3 h 19 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What do you say to your friends when the air outside may bring the end of the world?
Professor George Edward Challenger warns that Earth is about to enter a belt of poisonous ether. Young reporter Edward Malone answers his call to a country house in Sussex, where a sealed room and a supply of oxygen may offer shelter from a danger that threatens everyone.
In Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Poison Belt, a small gathering faces a vast unknown. Lord John Roxton keeps his nerve, Professor Summerlee doubts the warning, and Jessie Challenger faces fear with grace. As the countryside begins to change, Malone watches his friends confront something neither courage nor argument can defeat.
What you’ll discover
- A warning worth questioning Follow a newspaper letter and an unsettling summons into Challenger’s urgent preparations.
- One room, enormous stakes Feel the tension as friends breathe measured oxygen and wait together for what comes next.
- Nerves under pressure Watch skepticism, practical courage, and gentleness shape different responses to the same threat.
- A reporter’s close view See the crisis through Malone’s eyes as his thoughts turn toward those he loves.
- Pride against the universe Explore how a cosmic danger challenges even Challenger’s immense confidence in human understanding.
Who will love it
For readers who love early science fiction, Victorian and Edwardian adventure, or a single dramatic idea told fast. It is also good for anyone who enjoyed Sherlock Holmes.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Warning Nobody Wants to Believe
- Old Friends Gather at Rotherfield
- Challenger Prepares a Sealed Room
- The World Outside Begins to Change
- Waiting Together as the Hours Run Down
- Humility, Science, and How the Story Is Told
Who’s who
- Professor George Edward ChallengerA loud, brilliant and stubborn scientist who has foreseen the danger and prepares a sealed room with oxygen for his friends.
- Edward MaloneA young newspaper reporter and Challenger's loyal friend, who tells the story as an eyewitness and wonders about those he loves.
- Lord John RoxtonA calm, practical sportsman and explorer who answers Challenger's call and meets the danger with steady nerve.
- Professor SummerleeA dry, skeptical scientist and Challenger's old rival, who comes to the house intending to prove the warning is nonsense.
- Jessie ChallengerThe professor's gentle wife, who faces her fear with grace and shows a softer side of her famous husband.
- AustinThe Challengers' loyal chauffeur, who keeps the household running while the danger grows.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 3 h 19 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works · 60-day guarantee
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, for the whole household.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
60-day money-back guarantee. Love it or get your money back: ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear El cinturón ponzoñoso in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
El cinturón ponzoñoso
by Arthur Conan Doyle · 1913
In a sealed room in Sussex, Professor Challenger and his friends await a cosmic poison that threatens the world.
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- The whole household
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free60-day money-back guaranteeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A Warning Nobody Wants to Believe
The story opens with a letter from Professor Challenger in the newspapers. He warns that the Earth is about to pass through a belt of poisonous ether, a substance that scientists of the time imagined filling all of space. He bases this on strange changes he has seen in the light of distant stars. The public laughs, and the press treats him as a crank, as it often does.
Malone is not so sure. He knows Challenger well from their adventure on the South American plateau, and he knows the man is hard to like but rarely wrong. Still, the letter sounds wild, and the world around Malone seems normal and busy.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, for the whole household. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - The whole householdUp to 5 readers
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about El cinturón ponzoñoso
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
Can my family read too?
Yes. The whole household reads and listens: up to 5 readers, each with their own shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. And if you have paid, the 60-day money-back guarantee applies: ask within 60 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.
What is The Poison Belt about?
It is about Professor Challenger's warning that the Earth will pass through a belt of poisonous ether. A small group of friends gather in his Sussex house with oxygen cylinders to wait and see what happens.
Is The Poison Belt a sequel to The Lost World?
Yes. It brings back Challenger, Malone, Lord John Roxton and Professor Summerlee from The Lost World. You can read it alone, but knowing the first book helps with the characters and their jokes.
When was The Poison Belt written?
Arthur Conan Doyle published it in 1913, a year after The Lost World. It belongs to the early period of science fiction, when ether was still a popular scientific idea.
The author
Arthur Conan Doyle
1859–1930 · British detective novelist
Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician born in Edinburgh in 1859. He practised medicine in England and wrote novels, short stories and histories. His Sherlock Holmes stories began with A Study in Scarlet in 1887. He also wrote The Lost World in 1912. He died in Crowborough, England, in 1930.
More by Arthur Conan Doyle
All 30 books
Free
Free
Free
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
Popular in science fiction
See all
Free
Free
Free
