other than science fiction, touching upon all facets of humanity and taking stands on issues that are still relevant and debated on to this day.

Though I read most of his sci-fi novels when I was young, what re-awoke my interest in Wells was a movie we recently watched. Made in 1979, starring Malcolm McDowell, Time After Time is a science fiction movie telling the story of H.G. Wells actually using a time machine he had built to travel to the future chasing Jack the Ripper, who had stolen the machine from Wells to escape the police constables who confronted him, not knowing the machine would return back to the time he had just escaped, allowing Wells to pursue him. Arriving in the future, Wells is totally disappointed for he had always felt that mankind would eventually reach a state of utopia, but landing in late 1970 San Francisco he finds a totally different world than he had envisioned. Playing a bit on history, Wells falls in love with an Amy Robbins, whose name is that of a lady he actually married in 1895. And I’ll say no more for I’m not one to give spoilers for those who may look this movie up to watch. But I will say it’s a must-see, especially for those who have always been fascinated with science fiction and the paradoxes of time travel.

This movie jogged my memory and prompted me to go digging through my library because I recalled a purchase I’d made several years ago at a used-book store. And I found what I was in search of, the two volumes of what could be considered Wells’ masterwork, The Outline of History – “The Whole Story of Man”. Like many books I’ve picked up over the years, I’d never read it. So I jumped right in and, WOW! It begins with space, the formation of the Earth, the beginnings of life and the coming of man. And from that point it goes all the way to the end of WWII which, surprisingly, Wells had predicted in the mid-30’s would begin in 1940, missing the outbreak of war by only four months.

I was aware of this book my entire life. I remember way back in the day when on the back covers of magazines like Life, The Saturday Evening Post, and even TV Guide, there would be full page advertisements for The Book of the Month Club or Literary Guild with photos of the books they were offering, and it was the cover of The Outline of History that caught my attention in the book store that day, and I had to have it. I will admit, it’s a very deep read full of well-researched knowledge. But from what I’ve already learned, I can’t help but think that Wells truly was a genius, way ahead of the curve on things, a visionary extraordinaire.

The volume I picked up was a 5th edition copy published in 1956. First published in 1920, it’s still in print and just last year a new edition was released, illustrated & annotated. I can’t help but wonder what Wells would think of the continuing success of his endeavor. And though the utopian world he dreamed of never came to be, I’m sure he’d be amazed where the man he first spoke of back in the beginnings of life has traveled in the seven decades since his death. Now, if only we had a time machine, we could see what lies ahead in the next centuries, if we dared to, that is, for we might be just as disappointed as the fictional Wells was in the movie Time After Time. But here’s hoping that his vision of a war-free utopian World State wasn’t just a dream. We can only hope.