Share your thoughts in a quick Shelf Talk!
Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells
"Time machines, invisible men, alien invasions—these are the sparks that ignited modern science fiction. This collection gathers H. G. Wells’s most influential tales, brimming with imagination and unnerving foresight. Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells is a gateway to the roots of the genre and the thrills that still define it."
Have you read this book? Share what you liked (or didn’t), and we’ll use your answers to recommend your next favorite read!
Love Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells but not sure what to read next?
These picks are popular with readers who enjoyed this book. Complete a quick Shelf Talk to get recommendations made just for you! Warning: possible spoilers for Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells below.
In Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells, did you enjoy ...
... ingenious, self-contained speculative short stories built around a single transformative idea?
Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
If you loved how tales like “The New Accelerator” turn one brilliant notion into a cascade of consequences, Chiang will hit the same sweet spot. In pieces like “Story of Your Life” and “Tower of Babylon,” he takes a single premise—reframing time, reimagining cosmology—and explores it with the same rigorous curiosity and emotional clarity that make Wells’s “The Crystal Egg” and “The Door in the Wall” so memorable.
... wry, satirical thought experiments that poke fun at human ambition and folly?
The Cyberiad by Stanisław Lem
Enjoyed the mischievous bite of “The Man Who Could Work Miracles,” where power exposes human absurdity? Lem’s robot fables do that again and again. Trurl and Klapaucius build impossible machines, only to run into comic paradoxes and moral knots—much like the unintended consequences that ripple through Wells’s “The New Accelerator,” but with extra sparkle and sardonic wit.
... philosophical probing of perception and the limits of knowing the Other?
Solaris by Stanisław Lem
If “The Country of the Blind” captivated you with its clash between perception and reality, Solaris takes that tension to cosmic depths. Kris Kelvin confronts an ocean-mind that remakes his memories, raising questions about consciousness and understanding—much as the mysterious vistas glimpsed through “The Crystal Egg” suggest the vast, unknowable Other watching us back.
... a majestic, awe-filled escalation from the ordinary to the cosmic sublime?
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
If the cosmic chill of “The Star” thrilled you—the sense that human affairs are tiny against the universe—Clarke delivers that awe at full volume. From quiet arrival to planet-wide transformation, this novel unfolds revelations that feel like the moment the “egg” reveals Mars: a widening of the horizon that leaves you breathless.
... idea-driven, human-centered science fiction where technology stays in the background?
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
If you were drawn to the humane focus behind Wells’s wonders—like the social satire inside “The Country of the Blind” or the wistful mystery of “The Door in the Wall”—Bradbury’s Mars tales will resonate. These episodes use rockets and canals the way Wells used “The Crystal Egg”: as lenses for memory, colonization, loss, and hope.
Unlock your personalized book recommendations! Just take a quick Shelf Talk for Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells by H. G. Wells. It’s only a few questions and takes less than a minute.