Books with author Serviss Garrett Putman

This volume features two novels by Garret Serviss, one of the most popular early science fiction writers. Serviss was an American astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer, who also wrote several non fiction books on astronomy. His novels were widely read, most published serially in magazines. The first novel in this volume, Edison's Conquest of Mars, is his most popular novel. This early space opera was written as a sequel to Fighters from Mars, an unauthorized and heavily altered version of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, and was among the first novel to use several themes and motifs that later became signature of the genre. The main character is Thomas Alva Edison. A COLUMBUS OF SPACE is about a trip to Venus (written before Edgar Rice Burroughs and Otis Adebert Kline Venus series), on a craft that can travel a tremendous speed, powered by the "power of the atom". In Venus, the travelers find different societies depending on if you live on the sun side or the no-sun side of the planet ... It is written in Jules Verne's style, and as an homage to Verne.

The maps show all of the stars visible to the naked eye in the regions of sky represented, and, in addition, some stars that can only be seen with optical aid. The latter have been placed in the maps as guide posts in the telescopic field to assist those who are searching for faint and inconspicuous objects referred to in the text. As the book was not written for those who possess the equipment of an observatory, with telescopes driven by clockwork and provided with graduated circles, right ascensions and declinations are not given. All of the telescopic phenomena described are, however, represented in the maps. Star clusters are indicated by a conventional symbol, and nebulae by a little white circle; while a small cross serves to mark the places where notable new stars have appeared. The relative magnitudes of the stars are approximately shown by the dimensions of their symbols in the maps, the smaller stars being represented by white dots and the larger by star-shaped figures. In regard to binary stars, it should be remembered that, in many cases, their distances and angles of position change so rapidly that any statement concerning them remains valid only for a few years at the most.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

The book is set following the abortive Martian attack depicted in Fighters from Mars, much more devastating and global than in H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, though in both works the onslaught is thwarted when the aliens die from bacterial illness. Determining that the Martians will inevitably return, Earth's leaders, including U.S. President William McKinley, Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Emperor Mutsuhito, unite the world against the common threat and plan an attack on Mars. American inventor Thomas Edison leads a group of scientists studying derelict Martian equipment; they are able to develop an anti-gravity device powered by electric repulsion as well as a disintegration ray. Using this new technology, the allies construct an armada of space ships for the attack. Edison takes some ships to the moon on a test run; using the first known fictional depiction of space suits, the explorers uncover evidence of an extinct civilization of giants. The armada heads on, discovering a solid gold asteroid being mined by the Martians. The humans fight two space battles against the Martians, suffering heavy casualties but ultimately winning thanks to the superiority of Edison's ray gun compared to the Martians' electric weapons. The humans take a captive, from whom they learn the Martian language.

How many thousands of educated people, trained in the best schools, or even graduates of the great universities, have made the confession: I never got a grip on astronomy in my student days. They didnt make it either plain or interesting to me; and now I am sorry for it. The purpose of the writer of this book is to supply the need of such persons, either in school, or at home, after school-days are ended. He does not address himself to special students of the subject although they, too, may find the book useful at the beginning but to that vast, intelligent public for whom astronomy is, more or less, a mystical midland, from which, occasionally, fascinating news comes to their ears. The ordinary text-book is too overladen with technical details, and too summary in its treatment of the general subject, to catch and hold the attention of those who have no special preliminary interest in astronomy.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

After their devastating attack, the Martians have been defeated by disease . . . yet strange lights soon flicker again upon the Planet of War, signaling the beginning of a new attack upon a weakened and demoralized Earth.Then Thomas Edison announces the development of a new electrically-powered ship -- with which he has already visited the Moon. Earth may not need meekly await the next wave of the Martian invasion!

Curiosities of the Sky is a classic astronomy guide by Garrett Serviss. What Froude says of history is true also of astronomy: it is the most impressive when the Cosmos transcends explanation. It is not the mathematics of astronomy, but the wonder and the mystery that seize upon the imagination. The calculation of an eclipse owes all its prestige to the sublimity of its data; the operation, in itself, requires no more mental effort than the preparation of a railway time-table. Contents: The windows of absolute night -- Star-clouds, star-clusters, and star-streams -- Stellar migrations -- The passing of the constellations -- Conflagrations in the heavens -- Explosive and whirling nebulae -- The banners of the sun -- The zodiacal light mystery -- Marvels of the aurora -- Strange adventures of comets -- Meteors, fire-balls, and meteorites -- The wrecking of the moon -- The great Mars problem -- The riddle of the asteroids.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This book was digitized and reprinted from the collections of the University of California Libraries. It was produced from digital images created through the libraries’ mass digitization efforts. The digital images were cleaned and prepared for printing through automated processes. Despite the cleaning process, occasional flaws may still be present that were part of the original work itself, or introduced during digitization. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found online in the HathiTrust Digital Library at www.hathitrust.org.

The idea of the author is to tell of Astronomy in plain language, but with as much scientific accuracy as plain language will permit, showing the wonder that is in them without getting away from the facts. Among the topics touched upon are: The strange unfixedness of the "fixed stars," the vast migrations of the suns and worlds constituting the universe; The slow passing out of existence of those collocations of stars which for thousands of years have formed famous "constellations," preserving the memory of mythological heroes and heroines, and perhaps of otherwise unrecorded history...