The World Set Free

The World Set Free is a 1913 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells. It was published in 1914. The book is based on a prediction of a more destructive weapon than the world has yet seen. It had appeared first in serialised form with a different ending as A Prophetic Trilogy. That form was made up of three books: A Trap to Catch the Sun, The Last War in the World and The World Set Free.

The novel tells the story of man’ using the (at that time) newly-discovered power of the atom. It tells how this power almost destroys civilisation in a war.  In a sense, the book seems to have ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The World Set Free is an example of how science and science fiction can work together and build upon each other.