I enjoyed this book and its prescient critique of science and humanity's ability to manipulate nature. Griffin, "the most gifted physicist the world has ever seen" becomes obsessed with his experiments on invisibility. He will stop at nothing to obtain his goal- not even unethical and illegal acts. He sees no down side to invisibility; he held a "magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man- the mystery, the power, the freedom." After he successfully becomes invisible, he is disillusioned. He reflects that although he had dreamt of only the advantages of his experiment, he never thought of the absurdity, the disadvantages of invisibility. and resorts to extreme means to survive, including assault and murder. His "Reign of Terror" ends his career in "infinite disaster", a cautionary lesson on the consequences of scientific advances. The image of a scientist who only focuses of successfully completing a long thought unachievable scientific breakthrough without considering the consequences rings true.
Just because humans can achieve an scientific advancement, it doesn't necessarily follow that it will be completely beneficial to society or the environment. This lesson has truly played out in the 100 years since the novel was written. For instance, scientist building the atomic bomb were not sure what would happen once they tested it. Would it cause a chain reaction that would end the world? They weren't completely certain. ( For more horrifying details, I suggest reading "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes)
Other "advancements" such as using chemicals such as pesticides, using carbon based fuels (just to name a few obvious examples) had unforeseen consequences. The list goes on and on. Recently the consequences of using AI have become a topic that is of concern. (Will AI take over the world?) I hope not!
This was an enjoyable and thought provoking book. ( )

"Alone....it is wonderful how little a man can do alone! To rob a little, to hurt a little, and there is the end."

This book covers fairly familiar science fiction ground, namely that the lust for power, immortality, and in this case invisibility, is a dangerous thing. Griffin, aka the Invisible Man, is a scientist obsessed with taking science a step further. He figures out how to make light refract differently off the body, thus rendering the person invisible to the average person’s eyes. The story revolves around him befriending a man and telling him the story of how he became invisible.

This book has comedy, tragedy, action and of course science fiction but it is also about alienation. Griffin is a sociopath with no meaningful friends. He steals money from his father to fund his obsession for scientific success not realising that that money was in fact borrowed and the loss would lead directly to his father's suicide. He has isolated himself from his contemporaries and comes unstuck when he reaches out to an old classmate.

Truthfully, there isn’t that much to this story here, what there is fairly simplistic and there are some serious holes in the 'science.' On the surface, it is a pretty simple thriller, but it is still interesting and I loved the moral questions that it prompted. Most of us have probably wanted to be invisible at some point in our life but here Wells asks the question, what would we do if we were truly invisible. Would we do good or evil with our new power? Would we all be tempted to do bad things knowing no one could see us do it?

Given that the fact that Wells wrote his books well over a century ago I still find it remarkable how he is still asking us to look at the world in new ways. The issues in this book strike at how we deal with sudden scientific advances, whilst there are obvious benefits there are also inherent risks. Wells foresaw that societies would change under the impact of new innovations. ( )

A disappointment. Shallow and dated, with far too much shouting, and bustling, around Griffin - a nasty character. There is no attempt by Wells to draw metaphorical implications, or to explore existential matters. ( )

Starts to pick up for the ending, but otherwise a rather strange story structure.
The reign of terror is what I want to remember about this one.

Story: 3 / 10
Characters: 4
Setting: 3
Prose: 8 ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Personally, I had never heard of it until I saw it in a book store and bought it. I read it in preparation of the movie, which I have not seen yet.

The Invisible Man is a story that follows the old saying “be careful what you wish for” with a tragic ending. No one ever said that having everything you thought you wanted was going to be fulfilling. ( )