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{{Infobox1 person
| name        = H. G. Wells
| image       = H G Wells pre 1922.jpg
| image_size       = 300px
| caption     = Wells, pictured some time before 1916, was best known for science fiction novels such as ''The War of the Worlds''. '' The Time Machine'' (1895) is considered to be the progenitor of the “time travel” subgenre. It has been filmed several times. [[Politically correct]] descriptions describe it as being about class struggle by the socialist Wells, less politically correct descriptions describe it as being about dystopian [[dysgenics]] by the [[eugenics]] supporter Wells.<ref>David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart. "Eugenics Rides a Time Machine: H. G. Wells' outline of genocide". Reason Magazine. 26 Mar 2002 https://reason.com/archives/2002/03/26/eugenics-rides-a-time-machine</ref>
| birth_name  = Herbert George Wells
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1866|9|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bromley]], [[Kent]], England, UK
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1946|8|13|1866|9|21|df=y}}
| death_place = [[London]], England, UK
| resting_place = [[Cremation|Cremated]] 
| residence   = London, England, UK
| occupation  = Novelist, Teacher, Historian, Journalist
| nationality = British
| alma_mater = [[Royal College of Science]] ([[Imperial College London]])
| years_active = 1895–1946
| genre       = [[Science fiction]] (notably [[social science fiction]])
| spouse = Isabel Mary Wells (1891–1894)<br>Amy Catherine Robbins (1895–1927, her death)
| children = [[G. P. Wells|George]]<br>Frank<br>Anna-Jane<br>[[Anthony West (author)|Anthony]]
| influences  = [[Thomas Henry Huxley]], [[Plato]], [[Jonathan Swift]],
| influenced  = [[Brian Aldiss]], [[Kevin J. Anderson]], [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Stephen Baxter]], [[Ray Bradbury]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Joseph Conrad]], [[Robert H. Goddard]], [[Robert A. Heinlein]], [[Frank Herbert]], [[Aldous Huxley]], [[Stan Lee]], [[C. S. Lewis]], [[John Wyndham]], [[H. P. Lovecraft]], [[Alan Moore]], [[George Orwell]], [[Frank R. Paul]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Olaf Stapledon]], [[Stanley G. Weinbaum]], [[Jack Williamson]], [[Yevgeny Zamyatin]]
| notableworks = ''[[The Time Machine]]'', ''[[The Invisible Man]]'', ''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]'', ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', ''[[The First Men in the Moon]]'', ''[[The Shape of Things to Come]]''}}
'''Herbert George "H. G." Wells''' (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946)<ref name = Parrinder/> was an English author, now best known for his work in the [[science fiction]] genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing textbooks and rules for war games. Together with [[Jules Verne]] and [[Hugo Gernsback]], Wells has been referred to as "The Father of Science Fiction".<ref>Adam Charles Roberts (2000), [http://books.google.com/books?id=IRw_MIPjnXwC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&ots=WBbd3Gvw1g&dq=father+of+science+fiction+H.+G.+Wells&sig=vOAavBXpeRWlJh11l2OCXlb2wvk#v=onepage&f=false "The History of Science Fiction": Page 48] in ''Science Fiction'', Routledge, ISBN 0-415-19204-8.</ref> His most notable science fiction works include ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', ''[[The Time Machine]]'', ''[[The Invisible Man]]'' and ''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]''.

Wells's earliest specialised training was in biology, and his thinking on ethical matters took place in a specifically and fundamentally [[Darwinism|Darwinian]] context.<ref>Robert M. Philmus and David Y. Hughes, ed., ''H.G. Wells: Early Writings in Science and Science Fiction'' (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1975), p. 179.</ref>  He was also from an early date an outspoken [[socialism|socialist]], often (but not always, as the beginning of the [[World War I|First World War]]) sympathising with [[pacifism|pacifist]] views.  His later works became increasingly political and [[didacticism|didactic]], and he sometimes indicated on official documents that his profession was that of "Journalist."<ref>Vincent Brome, ''H.G. Wells: A Biography'' (London, New York, and Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1951).</ref> Most of his later novels were not science fiction.  Some described lower-middle class life (''[[Kipps]]''; ''[[The History of Mr Polly]]''), leading him to be touted as a worthy successor to [[Charles Dickens]],<ref>Vincent Brome, ''H.G. Wells: A Biography'' (London, New York, and Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1951), p. 99.</ref> but Wells described a range of social strata and even attempted, in ''[[Tono-Bungay]]'' (1909), a diagnosis of [[English society]] as a whole.  Wells also wrote abundantly about the "New Woman" and the [[Suffragette]]s (''[[Ann Veronica]]'').

==Early life==
[[File:Albert Einstein, Carl Heinrich Becker, H.G. Wells und Paul Loebe in Berlin 1929.jpg|thumb|310px|[[Albert Einstein]], [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/Becker,_Carl_Heinrich Carl Heinrich Becker], H.G. Wells and [https://de.metapedia.org/wiki/L%C3%B6be,_Paul Paul Loebe] in Berlin (1929)]]
Herbert George Wells was born at Atlas House, 46 High Street, [[Bromley]], in the [[Historic counties of England|county]] of [[Kent]],<ref name="Francis">{{cite book |last=Wells |first=H.G |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor=Gregory Claeys, Patrick Parrinder|others=Gregory Claeys, Francis Wheen, Andy Sawyer |title=A Modern Utopia |origdate= |origyear= First published 1905|origmonth=|url= |accessdate= |edition= |date= |year=2005 |month= |publisher=Penguin Classics |location= |language= |isbn=978-0-14-144112-2|oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= }}</ref> on 21 September 1866.<ref name=Parrinder>{{cite book |last=Parrinder |first=Patrick |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth=|url= |accessdate= |edition= |date= |year=2004 |month= |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= |language= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= }}</ref> Called "Bertie" in the family, he was the fourth and last child of Joseph Wells (a former domestic gardener, and at the time a shopkeeper and professional [[cricket]]er) and his wife Sarah Neal (a former [[domestic worker|domestic servant]]). An inheritance had allowed the family to acquire a shop in which they sold china and sporting goods, although it failed to prosper: the stock was old and worn out, and the location was poor. Joseph Wells managed to earn a meagre income, but little of it came from the shop; Joseph received an unsteady amount of money from playing [[Amateur and professional cricketers|professional cricket]] for the [[Kent County Cricket Club|Kent county team]].<ref name="Smith">Smith, David C. (1986) ''H.G. Wells: Desperately mortal. A biography.'' Yale University Press, New Haven and London ISBN 0-300-03672-8</ref> Payment for skilled bowlers and batsmen came from voluntary donations afterwards, or from small payments from the clubs where matches were played.

A defining incident of young Wells's life was an accident in 1874 that left him bedridden with a broken leg.<ref name=Parrinder/> To pass the time he started reading books from the local library, brought to him by his father. He soon became devoted to the other worlds and lives to which books gave him access; they also stimulated his desire to write. Later that year he entered Thomas Morley's Commercial Academy, a [[private school]] founded in 1849 following the bankruptcy of Morley's earlier school. The teaching was erratic, the curriculum mostly focused, Wells later said, on producing [[Copperplate script|copperplate handwriting]] and doing the sort of sums useful to tradesmen. Wells continued at Morley's Academy until 1880. In 1877, his father, Joseph Wells, fractured his thigh. The accident effectively put an end to Joseph's career as a cricketer, and his subsequent earnings as a shopkeeper were not enough to compensate for the loss of the primary source of family income.

No longer able to support themselves financially, the family instead sought to place their sons as [[apprenticeship|apprentice]]s in various occupations. From 1880 to 1883, Wells had an unhappy apprenticeship as a [[draper]] at the [[Southsea]] Drapery Emporium, Hyde's.<ref name="GHW1925" /> His experiences at Hyde's, where he worked a thirteen-hour day and slept in a dormitory with other apprentices,<ref name="Francis"/> later inspired his novels ''[[The Wheels of Chance]]'' and ''[[Kipps]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last=Batchelor |first=John |title=H.G. Wells |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, England |year=1985 |page=2|isbn=0-521-27804-X}}</ref> which portray the life of a draper's apprentice as well as providing a critique of society's distribution of wealth.

Wells's parents had a turbulent marriage, due primarily to his mother being a [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and his father a [[Freethought|freethinker]]. When his mother returned to work as a [[lady's maid]] (at [[Uppark]], a [[English country house|country house]] in [[Sussex]]), one of the conditions of work was that she would not be permitted to have living space for her husband and children. Thereafter, she and Joseph lived separate lives, though they never divorced and remained faithful to one another. As a consequence, Herbert's personal troubles increased as he subsequently failed as a draper and also, later, as a chemist's assistant. After each failure, he would arrive at Uppark{{mdash}}"the [[wikt:bad penny|bad shilling]] back again!" as he said{{mdash}}and stay there until a fresh start could be arranged for him.{{cn|date=October 2012}} Fortunately for Herbert, Uppark had a magnificent library in which he immersed himself, reading many classic works, including [[Plato]]'s ''[[The Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'', and [[Thomas More|More]]'s ''[[Utopia (book)|Utopia]]''.  This would be the beginning of Herbert George Wells's venture into literature.

==Teacher==

In October 1879 Wells's mother arranged through a distant relative, Arthur Williams, for him to join the [[National school (England and Wales)|National School]] at [[Wookey]] in Somerset as a [[pupil-teacher]], a senior pupil who acted as a teacher of younger children.<ref name="GHW1925">{{cite book|last=Wells|first=Geoffrey H.|title=The Works of H. G. Wells|publisher=Routledge|location=London|year=1925|page=xvi|oclc=458934085|isbn=0-86012-096-1}}</ref> In December that year, however, Williams was dismissed for irregularities in his qualifications and Wells was returned to Uppark. After a short apprenticeship at a chemist in nearby [[Midhurst]], and an even shorter stay as a boarder at [[Midhurst Grammar School]], he signed his apprenticeship papers at Hyde's. In 1883 Wells persuaded his parents to release him from the apprenticeship, taking an opportunity offered by Midhurst Grammar School again to become a pupil-teacher; his proficiency in Latin and science during his previous, short stay had been remembered.<ref name=Smith/><ref name="GHW1925" />

The years he spent in Southsea had been the most miserable of his life to that point, but his good fortune at securing a position at Midhurst Grammar School meant that Wells could continue his self-education in earnest.<ref name=Smith/> The following year, Wells won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science (later the [[Royal College of Science]] in [[South Kensington]], now part of [[Imperial College London]]) in London, studying [[biology]] under [[Thomas Henry Huxley]]. As an alumnus, he later helped to set up the Royal College of Science Association, of which he became the first president in 1909. Wells studied in his new school until 1887 with a weekly allowance of twenty-one [[shilling]]s (a [[guinea (British coin)|guinea]]) thanks to his scholarship. This ought to have been a comfortable sum of money (at the time many [[working class|working-class]] families had "round about a pound a week" as their entire household income)<ref>Reeves, M.S. ''Round About a Pound a Week''. New York: Garland Pub., 1980. ISBN 0-8240-0119-2 Some of the text is available online.</ref> yet in his ''Experiment in Autobiography'', Wells speaks of constantly being hungry, and indeed, photographs of him at the time show a youth very thin and malnourished.

He soon entered the Debating Society of the school. These years mark the beginning of his interest in a possible reformation of society. At first approaching the subject through ''The Republic'' by Plato, he soon turned to contemporary ideas of socialism as expressed by the recently formed [[Fabian Society]] and free lectures delivered at [[Kelmscott House]], the home of [[William Morris]]. He was also among the founders of ''The Science School Journal'', a school magazine which allowed him to express his views on literature and society, as well as trying his hand at fiction: the first version of his novel ''[[The Time Machine]]'' was published in the journal under the title, ''[[The Chronic Argonauts]]''. The school year 1886–1887 was the last year of his studies. In spite of having previously passed his exams in both biology and [[physics]], his lack of interest in [[geology]] resulted in his failure to pass and the subsequent loss of his scholarship.{{cn|date=October 2012}}

After teaching for some time, Wells found it necessary to supplement his knowledge relating to educational principles and methodology and entered the College of Preceptors ([[College of Teachers]]). He later received his Licentiate and Fellowship [[College of Teachers|FCP]] diplomas from the College. It was not until 1890 that Wells earned a Bachelor of Science degree in [[zoology]] from the [[University of London External System|University of London External Programme]].  In 1889–90 he managed to find a post as a teacher at Henley House School where he taught [[A. A. Milne]].<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22657 | year = 1989 | title = Hampstead: Education | journal = A History of the County of Middlesex | volume = 9 | pages = 159–169 | accessdate =9 Jun 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/aamilne.htm |title=A(lan) A(lexander) Milne (1882–1956) |work=Authors' Calendar |accessdate=13 Apr 2007}}</ref>

Upon leaving the Normal School of Science, Wells was left without a source of income. His aunt Mary—his father's sister-in-law—invited him to stay with her for a while, which solved his immediate problem of accommodation. During his stay at his aunt's residence, he grew increasingly interested in her daughter, Isabel. He would later go on to court her.

==Personal life==

In 1891, Wells married his cousin Isabel Mary Wells; the couple agreed to separate in 1894 when he fell in love with one of his students, Amy Catherine Robbins (known as Jane), whom he married in 1895.<ref>Batchelor (1985: 165)</ref> Poor health took him to Sandgate, near [[Folkestone]], where in 1901 he constructed a large family home: [[Spade House]]. He had two sons with Jane: [[G. P. Wells|George Philip]] (known as "Gip") in 1901 (d.1985) and Frank Richard in 1903 (d.1982). The marriage lasted until her death in 1927.

With his wife's consent, Wells had [[affair]]s with a number of women, including the American [[birth control]] activist [[Margaret Sanger]] and novelist [[Elizabeth von Arnim]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lynn|first=Andrea|title=Shadow Lovers: The Last Affairs of H.G. Wells|year=2001|publisher=Westview|location=Boulder, CO|isbn=978-0-8133-3394-6|pages=10; 47, et sec}}</ref> In 1909 he had a daughter, Anna-Jane, with the writer [[Amber Reeves]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/apr/02/featuresreviews.guardianreview33|title=A room of her own|author = Margaret Drabble|publisher=  The Guardian|date=Friday 1 April 2005}}</ref>  whose parents, [[William Pember Reeves|William]] and [[Maud Pember Reeves]], he had met through the Fabian Society; and in 1914, a son, [[Anthony West (author)|Anthony West]] (1914–1987), by the novelist and [[feminism|feminist]] [[Rebecca West]], twenty-six years his junior.<ref>[http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hgwells.htm Pegasos – A Literature Related Resource Site]. ''H(erbert) G(eorge) Wells (1866–1946)''.</ref>

''"I was never a great amorist"'', Wells wrote in ''Experiment in Autobiography'' (1934)'', "though I have loved several people very deeply"''.

==Artist==
One of the most interesting ways that Wells expressed himself was through his drawings and sketches. One common location for these was the endpapers and title pages of his own diaries, and they covered a wide variety of topics, from political commentary to his feelings toward his literary contemporaries and his current romantic interests. During his marriage to Amy Catherine, whom he nicknamed Jane, he drew a considerable number of pictures, many of them being overt comments on their marriage. It was during this period, and this period only, that he called these pictures "picshuas".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.illinois.edu/news/06/0531wells.html |title=H.G. Wells' cartoons, a window on his second marriage, focus of new book &#124; Archives &#124; News Bureau |publisher=University of Illinois|date=2006-05-31 |accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref> These picshuas have been the topic of study by Wells scholars for many years, and in 2006 a book was published on the subject.<ref>Rinkel, Gene and Margaret. ''The Picshuas of H. G. Wells: A burlesque diary''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. ISBN 0-252-03045-1 (cloth : acid-free paper).</ref>

==Writer==
Wells's first non-fiction [[bestseller]] was ''Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought'' (1901). When originally serialised in a magazine it was subtitled, "An Experiment in Prophecy", and is considered his most explicitly [[future|futuristic]] work. It offered the immediate political message of the privileged sections of society continuing to bar capable men from other classes from advancement until war would force a need to employ those most able, rather than the traditional upper classes, as leaders. Anticipating what the world would be like in the year 2000, the book is interesting both for its hits (trains and cars resulting in the dispersion of population from cities to suburbs; moral restrictions declining as men and women seek greater sexual freedom; the defeat of German [[militarism]], and the existence of a European Union) and its misses (he did not expect successful [[aircraft]] before 1950, and averred that "my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocate its crew and founder at sea").<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090520001844/http://humanityplus.org/learn/about-us/wells |title=Annual HG Wells Award for Outstanding Contributions to Transhumanism |publisher=Web.archive.org |date=2009-05-20 |accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Turner|first=Frank Miller|title=Contesting Cultural Authority: Essays in Victorian Intellectual Life|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-37257-7|pages=219–20|chapter=Public Science in Britain 1880–1919}}</ref>

Some of his early novels, called "[[scientific romance]]s", invented a number of themes now classic in science fiction in such works as ''[[The Time Machine]]'', ''[[The Island of Doctor Moreau]]'', ''[[The Invisible Man]]'', ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', ''[[The Sleeper Awakes|When the Sleeper Wakes]]'', and ''[[The First Men in the Moon]]''. He also wrote realistic novels that received critical acclaim, including ''[[Kipps]]'' and a satire on Edwardian advertising, ''[[Tono-Bungay]]''.

Wells also wrote dozens of short stories and novellas, the best known of which is "[[The Country of the Blind]]" (1904). His short story "[[The New Accelerator]]" was the inspiration for the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]'' episode ''[[Wink of an Eye]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fanac.org/Other_Cons/PhilCon/q03-rpt.html |title=Philcon 2003 |work=fanac.org |first=Evelyn C. |last=Leeper |accessdate=22 February 2008}}</ref>

Though ''Tono-Bungay'' was not a science-fiction novel,radioactive decay plays a small but consequential role in it. Radioactive decay plays a much larger role in ''[[The World Set Free]]'' (1914). This book contains what is surely his biggest prophetic "hit". Scientists of the day were well aware that the natural decay of [[radium]] releases energy at a slow rate over thousands of years. The ''rate'' of release is too slow to have practical utility, but the ''total amount'' released is huge. Wells's novel revolves around an (unspecified) invention that accelerates the process of radioactive decay, producing bombs that explode with no more than the force of ordinary high explosive—but which "continue to explode" for days on end. "Nothing could have been more obvious to the people of the earlier twentieth century", he wrote, "than the rapidity with which war was becoming impossible... [but] they did not see it until the atomic bombs burst in their fumbling hands". In 1932, the physicist and conceiver of [[nuclear chain reaction]] [[Leó Szilárd]] read ''The World Set Free'', a book which he said made a great impression on him.<ref>{{cite book | author = [[Richard Rhodes]] | year = 1986 | title = The Making of the Atomic Bomb | publisher = Simon & Schuster | location = New York | page = 24 | isbn = 0-684-81378-5}}</ref>

Wells also wrote nonfiction. His bestselling three-volume work, ''[[The Outline of History]]'' (1920), began a new era of popularised world history. It received a mixed critical response from professional historians.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.clemson.edu/~tdoyle/hgwells/outline_hist.shtml |title=The Outline of History – H. G. Wells |publisher=Cs.clemson.edu |date=20 Apr 2003 |accessdate=21 Sep 2009}}</ref> Many other authors followed with "Outlines" of their own in other subjects. Wells reprised his ''Outline'' in 1922 with a much shorter popular work, ''A Short History of the World'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/86/ |title=Wells, H.G. 1922. A Short History of the World |publisher=Bartleby.com |date= |accessdate=21 Sep 2009}}</ref> and two long efforts, ''[[The Science of Life]]'' (1930) and ''The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind'' (1931). The "Outlines" became sufficiently common for [[James Thurber]] to parody the trend in his humorous essay, "An Outline of Scientists"—indeed, Wells's ''Outline of History'' remains in print with a new 2005 edition, while ''A Short History of the World'' has been recently reedited (2006).

From quite early in his career, he sought a better way to organise society, and wrote a number of [[Utopia]]n novels. The first of these was ''[[A Modern Utopia]]'' (1905), which shows a worldwide utopia with "no imports but meteorites, and no exports at all";<ref>''A Modern Utopia''</ref> two travellers from our world fall into its [[alternate history]]. The others usually begin with the world rushing to catastrophe, until people realise a better way of living: whether by mysterious gases from a [[comet]] causing people to behave rationally and abandoning a European war (''[[In the Days of the Comet]]'' (1906)), or a world council of scientists taking over, as in ''[[The Shape of Things to Come]]'' (1933, which he later adapted for the 1936 [[Alexander Korda]] film, ''[[Things to Come]]''). This depicted, all too accurately, the impending [[World War II|World War]], with cities being destroyed by aerial bombs. He also portrayed the rise of [[fascism|fascist]] dictators in ''The Autocracy of Mr Parham'' (1930) and ''The Holy Terror'' (1939).  ''[[Men Like Gods]]'' (1923) is also a utopian novel.

Wells contemplates the ideas of [[nature versus nurture]] and questions humanity in books such as ''The Island of Doctor Moreau''. Not all his scientific romances ended in a happy Utopia, and in fact, Wells also wrote a [[dystopia]]n novel, ''When the Sleeper Wakes'' (1899, rewritten as ''The Sleeper Awakes'', 1910), which pictures a future society where the classes have become more and more separated, leading to a revolt of the masses against the rulers. ''The Island of Doctor Moreau'' is even darker. The narrator, having been trapped on an island of animals vivisected (unsuccessfully) into human beings, eventually returns to England; like [[Gulliver's Travels|Gulliver]] on his return from the [[Houyhnhnm]]s, he finds himself unable to shake off the perceptions of his fellow humans as barely civilised beasts, slowly reverting to their animal natures.

Wells also wrote the preface for the first edition of [[W. N. P. Barbellion]]'s diaries, ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', published in 1919. Since "Barbellion" was the real author's [[pen name]], many reviewers believed Wells to have been the true author of the ''Journal''; Wells always denied this, despite being full of praise for the diaries, but the rumours persisted until Barbellion's death later that year.

In 1927, Florence Deeks sued Wells for [[plagiarism]], claiming that he had stolen much of the content of ''The Outline of History'' from a work, ''The Web'', she had submitted to the Canadian Macmillan Company, but who held onto the manuscript for eight months before rejecting it. Despite numerous similarities in phrasing and factual errors, the court found the evidence inadequate and dismissed the case. A Privy Council report added that, as Deek's work had not been printed, there were no legal grounds at all for the action.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mackenzie |first=Norman and Jeanne |title=The Time Traveller-The Life of H.G. Wells |publisher=Weidenfield and Nicolson |location=London |year=1973 |pages=356–366|isbn=0-297-76531-0}}</ref>

In 1933 Wells predicted in ''The Shape of Things to Come'' that the world war he  feared would begin January 1940,<ref>{{cite book|title=The shape of things to come: the ultimate revolution|edition=Penguin 2005|year=1933|isbn=0-14-144104-6|page=208|chapter=9. The Last War Cyclone, 1940–50}}</ref> a prediction which ultimately came true just four months early, when the Second World War broke out in September 1939.<ref name="Wagar2004">{{cite book|last=Wagar|first=W. Warren|authorlink=W. Warren Wagar|title=H. G. Wells: traversing time|year=2004|publisher=Wesleyan University Press|location=Middletown, Conn|isbn=0-8195-6725-6|page=209}}</ref>

In 1936, before the [[Royal Institution]], Wells called for the compilation of a constantly growing and changing World [[Encyclopaedia]], to be reviewed by outstanding authorities and made accessible to every human being. In 1938, he published a collection of essays on the future organisation of knowledge and education, ''[[World Brain]]'', including the essay, "The Idea of a Permanent World Encyclopaedia".

Near the end of the Second World War, [[Allies of World War II|Allied forces]] discovered that the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] had compiled lists of people slated for immediate arrest during the invasion of Britain in the abandoned [[Operation Sea Lion]], and Wells was included in the alphabetical list on the same page of "[[The Black Book]]" as Rebecca West.<ref>Wells, Frank. ''H.G. Wells—A Pictorial Biography''. London: Jupiter Books, 1977, page 91.</ref> Wells, as president of the [[International PEN]] (Poets, Essayists, Novelists), had already angered the [[Nazism|Nazis]] by overseeing the expulsion of the German PEN club from the international body in 1934 following the German PEN's refusal to admit non-[[Aryan]] writers to its membership.

Seeking a more structured way to play war games, Wells also wrote ''[[Floor Games]]'' (1911) followed by ''[[Little Wars]]'' (1913). ''Little Wars'' is recognised today as the first [[Miniature wargaming|recreational wargame]] and Wells is regarded by gamers and hobbyists as "the Father of Miniature War Gaming".<ref>[http://theminiaturespage.com/ref/minigide.html The Miniatures Page]. ''The World of Miniatures – An Overview''.</ref>

==Politics==
===The Fabian Society===
Wells called his political views socialist. He was for a time a member of the socialist Fabian Society, but broke with them as his creative political imagination, matching the originality shown in his fiction, outran theirs.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cole|first=Margaret|authorlink=Margaret Cole|editor=Morris, A. J. Anthony|title=Edwardian radicalism, 1900–1914: some aspects of British radicalism|year=1974|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-7100-7866-8|pages=97–114|chapter=H. G. Wells and the Fabian Society}}</ref> He later grew staunchly critical of them as having a poor understanding of economics and educational reform. He ran as a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] candidate for [[London University (UK Parliament constituency)|London University]] in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1922|1922]] and [[United Kingdom general election, 1923|1923 general elections]] after the death of his friend [[W. H. R. Rivers]], but at that point his faith in the party was weak or uncertain.

===Class===
Social class was a theme in Wells's ''The Time Machine'' in which the Time Traveller speaks of the future world, with its two races, as having evolved from <blockquote>the gradual widening of the present (19th century) merely temporary and social difference between the Capitalist and the Labourer&nbsp;... Even now, does not an East-end worker live in such artificial conditions as practically to be cut off from the natural surface of the earth? Again, the exclusive tendency of richer people ... is already leading to the closing, in their interest, of considerable portions of the surface of the land. About London, for instance, perhaps half the prettier country is shut in against intrusion.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35/35.txt |title=The Time Machine |date= |accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref></blockquote>
Nevertheless, Wells has this very same Time Traveller speak in terms unusual for socialist thought, referring as "perfect" and with no social problem unsolved, to an imagined world of stark class division between the rich assured of their wealth and comfort, and the rest of humanity assigned to lifelong toil: <blockquote>Once, life and property must have reached almost absolute safety. The rich had been assured of his wealth and comfort, the toiler assured of his life and work. No doubt in that perfect world there had been no unemployed problem, no social question left unsolved.<ref name=autogenerated1 /></blockquote>

===World government===
His most consistent political ideal was the [[World government|World State]]. He stated in his autobiography that from 1900 onward he considered a World State inevitable. He envisioned the state to be a planned society that would advance science, end nationalism, and allow people to progress by merit rather than birth. In 1932, he told Young Liberals at the [[University of Oxford]] that [[Progressivism|progressive]] leaders must become [[:wikt:small-l liberal|liberal]] [[fascists]] or enlightened [[Nazism|Nazis]] in order to implement their ideas.<ref>{{cite journal| last =Coupland| first =Philip| title =H. G. Wells's "Liberal Fascism"| journal =Journal of Contemporary History| volume =35| issue =4| pages =549| date =October 2000}}</ref>

===World War I===
He supported Britain in the [[First World War]],<ref>H.G. Wells: [http://archive.org/stream/warillustratedal01hammuoft?ui=embed#page/10/mode/1up Why Britain Went To War] (August 10, 1914). ''[[The War Illustrated]] album de luxe. The story of the great European war told by camera, pen and pencil. The Amalgamated Press, London 1915</ref> despite his many criticisms of British policy, and opposed, in 1916, moves for an early peace.<ref>''Daily Herald'', 27 May 1916</ref> In an essay published that year he acknowledged that he could not understand those British pacifists who were reconciled to "handing over great blocks of the black and coloured races to the [German Empire] to exploit and experiment upon" and that the extent of his own pacifism depended in the first instance upon an armed peace, with "England keep[ing] to England and Germany to Germany". State boundaries would be established according to natural ethnic affinities, rather than by planners in distant imperial capitals, and overseen by his envisaged world alliance of states.<ref name=WIC>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=H. G.|title=What is coming? : a forecast of things after the war|year=1916|publisher=Cassell|location=London|page=240|chapter=The White Man's Burthen|oclc=9446824|isbn=0-554-16469-8}}</ref>

In his book ''In the Fourth Year'' published in 1918 he suggested how each nation of the world would elect, "upon democratic lines" by [[proportional representation]], an [[electoral college]] in the manner of the United States of America, in turn to select its delegate to the proposed [[League of Nations]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=H. G. |title=In the Fourth Year|publisher=Chatto and Windus|location=London|year=1918|chapter=The League must be representative|oclc=458935146|quote=The president ... is chosen by a special college elected by the people .... Is there any reason why we should not adopt this method in this sending representatives to the Council of the League of Nations?|isbn=1-4191-2598-2}}</ref> This international body he contrasted with [[imperialism]], not only the imperialism of Germany, against which the war was being fought, but also the imperialism, which he considered more benign, of Britain and France.<ref>{{cite book|title=In the Fourth Year|chapter=The Necessary Powers of the League|quote=[T]he League of Free Nations, if it is to be a reality ... must do no less than supersede Empire; it must end not only this new German imperialism, which is struggling so savagely and powerfully to possess the earth, but it must also wind up British imperialism and French imperialism, which do now so largely and inaggressively possess it.}}</ref>

His values and political thinking came under increasing criticism from the 1920s and afterwards.<ref>''Experiment in Autobiography'' 556. Also chapter four of ''Future as Nightmare: H. G. Wells and the Anti-Utopians'' by Mark Robert Hillegas.</ref>

===The Soviet Union===
The leadership of [[Joseph Stalin]] led to a change in his view of the Soviet Union even though his initial impression of Stalin himself was mixed. He disliked what he saw as a narrow orthodoxy and intransigence in Stalin. However, he did give him some praise saying in an article in the left-leaning ''[[New Statesman]]'' magazine, "I have never met a man more fair, candid, and honest" and making it clear that he felt the "sinister" image of Stalin was unfair or simply false. Nevertheless he judged Stalin's rule to be far too rigid, restrictive of independent thought, and blinkered to lead toward the Cosmopolis he hoped for.<ref>''Experiment in Autobiography'', pp. 215, 687–689</ref> In the course of his visit to the Soviet Union in 1934, he debated the merits of [[Reformism|reformist]] socialism over [[Marxism-Leninism]] with Stalin.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rationalrevolution.net/special/library/cc835_44.htm |title=Joseph Stalin and H. G. Wells, Marxism vs. Liberalism: An Interview |publisher=Rationalrevolution.net |date= |accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref>

===Eugenics===
Wells believed in the theory of [[eugenics]]. In 1904 he discussed a survey paper by [[Francis Galton]], co-founder of eugenics, saying "I believe&nbsp;... It is in the sterilisation of failure, and not in the selection of successes for breeding, that the possibility of an improvement of the human stock lies". Some contemporary supporters even suggested connections between the "degenerate" man-creatures portrayed in ''The Time Machine'' and Wells's eugenic beliefs. For example, the economist [[Irving Fisher]] said in a 1912 address to the Eugenics Research Association: "The Nordic race will&nbsp;... vanish or lose its dominance if, in fact, the whole human race does not sink so low as to become the prey, as H. G. Wells images, of some less degenerate animal!"<ref>David M. Levy and Sandra J. Peart. [http://www.reason.com/news/show/32537.html "Eugenics Rides a Time Machine: H. G. Wells' outline of genocide"]. ''Reason Magazine''. 26 Mar 2002</ref>

===Zionism===
Wells had given some moderate, unenthusiastic support for [[Territorialism]] before the First World War, but later became a bitter opponent of the Zionist movement in general. He saw [[Zionism]] as an exclusive and separatist movement which challenged the collective solidarity he advocated in his vision of a world state. No supporter of Jewish identity in general, Wells had in his utopian writings predicted the ultimate assimilation of the [[Jewish people]].<ref>Cheyette, Bryan. Constructions of "the Jew" in English Literature and Society. Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 143–148)</ref><ref>Hamerow, Theodore S. ''Why we watched: Europe, America, and the Holocaust''. W. W. Norton & Company, 2008., pp. 98–100, 219 </ref><ref>"Desirable Aliens: British Men of Letters on The Jews". ''The Review of Reviews'' Vol. XXXIII Jan–Jun 1906, p. 378</ref> In notes to accompany his biographical novel ''A Man of Parts'' [[David Lodge (author)|David Lodge]] describes how  Wells came to regret  his attitudes to the Jews as he became more aware of the extent of the Nazi atrocities. This included a letter of apology written to [[Chaim Weizmann]] for earlier statements he had made.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lodge|first=David|authorlink=David Lodge (author)|title=A Man of Parts|year=2011|publisher=Secker|location=London |isbn=9781846554964|page=521}}</ref>

===Other endeavours===
Wells brought his interest in Art & Design and politics together when he and other notables signed a memorandum to the Permanent Secretaries of the Board of Trade, among others. The November 1914 memorandum expressed the signatories concerns about British industrial design in the face of foreign competition. The suggestions were accepted, leading to the foundation of the [[Design and Industries Association]].<ref>Raymond Plummer, ''[http://www.dia.org.uk/page/AboutUs/Nothing_Need_be_Ugly Nothing Need be Ugly]'' Design & Industries Assn. Jun 1985</ref>

===Summary===
In the end Wells's contemporary political impact was limited, excluding his fiction's positivist stance on the leaps that could be made by [[physics]] towards world peace.  His efforts regarding the [[League of Nations]] became a disappointment as the organisation turned out to be a weak one unable to prevent World War II, which war itself towards the very end of his life, increased the pessimistic side of his nature.  In his last book ''[[Mind at the End of its Tether]]'' (1945) he considered the idea that humanity being replaced by another species might not be a bad idea.  He also came to call the era "The Age of Frustration".

==Religion==
Wells wrote in his book ''God the Invisible King'' that his idea of God did not draw upon the traditional religions of the world: "This book sets out as forcibly and exactly as possible the religious belief of the writer. [Which] is a profound belief in a personal and intimate God".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=H. G. |title=God the Invisible King|publisher=Cassell|location=London|year=1917|chapter=Preface|oclc=261326125|isbn=0-585-00604-0}}</ref> Later in the work he aligns himself with a "renascent or modern religion&nbsp;... neither atheist nor Buddhist nor Mohammedan nor Christian&nbsp;... [that] he has found growing up in himself".<ref>Wells (1917: "The cosmology of modern religion")</ref>

Of [[Christianity]] he has this to say: "...&nbsp;it is not now true for me&nbsp;... Every believing Christian is, I am sure, my spiritual brother&nbsp;... but if systemically I called myself a Christian I feel that to most men I should imply too much and so tell a lie." Of other world religions he writes: "All these religions are true for me as Canterbury Cathedral is a true thing and as a Swiss chalet is a true thing. There they are, and they have served a purpose, they have worked. Only they are not true for me to live in them&nbsp;... They do not work for me."<ref>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=H. G. |title=First & last things; a confession of faith and rules of life|year=1908|publisher=Putnam|pages=77–80|oclc=68958585}}</ref>

==Final years==

In his final years he began to be particularly outspoken in his criticism of the Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite book|last=Parrinder|first=Patrick|authorlink=Patrick Parrinder|editor=Parrinder, Patrick; Partington, John S|title=The reception of H.G. Wells in Europe|year=2005|publisher=Thoemmes Continuum|location=London|isbn=0-8264-6253-7|page=11}}</ref> Wells's literary reputation declined as he spent his later years promoting causes that were rejected by most of his contemporaries. [[G. K. Chesterton]] quipped: "Mr. Wells is a born storyteller who has sold his birthright for a pot of message."<ref>Chesterton's reference is to the biblical "[[mess of pottage]]", implying that Wells had sold out his artistic birthright in mid-career: {{cite book|last1=Rolfe|first1=Christopher|last2=Parrinder|first2=Patrick|authorlink2=|title=H. G. Wells under revision: proceedings of the International H. G. Wells Symposium, London, Jul 1986|year=1990|publisher=Susquehanna University Press|location=Selinsgrove, PA|isbn=0-945636-05-9|page=9}}</ref>

Wells was a [[diabetes mellitus|diabetic]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.diabetes.org.uk/About_us/Who_we_are/History/HG-Wells/ |title=HG Wells - Diabetes UK |publisher=Diabetes.org.uk |date=2008-04-14 |accessdate=2012-06-10}}</ref> and a co-founder in 1934 of what is now [[Diabetes UK]], the leading charity for people living with diabetes in the UK.

On 28 October 1940, on radio station [[KTSA]] in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]], Wells was interviewed by [[Orson Welles]], who two years previously had performed an infamous [[The War of the Worlds (radio)|radio adaptation of ''The War of the Worlds'']].  In the interview, Wells admitted his surprise at the widespread panic that resulted from the broadcast, but acknowledged his debt to Welles for increasing sales of one of his "more obscure" titles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Flynn|first=John L. |authorlink=|title=War of the Worlds: from Wells to Spielberg by |publisher=Galactic|isbn=978-0-9769400-0-5|location=Owens Mills, MD|page=45|chapter=The legacy of Orson Welles and the Radio Broadcast}}</ref>
==Death==
Wells died of unspecified causes on 13 August 1946 at his home at 13 Hanover Terrace, [[Regent's Park]], London, aged 79.<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |title=H. G. Wells Dies in London |url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QuMKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2U4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7192,1092447&dq=hg+wells |quote=|work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=13 Aug 1946 |accessdate=29 Oct 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.att.net/~cimmeria/calendar.html |title=Calendar |work=Classics & Cheese |accessdate=12 Feb 2008}}</ref> Some reports also say he died of a heart attack at the flat of a friend in London. In his preface to the 1941 edition of ''[[The War in the Air]]'', Wells had stated that his [[epitaph]] should be: "I told you so. You ''damned'' fools."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ghostwolf.dyndns.org/words/authors/W/WellsHerbertGeorge/prose/warintheair/warinairpref1941.html |title=Preface to the 1941 edition of ''The War in the Air'' |accessdate=11 Feb 2008}}</ref> He was cremated at [[Golders Green Crematorium]] on 16 August 1946, his ashes scattered at sea.<ref>West, Anthony. ''H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life'', p.153. London: Hutchinson & Co, 1984. ISBN 0-09-134540-5).</ref> A commemorative [[blue plaque]] in his honour was installed at his home in [[Regent's Park]].

==Effects==
H.G. Wells has had a great impact on history.  His book, ''The Outline of History'' was read by [[José Figueres Ferrer]] in 1920 while at [[MIT]], the [[Costa Rican]] revolutionary and 3-time president, who took the book to heart, and permanently abolished the military of [[Costa Rica]] in 1948, and banned the military in the Constitution.  Despite opposing the United States in favour of the [[Sandinistas]] on the country's northern border, stern warnings against the US [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion, along with repelling Nicaraguan dictator [[Somoza]]'s invasion after turning to the [[Organization of American States]], and border disputes with Nicaragua, Costa Rica has held firmly to its belief against ever having a military.  Panama, after suffering from the combined effects of [[Manuel Noriega]]'s dictatorship and the [[US invasion of Panama]] in 1990, subsequently abolished its military and constitutionally banned it in 1994, no doubt influenced by its neighbour Costa Rica.  These two nations to this day have attained the highest [[Human Development Index]]es within [[Central America]] in a traditionally unstable and impoverished region.

==In popular fiction and film==
<!-- Please don't add items without proper third party sources. They will be removed. -->
In C. S. Lewis's novel ''[[That Hideous Strength]]'', the character Jules is a caricature of Wells,<ref>Rolfe; Parrinder (1990: 226)</ref> and much of Lewis's science fiction was written both under the influence of Wells and as an antithesis to his work (or, as he put it, an "exorcism"<ref>Lewis, C(live) S(taples). ''Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life''. New York & London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1955. p. 36.</ref> of the influence it had on him).

Bert is a portrayal of H. G. Wells in [[James A. Owen]]'s series, ''The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.''{{cn|date=September 2012}}

[[Malcolm MacDowell]] plays H. G. Wells in ''[[Time After Time (1979 film)]]''. 

Wells also features as a character in [[Felix J. Palma|Félix J. Palma]]'s novels ''[[The Map of Time]]''<ref>[http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Map_of_Time.html?id=L4HPACK67vUC&redir_esc=y "The Map of Time: A Novel - Felix J Palma"]. [[Google Books]]. Retrieved 20 August 2012.</ref> and ''The Map of the Sky'' (2012).

== See also ==
*[[Speculative fiction]]

==Further reading==
* [[Lovat Dickson|Dickson, Lovat]]. ''H.G. Wells: His Turbulent Life & Times''. 1969.
* Gilmour, David. ''The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling''. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002 (paperback, ISBN 0-374-18702-9); 2003 (paperback, ISBN 0-374-52896-9).
* [[Arnold Wycombe Gomme|Gomme, A. W.]], ''Mr. Wells as Historian''. Glasgow: MacLehose, Jackson, and Co., 1921.
* Gosling, John. ''Waging the War of the Worlds''. Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland, 2009 (paperback, ISBN 0-7864-4105-4).
* Mauthner, Martin. ''German Writers in French Exile, 1933–1940'', London: Vallentine and Mitchell, 2007, ISBN 978-0-85303-540-4.
* McLean, Steven. 'The Early Fiction of H. G. Wells: Fantasies of Science'. Palgrave, 2009, ISBN 9780230535626.
* Partington, John S. ''Building Cosmopolis: The Political Thought of H.G. Wells''. Ashgate, 2003, ISBN 978-0754633839. 
* Sherbone. Michael. ''H.G. Wells: Another Kind of Life''. London: Peter Owen, 2010, ISBN 978-0-72061-351-3.
* West, Anthony. ''H. G. Wells: Aspects of a Life''. London: Hutchinson, 1984.
*[[Michael Foot|Foot, Michael]]. ''H.G.: History of Mr.Wells''. Doubleday, 1985 (ISBN 978-1-887178-04-4), Black Swan, New edition, Oct 1996 (paperback, (ISBN 10: 0-552-99530-4)

==External links==
{{Sister project links|H. G. Wells}}
'''Sources—collections'''
* [http://hdl.handle.net/10111/MSS00071#letterH H. G. Wells papers] at [[University of Illinois]]
* {{gutenberg author|id=H._G._Wells|name=H. G. Wells}}, pre-1923.
* [http://www.gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty-n-z.html#letterW Works by H. G. Wells] at [[Project Gutenberg Australia]], post-1923.
* {{librivox author|H.+G.+Wells}}
* [http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3Ah%20g%20wells%20-contributor%3Agutenberg%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts Works by H. G. Wells] at [[Internet Archive]] (scanned books original editions color illustrated)
* {{isfdb name|id=H._G._Wells}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/86/ A Short History of the World], at bartleby.com.
* [http://www.readmefree.com/h-g-wells/ Works by H. G. Wells] to read online at ReadmeFree.
* {{worldcat id|lccn-n79-63613}}
* [http://www.gutenberg.ca/#catalogueW] at [[Project Gutenberg Canada]]

'''Sources—letters, essays and interviews'''
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/hg_wells/ Archive of Wells's BBC broadcasts]
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=52254 Film interview with H.G. Wells]
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=text&offset=719129302&textreg=3&query=h.+g.+wells&id=WelCran "Stephen Crane. From an English Standpoint"], by Wells, 1900.
* [http://www.schoolofwisdom.com/tagore-wells.html Rabindranath Tagore: In conversation with H. G. Wells]. [[Rabindranath Tagore]] and Wells conversing in Geneva in 1930.
* [http://www.pseudopodium.org/barbellionblog/wells-intro.php "Introduction"], to W. N. P. Barbellion's ''The Journal of a Disappointed Man'', by Wells, 1919.
* [http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/documents/wells2.htm "Woman and Primitive Culture"], by Wells, 1895.
* [http://alangullette.com/lit/shiel/letters/mps_wells.htm Letter], to [[M. P. Shiel]], by Wells, 1937.
* [http://www.newstatesman.com/200010090006 New Statesman – In the footsteps of H G Wells<!-- bot-generated title -->] at www.newstatesman.com, H.G. Wells called for a Human Rights Act.

'''Biography'''
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9076509/H-G-Wells "H. G. Wells"]. In ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' Online. <!-- Click "next page" for full article -->
* Parrinder, Patrick.  ‘Wells, Herbert George (1866–1946)’, [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]], [[Oxford University Press]], 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36831, accessed 21 Mar 2012].

'''Critical essays'''
* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=AusWell.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all "An Appreciation of H. G. Wells"], by [[Mary Austin]], 1911.

* "Socialism and the Family" (1906) by [[Ernest Belfort Bax|Belfort Bax]], [http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/1906/11/family.htm Part 1], [http://www.marxists.org/archive/bax/1907/01/soc-family-26-1.htm Part 2].
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2005/07/24/do2402.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2005/07/24/ixop.html "H. G. Wells warned us how it would feel to fight a ''War of the Worlds''"], by [[Niall Ferguson]], in ''[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]'', 24 Jun 2005.
* [http://people.lis.uiuc.edu/~wrayward/Wellss_Idea_of_World_Brain.htm "H. G. Wells's Idea of a World Brain: A Critical Re-assessment"], by W. Boyd Rayward, in ''Journal of the American Society for Information Science'' 50 (15 May 1999): 557–579
* [http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/books/heretics/ch5.html "Mr H. G. Wells and the Giants"], by G. K. Chesterton, from his book ''Heretics'' (1908).
* [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_23/ai_53569321 "The Internet: a world brain?"], by [[Martin Gardner]], in ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'', Jan–Feb 1999.
* [http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=9391 "Science Fiction: The Shape of Things to Come"], by Mark Bould, in ''The Socialist Review'', May 2005.
* [http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/74_2.pdf "Who needs Utopia? A dialogue with my utopian self (with apologies, and thanks, to H. G. Wells)"], by [[Gregory Claeys]] in ''Spaces of Utopia: An Electronic Journal'', no 1, Spring 2006.
* [http://www.thenation.com/doc/19450818/wells "When H. G. Wells Split the Atom: A 1914 Preview of 1945"], by [[Freda Kirchwey]], in ''[[The Nation]]'', posted 4 Sep 2003 (original 18 Aug 1945 issue).
* [http://orwell.ru/library/reviews/wells/english/e_whws "Wells, Hitler and the World State"], by George Orwell. First published: ''Horizon''. GB, London. Aug 1941.
* [http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110006849 "War of the Worldviews"], by [[John J. Miller]], in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' Opinion Journal, 21 Jun 2005.
* [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/vol02/no02/hart.htm "Wells' Autobiography"], by [[John Hart (author)|John Hart]], from ''New International'', Vol.2 No.2, Mar 1935, pp.&nbsp;75–76
* [http://revel.unice.fr/cycnos/document.html?id=615 "History in the Science Fiction of H. G. Wells"], by [[Patrick Parrinder]], ''Cycnos'', 22.2 (2006).
* [http://www.gresham.ac.uk/event.asp?PageId=45&EventId=486 "From the World Brain to the Worldwide Web"], by [[Martin Campbell-Kelly]], Gresham College Lecture, 9 Nov 2006.
* [http://www.bostonreview.net/BR32.1/gornick.html "The Beginning of Wisdom: On Reading H. G. Wells"], by [[Vivian Gornick]], "[[Boston Review]]", 31.1 (2007).
* [http://www.hycyber.com/SF/complete_wells.html John Hammond, The Complete List of Short Stories of H. G. Wells]
* [http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/h_g_wells.htm Biography] at a website examining the legacy of The War Of The Worlds]
*[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090921-hg-wells-hgwells.html "H.G. Wells Predictions Ring True, 143 Years Later"] at [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]]
==External links==
=== Encyclopedias ===
*[https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-G-Wells Encyclopedia Britannica: H.G. Wells]
**[https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Time-Machine Encyclopedia Britannica: The Time Machine]
*[https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/english-literature-20th-cent-present-biographies/h-g-wells Encyclopedia.com: H G Wells]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}









[[de:Wells, Herbert George]]

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