Overview
The World Set Free is H. G.
This title is catalogued in Science Fiction & Speculative. Its reading profile is Medium and Moderate, with themes including ideas, speculative ideas, science, literature, escapism.
One-Page Summary
The World Set Free is H. G. Wells’s early nuclear-war novel, written decades before the atomic bomb existed in reality. Wells imagines the development of an explosive based on atomic energy and follows the consequences as nations gain a weapon that can release enormous energy in a chain of unprecedented destruction. The early sections have the excitement of speculative science fiction: a new discovery changes the possibilities of technology. But the novel quickly turns into a nightmare because governments treat the new power as another weapon in the competition between states.
War becomes almost impossible to contain. Wells then shifts from destruction to reconstruction, asking what political and social order might emerge after humanity has learned the cost of technological power. The central idea is chillingly modern: scientific discovery can move faster than political institutions capable of controlling it. The novel therefore is not simply about an imaginary weapon. It is about the relationship between knowledge and responsibility. Wells had a habit of turning future technologies into arguments about present society, and here he anticipates the fundamental problem of the nuclear age before that age existed: once humanity has the power to destroy itself on a vast scale, survival requires cooperation that national rivalry makes difficult.
Key Themes
Ideas: This title is tagged with ideas as one of its main themes.
Speculative ideas: This title is tagged with speculative ideas as one of its main themes.
Science: This title is tagged with science as one of its main themes.
Literature: This title is tagged with literature as one of its main themes.
Escapism: This title is tagged with escapism as one of its main themes.