Other editions of book The Poison Belt

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Poison Belt follows on from The Lost World, but this time Professor Challenger trades the jungle setting for a room in his own house. Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee arrive at the Professor's home, each with a tank of oxygen - the result of receiving a puzzling behest from Challenger via telegraph. Challenger and his wife usher them into a sealed room - in his research the Professor has predicted that a poisonous ether belt is about to reach the earth and quite likely cause the end of the humanity.

Challenger sends telegrams asking his three companions from The Lost World — Edward Malone, Lord John Roxton, and Professor Summerlee – to join him at his home outside London, and instructs each of them to 'bring oxygen'. During their journey there, they see people's behaviour become excitable and erratic. On arrival they are ushered into a sealed room, along with Challenger and his wife. In the course of his researches into various phenomena, Challenger has predicted that the Earth is moving into a belt of poisonous ether which, based on its effect on the people of Sumatra earlier in the day, he expects to stifle humanity. Challenger seals them in the room with cylinders of oxygen, which he (correctly) believes will counter the effect of the ether.The five wait out the Earth's passage through the poison belt as they watch the world outside, human and animal, die and machines run amok. (According to Victorian values – or to Doyle's understanding of them – Challenger's servants are left outside the sealed room, and they continue to perform their duties until the ether overtakes them.) Finally, the last of the oxygen cylinders is emptied, and they open a window, ready to face death. To their surprise, they do not die, and conclude the Earth has now passed through the poison belt. They journey through the dead countryside in Challenger's car, finally arriving in London. They encounter only one survivor, an elderly, bed-ridden woman prescribed oxygen for her health.After returning to Challenger's house, they discover that the effect of the ether is temporary, and the world reawakens with no knowledge that they have lost any time at all. Eventually Challenger and his companions manage to convince the world what happened – a task made easier by the tremendous amount of death and destruction caused by runaway machines and fires that took place while the world was asleep – and humanity is shocked into placing a higher value on life.

The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written roughly a year before the outbreak of World War I, much of it takes place in a single room in Challenger's house — rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set in the jungle. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to influence his writing.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle needs no introduction. For anyone who is even remotely familiar with Sherlock Holmes, Doyle’s most popular character – as well as one of the most famous fictional detectives of all time – Doyle’s brilliant logic and highly imaginative storylines are already quite well-known.As a sequel to Doyle’s successful novel, The Lost World, The Poison Belt comes as a completely unconventional novella that – like most of the author’s works – took the world by storm when it was first published.The tale reintroduces us to the brilliant but quite arrogant Professor George Challenger who now resides peacefully in his home outside London. His discoveries, however, are quite startling, and he soon finds himself forced to take drastic measures in order to save himself and his friends from imminent danger: a poisonous cloud of ether that he predicts the Earth would pass through very shortly.Wasting no time, Challenger sends telegrams to all of his three companions from The Lost World – Lord John Roxton, Edward Malone and Professor Summerlee – and instructs them all to “bring oxygen,” as he correctly assumes that the intake of excess oxygen can counter the effects of the poison cloud. Sealing themselves in an isolated room, Challenger and his friends impatiently await the passing of the cloud, hoping that once they emerge from the sealed room, the danger will have passed.The Poison Belt is one of the most intriguing stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on a subject that was quite uncommon at the time, and more likely to be found in science fiction novels.The fascinating psychological evolution of Doyle’s characters, the creative developments of the story and the author’s unmistakable style will all make for a delightful read that still remains a brilliant example pointing out just how much it would take for humanity to change its ways.

What would you do if you had discovered that the planet was about to be engulfed in a belt of poisonous "ether" from outer space? Professor Challenger invites a hand-picked crew of adventurers and scientists to his home outside London, which has been fortified with several hours' worth of oxygen. Challenger & Co. assemble in front of a picture window to witness the end of all life on the planet. As birds plummet from the sky, trains crash, and men and women topple over before their horrified gaze, they debate everything from the possibilities of the universe to the "abysses that lie upon either side of our material existence".

"Nothing could be done. The thing was universal and beyond our human knowledge or control. It was death for young and old, for weak and strong, for rich and poor, without hope or possibility of escape." Must Professor George Challenger and friends, barricaded in a room, see Earth die? As globe passes through a belt of poisonous ether, terror sweeps mankind; cities riot; communications cease. Novella.

The Poison Belt is a science fiction novel by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, the second book about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, much of it takes place in a single room in Challenger's house in Sussex. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to influence his writing.

The Poison Belt was the second story, a novella, that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote about Professor Challenger. Written in 1913, much of it takes place in a single room in Challenger's house in Sussex – rather oddly, given that it follows The Lost World, a story set largely outdoors in the wilds of South America. This would be the last story written about Challenger until the 1920s, by which time Doyle's spiritualist beliefs had begun to influence his writing.