The World Set Free by H.G. Wells

(The MIT Press, 2022)

Reviewed by Paul Kincaid

It is said that Leó Szilárd, who first came up with the idea of a chain reaction, and who was instrumental in the creation of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, was inspired by reading The World Set Free by H.G. Wells. I can see the novel inspiring the idea of the chain reaction, because Wells’s description of an atomic bomb tells us not of one huge blast but of a series of explosions that continue sometimes for years. Wells’s atomic bomb, therefore, is a form of chain reaction. It is perhaps less clear why anyone might be inspired by this novel to go out and create a nuclear weapon. The bomb first dropped, in these pages, upon Berlin has very little in common with the weapon unleashed upon Hiroshima, but its effects, both immediately and long term, are similarly devastating. This is not something anyone might want to emulate.

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Review from BSFA Review 20 - Download your copy here.