9 h 5 minAudiobook12 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 5 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the road outside your door holds clues to the future of civilization?
In Anticipations, H. G. Wells looks from 1901 toward the year 2000. He sets fiction aside and follows the machines and sciences around him. These essays begin with roads and motor traffic, then trace how changes in travel may reshape cities, work and social classes. His method is reasoning from trends, not claiming the gift of prophecy.
The questions grow larger as Wells turns to democracy, machine-driven war, morality and language. His proposed New Republic offers a hopeful alternative, but his vision also contains harsh, elitist judgments about people he sees as having no useful role. Reading him means weighing sharp insights against troubling assumptions, while asking how anyone can judge the shape of things to come.
What you’ll discover
- Roads that reshape society Follow motor traffic beyond travel into the changing shape of cities and everyday life.
- New classes, hard questions Explore Wells's account of shifting social roles, including the harsh judgments that demand scrutiny.
- Democracy under pressure Consider his concern that voting alone cannot sustain democracy without informed minds.
- Machines on the battlefield See how Wells connects changes in science and technology with changes in warfare.
- A republic still imagined Encounter the New Republic, shared morality and questions about the future of language.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love to see how ideas about the future are built, who enjoy the history of technology, cities and politics, and who like to test a bold prophet against what followed.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The future begins with present forces
- Familiar systems can begin by accident
- Motor traffic will need new roads
- Faster journeys let cities spread outward
- Machinery changes the social order
- Political rivalry can feed on enemies
- Modern war depends on trained minds
- Confident planning can become cruel
- Follow forces without trusting every forecast
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Anticipations
by H. G. Wells · 1901
A writer in 1901 predicts motor roads, sprawling urban regions and a coming world state, and asks what they will cost.
Challenging5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Picture a writer in 1901 who sits down to describe the year 2000. He writes no novel with a time machine in it.
Anticipations at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 10 min4 h 5 min fast, 6 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 73,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1901by H. G. Wells
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Railways are an accident, not an ideal
Wells opens with a puzzle. Steam was known for two thousand years, so why did the railway appear around 1800? It was not one towering genius, and not a sudden public demand.
His answer is oddly specific. English coal lay in low basins, so mines flooded and needed pumps. Steam became a paying pumping engine, step by obvious step. Putting that heavy engine on wheels was almost the only step left. The first rails were old tramways cut to the width of a horse cart, which is why trains share one narrow gauge.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 12 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1901
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 55 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Wells, H. G. Anticipations. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/anticipations.
Wells, H. G. (2026). Anticipations. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/anticipations (Original work published 1901)
Wells, H. G. Anticipations. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/anticipations.
@book{wells2026anticipations,
author = {Wells, H. G.},
title = {Anticipations},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/anticipations},
note = {First published 1901}
}
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What is Anticipations by H. G. Wells about?
It is a forecast of the twentieth century. Wells follows transport and machinery forward to predict motor roads, spreading cities, new social classes, changed politics, modern war, the spread of great languages and a coming world state.
What is the New Republic in Anticipations?
It is Wells's name for a loose class of capable, scientifically trained people, such as engineers and doctors, who he expects to organize themselves outside official politics and eventually guide a world state.
Did H. G. Wells predict motor highways and suburbs correctly?
He came close. He foresaw separate wide motor roads, commuter sprawl beyond the old city, the telephone helping people move out, and aircraft in war. He misjudged submarines and the fate of democracy.
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
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