The lost world

The gifted author, Arthur Conan Doyle, is known for creating Sherlock Holmes. As a storyteller however, his unmatched brilliance is evident in the famed 'Professor Challenger tales. These works have a jewel among them: the inimitable The Lost World, that has never ceased to enthral readers since its publication over two centuries ago.

George E. Challenger is a self-assured professor who treats his 'doubting toms' with great disdain, verbal abuse, and occasionally, direct physical encounters. In brief, he hates the inquisitive yet unbelieving and the ignorant. Doyle's graphic account of an exploratory journey into the virgin heights off the Amazon rain forest is delightfully astounding, for, it has that masterly flavour of imagination, incisive details and unending sequences of daredevil acts. Young Malone is driven to a dangerous adventure at the behest of his appreciative sweetheart, and joins Challenger's expedition. What follows is sheer excitement. When he returns as a hero, the personal anti- climax that awaits him, is far surpassed by the adulation he receives from the public in general and scientific community in particular.