9 h 38 minAudiobook4 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 if your whole life were a troubling dream in a world that has learned to live better?
In H. G. Wells’s The Dream, Sarnac lives in a calm future, where people are healthy, educated, and free from fear of war and want. Then he dreams an entire life as Harry Mortimer Smith, an ordinary Englishman caught in the crowded, quarrelsome world of the early twentieth century.
Through Harry’s life, Wells explores what a society throws away: human strength, chances to learn, and the hope of living without constant conflict. Nations pull against one another. Schools teach little that matters. Set beside Sarnac’s ordered world, this muddle raises a question: must people always live this way?
What you’ll discover
- Two worlds in contrast Move between a peaceful future and a past crowded with waste and quarrels.
- An ordinary life reconsidered Follow Harry Mortimer Smith through a world whose habits look different from Sarnac’s distance.
- The cost of waste Consider how poor schooling and divided nations drain the strength of everyday lives.
- Wells the social thinker Explore his concern for education, shared knowledge, and a world no longer pulling apart.
- Space to reflect Let one man’s recollection lead you toward questions about humanity’s choices and future.
Who will love it
For readers who love ideas as much as plot, and enjoy Wells the social thinker as well as the inventor of scientific romance, with visions of humanity's future, education and shared purpose.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dreamer wakes in a better world
- Sarnac lives as Harry Mortimer Smith
- The old world is shown as waste
- A novel built as a lesson
Who’s who
- SarnacA man of a future, well-ordered world who dreams a long life from the distant past and looks back on it.
- Harry Mortimer SmithThe ordinary Englishman of the early twentieth century whose life Sarnac dreams, caught in the waste and muddle of his age.
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
- 9 h 38 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 4 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
- 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, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- 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.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Il sogno 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.
Il sogno
by H. G. Wells · 1924
Sarnac dreams an ordinary Englishman's life and confronts the waste his well-ordered future has left behind.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dreamer wakes in a better world
The story begins in the future, where Sarnac lives in a world that has put its old troubles behind it. People there are healthy, educated and free from the fear of war and want. Wells uses this setting to show what he hopes humanity might become.
Sarnac does not simply wander through it. He has had a dream so vivid and so long that it feels like memory. In it he was another man, in another age, with another name and a hard, narrow life. That dream is the heart of the book.
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, 5 accounts for the price of one. 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 - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Il sogno
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.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, 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. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is The Dream by H. G. Wells about?
It is about a man of a calm future world who dreams a whole life as an ordinary Englishman of the early twentieth century. The contrast between the two worlds shows what Wells thought was wrong with his own age.
Who is Sarnac in The Dream?
Sarnac is the dreamer, a man of the future. In his dream he lives as Harry Mortimer Smith, and he looks back on that life from a better, more orderly world.
When was The Dream written?
Wells published it in 1924, a few years after the First World War. It is a novel, not a true story, though it draws on the real social life and worries of his time.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
More by H. G. Wells
All 37 books
More like this
Free
Free
Free
Free
FreeOur 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
