This is a selection of comments received on The Lost World, the adaptation for younger or emergent readers, the graphic biography of Darwin and the activities that have taken place during the project.

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Maureen
16 Jan 2009, 14:19

The Lost World is an exciting pre-Jurassic Park adventure to unknown territory inhabited by strange creatures. Written at a time when women were portrayed as decorative, genteel accessories and ‘half-breeds’ were regarded as suspicious, the story still manages to catch our imagination and raises environmental and media concerns that are just as valid today. Somehow, we have lost some of the public excitement over a scientific discovery that is portrayed here. Perhaps The Lost World Read can help restore our curiosity on life. I recommend the new Peter Ackroyd novel The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein as another scientific and thrilling literary read.

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Paul
16 Jan 2009, 14:20

I remember as a child watching a film called The Land that Time Forgot. Being about an eight year-old boy at that time, I was obviously excited about seeing the dinosaurs. But even then I remember thinking to myself, how nice it would be to one day discover a previously unknown part of the world for myself – and being the first person to set eyes upon its unique plants and animals. I also remember hoping that the scientists would not discover everything about the world before I had time to grow-up – and that they might leave something aside just for me – something new and utterly unforeseen – my own secret world of adventure. I guess that when I read The Lost World, I become that eight year-old boy again. My rational dissipates and I find myself hoping against hope that there might yet be a Bigfoot, Abominable Snowman, Nessie etc. By 1912, ACD was an extensively travelled man – yet when I read this story, I sense that he too was at that time yearning for excitement, adventure and the unknown – something new! Ask the kids how they would feel growing-up in a world without the potential for self-discovery – and ask them what sort of world within a world they might wish to discover for themselves? As you know, kids are remarkable creatures and I reckon that their responses might be both insightful and surprising to us adults.

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Brian Blessed
16 Jan 2009, 14:22

When I was a child I dreamt of reaching and exploring the mysterious and primeval plateau of Mount Roraima – the fabled ‘ Lost World’ immortalized by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle In his book of the same name. In July 1998 I fulfilled this dream when I explored and reached the summit of Roraima in the Gran Sabana in the south east of Venezuela. 60% of this remarkable terrain is still unexplored. I feel that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book is a masterpiece of imaginative fiction, it is my favourite adventure book and I urge all lovers of adventure to read it.

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Doug
28 Jan 2009, 10:22

There have been so many cinematic and television remakes of The Lost World that we tend to forget the original. And what a kick it is to immerse yourself in Conan Doyle's 1912 thriller. The setting is exotic and the action never stops as a dysfunctional company of scientists and adventurers explores a remote plateau in South American where, it turns out, dinosaurs still live. As if they didn't have enough trouble dodging lumbering lizards and primitive humans, they have to deal with conflict and betrayal within the group. The characters are classics, including the larger-than-life Professor Challenger and the dashing Lord John Roxton. Conan Doyle's spare prose perfectly describes scenes of tropical splendour and shadowy menace. There are some episodes that really stay with you, such as the night encounter with the allosaurus and the final chaotic scene in The Queen's Hall. The whole thing is delivered with joy, gusto and humour.

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Survey
02 Feb 2009, 18:09

The Lost World has been one of my favourite books for a few years, and I am delighted to know that other people will get to read it - it's too good to just sit on a shelf, gathering dust!

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Survey
04 Feb 2009, 15:10

Not a book I would normally have read. Thoroughly enjoyed the abridged version. Excited about sharing it with my class of primary 7s! These reading projects are fantastic, and so worth while. My class still vividly remember reading Kidnapped, a few years ago, and they are not children that read routinely for pleasure.

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Julie
05 Feb 2009, 15:23

This book is my absolute favourite! It's a fantastic adventure and so incredibly easy to read. And it's so wonderful that the plot is based on an actually place (minus the dinosaurs though!)

As Brian has said, the location of the story is Mount Roraima in Venezuela, I'd ask anyone reading this to google 'Roraima' to have a look at a somewhere on Earth that really does look like a place where dinosaurs could have survived.

As Brian said... 60% of the area is still to be explored...!!!

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Survey
10 Feb 2009, 17:44

I haven't been part of a reading project before but would like to again - being part of a project brought my attention to a book I may not otherwise have read and I enjoyed being part of a nationwide group of readers - and having the background information provided by the guide and the website.

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Survey
10 Feb 2009, 17:45

I really enjoyed the book. It made me feel like a small boy again as it stirred up and fed my imagination that has been neglected for a long time it seems. Not only did I find the story entertaining, I also found the historical context interesting - how people in 1912 lived and spoke and wrote. Such a world away from our own time.

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Will
13 Feb 2009, 18:55

I really enjoyed participating and having the opportunity to re-read The Lost World. I was, however, shocked by the racist and eugenic ideas which flowed freely throughout the book both through the charaters themselves and inherently throughout the narrative. Portraying people of mixed race as the lowest of the low; Black Africans as trusty servants, strong and intelligence as horses; South American Indians as treacherous and/or greedy and so on left me agog! Whilst the author makes slight reference to the injustice of subjugation when discussing the enslavement of the ape-people and parodies the upper clases, he nonetheless portrays an inherent, classist anglocentrism throughout the narrative which I found offensive. I wonder if the book cover might usefully have carried some kind of warning about the attitudes expressed in the book.

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Tatiana
19 Feb 2009, 12:37

This is a fantastic - and huge - initiative. The web site's great too. It's so encouraging to see such a positive approach to reading for children and a relief to excite them through words, not screens. In anticipation of my children reading the book, I have read the abridged version and am now comparing it with the full version. I have to admit to some disappointment with the quality of the writing in the abridgement and I'm not completely convinced of some of the vocabulary exercises - does 'capsized' mean 'sank'? If this is repeated perhaps a little more trouble could be taken over this part - otherwise, really wonderful!

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Katie
24 Feb 2009, 12:04

I loved this action packed adventure story. The reading initiative has really opened my mind as this is not a book I would have chosen and now I am reading all about Darwin and Wallace too!!
The Lost World is a fantastic thriller with well written characters and great writing devices which add to the plot- for example I found the end of the novel as a newspaper report very effective.
I also found it a novel very much of its time, the attitudes to non-British characters and the colonialisation and destruction of the ape-men give a useful historic context and insight into past mind sets and prejudice.
I will definitely recommend this book and pass it on to friends.

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Survey
06 Mar 2009, 11:15

My book group found it an entertaining and well-written romp, despite the cardboard characters and enormous holes in the plot, but felt the racist attitudes of the time would need to be discussed with any children who read it.

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Survey
06 Mar 2009, 11:16

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story, as much as when I first read it so many years ago! Does rather make one wish for an adventure, however...!

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Survey
06 Mar 2009, 11:17

Wouldn't normally have picked up such a book, but found I couldn't put it down. It was a real thriller, very cleverly written yet easy to read. Wonderful escapism at the end of a long, hard day at work.

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Survey
10 Mar 2009, 17:08

I very much enjoyed the book and subsequently, our book club's discussion. I am 58 years old female and I don't think there is a "wrong age" to read this book. I know I would have read it with the same excitement in my teenage years. It is certainly not a boys/man's book. I think anyone interested in evolution and science, our planet will find the book a very pleasant read. Thank you for making this available to us in reading clubs.

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abigail
12 Mar 2009, 11:10

the story was good and fun. i love the book how its desighed

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Abbigail Jenkinson
12 Mar 2009, 11:13

The story was so good. I like the bit when they bring back gems.

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Declan Stone
12 Mar 2009, 11:20

I like it. when i was edward i get to mary gladeys.

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Bradley and Josh
12 Mar 2009, 11:22

It is very, very good.I liked the detail and the dinosaur pictures.I enjoy the quizzes and puzzles.I liked the wordsearch at the back.

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Jamie
12 Mar 2009, 11:23

The Lost World book was brilliant and it was scary because I thought Maple White was thrown off a cliff onto bamboo sticks.

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Chloe Rice
12 Mar 2009, 11:26

I loved the story and it was exciting.

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Hannah Harvey
12 Mar 2009, 11:28

I loved the book.It was exciting I couldn`t wait to hear it.I liked the bit where they brought back the baby dinosaur.

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Macie
12 Mar 2009, 11:30

The story was brilliant and fun. It was very exciting because I never knew what was going to happen in the next chapter.Eagle class might be acting out a play of the Lost World.

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abigail
12 Mar 2009, 11:31

The story is great and fun.
I like the bit when he climbed up the tree and drew a map of the place where they were.I also like the bit when Gomez chopped the branch and then he got shot by Lord John.I read the children's book because the adult one I think is too much to read, because at school I'm only a level ten.I also like the front of the cover of the book which is Walace and Gromit.

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Marcus
12 Mar 2009, 11:33

The story is brillant! I give it 10 out of 10.

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Caitlin Harvey
12 Mar 2009, 11:38

The story was very exciting and I enjoyed it. I liked Lord John because he saved every thing.

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Bailey and TJ
12 Mar 2009, 11:39

It was very good but it didn't tell us much about the battle between the ape men and the Indians.

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Tyler Snook
12 Mar 2009, 11:42

I really,really liked the book. I would love to meet the author.It was really good because I really like dinosaur and adventure stories.

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Daisy and Jake
12 Mar 2009, 11:45

We loved the book, it has got brillant pictures. We would love to meet the author.We love the story line.We hope you write another story of the lost world.
Our favourite characters are Edward Malone and the ape men.

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Caitlyn
12 Mar 2009, 11:51

I think that the story was fantastic! I really liked the activities. I really enjoyed them.
If I was in a lost world I would like to explore the place.I liked all the characters.My favourite character was Gladys and I also liked Lord John Roxton.

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Kirsty
12 Mar 2009, 11:53

I think that the story was supercool.I would like it if you can write a story about the lost world again.If you do write a lost world book again can Malone have a girl that loves him. I wonder what Lord Jonh and Edward Malone are doing now.I liked all the characters. My favourite characters are Gladys and Malone.

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Louis Coleman
12 Mar 2009, 12:08

It was brill! My favourite character was Lord John because he had a gun.

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Madeline Stephens
12 Mar 2009, 22:31

The use of the term 'half breed' was rather uncomfortable and the obliteration of the ape men reflected the 'supremacy of man' which saw the extinction of the Do Do's and man's love of gaining trophies in those days. So some of the ideology was somewhat dated, but the book was evocative of the time in an entertaining way as well. Although explicit, I felt there were some more subtle 'evolutionary themes' as well, such as Gladys wanting a worthy suitor.... despite the irony at the end. I have never read any Conan Doyle books before and it was a pleasure to have such an introduction. I remember an explorer coming to speak at our school about 15 years ago and the character of Professor Challenger reminded me of him. He had a booming voice and was very charismatic and entertaining. I also watched 'The Land that Time Forgot' as a child and did enjoy those sorts of films so it's nice to have read an original book of the genre.

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Madeline Stephens
12 Mar 2009, 22:51

Gosh! Having just posted my comment, I then read the other comments and saw we've been graced by the lovely Brian Blessed! When I pictured professor Challenger and the explorer who visited our school I thought of Brian... although I'm sure Brian is much nicer than Professor Challenger. And of course Brian has done some exploring of his own. Which leads back to Darwinian ideas again. Perhaps Brian possesses certain genetic traits which make him an ideal explorer?

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Sue Hobbs
13 Mar 2009, 12:27

Our Book Group enjoyed the 'Lost World' and found it, like others, an exciting read.

We did feel that the book cover gave the wrong impression about the story. Its more about the expedition, the plateau and all of its flora and fauna rather than just about the dinosaurs.

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Survey
13 Mar 2009, 13:39

This is a book that none of us would have chosen to read but we included it in our Book Group agenda to contribute to the 'mass read'. We found the beginning of the book rather 'stuffy' but all kept going and, once the expedition started, began to enjoy it. "I made myself keep reading and in the end I was captivated". We liked the rich and realistic descriptions of the plants and animals and the larger than life characters. It was like the books we read as a child, full of action and excitement.

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jade
17 Mar 2009, 14:52

i love these book i want to a millon books

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georgia
17 Mar 2009, 14:54

i love these books

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jamie & dexter
17 Mar 2009, 15:04

we really liked the book and we hated gladys potts marying a banking man.if we see a big book of the lost world we can read it together we hoped you liked our sentence.

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Owen
17 Mar 2009, 15:06

I liked the story.

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:12

I loved the adventure and the Edwardian stylised language.

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:13

A real 'Boys' Own' ripping yarn – not a book to be taken too seriously, but to be enjoyed in the spirit in which it was written! There were some delightfully comic moments, – the image of Professor Challenger catherine -wheeling down the hall, locked in mortal combat with Malone, is one which will stay with me! The depiction of the 'treacherous half-breeds' and the faithful Zamba, with his 'honest black face', somehow didn't appear politically incorrect. It just added to the fun, as did the intrepid Lord John Roxton's free usage of the term 'Young fellah m'lad ', when addressing Malone! Professor Challenger himself I found irresistible! A bundle of energy and irascibility, he bounds off the page in full three-dimensional Technicolor! I am neither "a boy who's half a man, nor a man who's half a boy," [the author’s intended readership!] – but I loved it!!

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:14

As well as taking me on an adventure to a land that time forgot, The Lost World also took me on a journey back in time, to the era in which this book was written. Although some of the language and attitudes in the book horrify us today, I was relieved not (on this occasion) to be distracted but such political incorrectness and enjoyed the read for what it was. Packed with action and danger I followed our intrepid heroes, all characters which came to life before my eyes, into a lost world of dinosaurs and ape men. I never would have picked this book up but was totally absorbed by it and read it in three sessions. Pure escapism.

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:16

Having looked forward to an old-fashioned adventure story, I was disappointed not ever to really get into it. Somehow on this occasion neither the story nor the characters grabbed me.

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:16

What I enjoyed most about The Lost World what not so much the storyline but the characters and the humour. The interaction of the main characters kept me reading, you could actually imagine all the goings on from the fearless intrepid travellers!

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Member of Penzance Reading Group
7 April 2009, 12:17

A great read for all those who enjoy a 'ripping yarn'. A cast of larger than life characters exploring unmapped terrain, facing great danger (hostile ape-men , preying dinosaurs) and they still found time to engage in vitriolic, academic debates!! Compared with other similar books of its time, 'The Lost World' is very readable and very enjoyable, and it gives a clear insight into the mind-set of the time.