Hollow Earth: The Long and Curious History of Imagining Strange Lands, Fantastical Creatures, Advanced Civilizations and Marvelous Machines Below the Earth's Surface - Hardcover

Standish, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0306813734 ISBN 13: 9780306813733

Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc, 2006

Synopsis

Beliefs in mysterious underworlds are as old as humanity. But the idea that the earth has a hollow interior was first proposed as a scientific theory in 1691 by Sir Edmond Halley (of comet fame), who also suggested that there might be life down there as well. Hollow Earth traces the many surprising, marvelous, and just plain weird permutations his ideas have taken over the centuries. Both Edgar Allan Poe and (more famously) Jules Verne picked up the torch in the nineteenth century, the latter with his science fiction epic A Journey to the Center of the Earth. The notion of a hollow earth even inspired a religion at the turn of the twentieth century-Koreshanity, which held not only that the earth was hollow, but also that we're all living on the inside. Utopian novels and adventures abounded at this same time, including L. Frank Baum's hollow earth addition to the Oz series and Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar books chronicling a stone-age hollow earth. In the 1940s an enterprising science-fiction magazine editor convinced people that the true origins of flying saucers lay within the hollow earth, relics of an advanced alien civilization. And there are still devout hollow earthers today, some of whom claim there is a New Age utopia lurking beneath the earth's surface, with at least one entrance near Mt. Shasta in California. Hollow Earth travels through centuries and cultures, exploring how each era's relationship to the idea of a hollow earth mirrored its hopes, fears, and values. Illustrated with everything from seventeenth-century maps to 1950s pulp art to movie posters and more, Hollow Earth is for anyone interested in the history of strange ideas that just won't go away.

About this title

Review:

"(David Standish's) premise is rewarding...The hollow earth is full of significance." -- FT Magazine, 12th August 2006

Synopsis:

A fascinating and beautifully illustrated cultural history of ideas about what might exist under the Earth's surface - in mythology, religion, science, literature and plain old crackpottery Beliefs in mysterious Underworlds are as old as humanity. From the ancient Sumerians to Incas to modern Christians, nearly every culture has had its special version. However, the idea that the earth has a hollow interior where strange lands, creatures and civilizations may exist was first proposed as a scientific theory in 1692 by Sir Edmund Halley (of Halley's Comet fame). Since then, it has been used as a popular literary motif by writers as varied as Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, Lewis Carroll, L Frank Baum and Edgar Rice Burroughs to name a few. Hollow Earth traces this notion through the centuries and cultures, exploring how each era's relationship to the notion of a hollow earth reflected its particular hopes, fears and values.

Lavishly illustrated throughout, it features a wide collection of artwork including Bosch's inspired surreal nightmares of Hell, seventeenth-century maps and diagrams of the interior, illustrations from early Jules Verne editions and other novels plus film posters and much more. Unique and fascinating, Hollow Earth will appeal to readers of many sorts: those interested in the history of science, religion, utopian fiction and real-life experiments, sci-fi fans, film buffs and those intrigued by the remarkable evolution of ideas over the centuries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press Inc
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0306813734
• ISBN 13: 9780306813733
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304