7 h 44 minAudiobook2 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 two men carry to the Moon besides curiosity—and what happens when they find it inhabited?
Mr Bedford retreats to the English countryside after business failures, hoping to earn money by writing a play. Then he meets Mr Cavor, an absorbed scientist whose invention blocks gravity. In H. G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon, their spherical vessel turns an unlikely partnership into a journey beyond Earth.
Sunlight transforms the lunar landscape, bringing strange plants to life on seemingly barren ground. Beneath the surface, Bedford and Cavor encounter the Selenites and their vast, organised society. But wonder soon meets fear. Bedford wants to improve his fortunes; Cavor wants to understand. Their different aims put more than discovery at stake.
What you’ll discover
- An unlikely travelling pair Follow a businessman and a scientist whose clashing priorities bring humour and unease to discovery.
- Gravity loses its grip Explore the possibilities of cavorite, a substance whose dangers reach beyond its inventor’s control.
- A landscape waking up Watch sunlight reveal strange, rapidly growing plants where the Moon first seems barren.
- Life beneath the surface Meet the Selenites, whose underground society shapes its members for highly specialised tasks.
- Curiosity meets conquest Consider whether exploration can stay peaceful when fear, wealth, and unfamiliar customs collide.
Who will love it
For readers who love strange-world adventures, eccentric inventors, and encounters with alien societies, with humour and unease beneath the lunar surface.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
Who’s who
- Mr BedfordA businessman with failed ventures behind him, Bedford sees the lunar journey as a chance to improve his fortunes.
- Mr CavorAn absorbed and inventive scientist, Cavor values discovery more than profit and hopes to understand the Moon's inhabitants.
- CavoriteCavor's gravity-blocking substance makes space travel possible but creates dangers that its inventor cannot fully control.
- The SelenitesThe Moon's inhabitants live underground in a society whose members are shaped for highly specialised tasks.
- Discovery and conquestThe journey tests whether human curiosity can remain peaceful when fear, wealth, and unfamiliar customs enter the picture.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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I primi uomini sulla Luna
by H. G. Wells · 1901
Bedford and Cavor travel beneath the Moon's surface, where curiosity and the pursuit of wealth test peaceful discovery.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Mr Bedford retreats to the English countryside after business failures, hoping to make money by writing a play. His plans change when he meets Mr Cavor, a scientist whose distracted habits conceal an extraordinary project. Cavor is developing a substance that can block the force of gravity. Bedford quickly sees the chance for profit; Cavor sees a discovery that could transform science.
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What is The First Men in the Moon about?
Two Englishmen travel to the Moon using a substance that blocks gravity. Beneath its surface, they encounter the Selenites and their organised society. Their adventure brings together scientific curiosity, the pursuit of wealth, and the difficulty of meeting beings whose lives differ radically from their own.
What is cavorite in The First Men in the Moon?
Cavorite is the fictional substance invented by Mr Cavor. It blocks gravitational attraction, allowing Cavor and Bedford to leave Earth in a specially designed sphere. It is the novel's central scientific invention, not a real material or an established physical possibility.
Who are the Selenites?
The Selenites are the intelligent inhabitants of the Moon. They live beneath its surface and organise their society around specialised functions. Wells uses their unfamiliar bodies and social arrangements to challenge the travellers' assumptions about intelligence, useful work, and how a civilisation should operate.
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.
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