Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, or, the Wreck of the Airship

Appleton, VictorProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.8
Word count
226K words
Chapters
23

Tags

English Originals Science FictionChildren's Literature Polar ExplorationScience EnlightenmentAdventure JourneyAviation AdventureHeroismCourage and GrowthCuriosityLight ReadingYoung InventorYouth Reading

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, or, the Wreck of the Airship by Victor AppletonAuthor: Appleton, Victor,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice, or, The Wreck of the Airship is an installment in Victor Appleton's juvenile adventure series and is a public-domain ebook. It follows the young inventor Tom Swift through an airship wreck and an expedition into ice caves; the plot advances through technological imagination and a succession of dangers, bearing the hallmarks of early science-fiction adventure. Though its depictions of flying machines and polar environments are dated, readers can still sense how early twentieth-century popular juvenile literature romanticized science and exploration. As an English-language ebook, its prose is relatively straightforward and suited to extensive reading. As you read, note how the author uses technological devices to drive the plot and how the young hero responds to crises, which helps clarify the narrative conventions of such series fiction.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Use it as extensive reading material in English: one or two chapters a day keeps the plot coherent.
  2. Note how airship and ice-cave scenes are described to appreciate the imaginative character of early adventure fiction.
  3. If the series interests you, read other Tom Swift stories in publication order to see how the formula evolves.
  4. Don't look up every technical term; follow the plot first, then revisit key passages.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23

FAQ

Is this book suitable for English beginners? It can serve as an extensive-reading attempt, but it is not designed for absolute beginners. The prose is generally plain and strongly plot-driven, yet it includes period technical vocabulary and long narrative sentences. It suits readers with basic English reading ability who are comfortable looking up a few words; beginners might start with a simplified edition or a parallel translation before trying the original.
Do the Tom Swift books need to be read in order? The available information does not indicate a strong link between this volume and the others. Such juvenile series typically build each volume around a relatively self-contained adventure, with character relationships running throughout. Reading in order helps you follow the growth of the hero and supporting characters, but this volume can generally be read on its own and still be followed; readers can choose flexibly based on the books at hand.
Is the science in the book still accurate today? This is an early juvenile adventure novel, and its flying machines and polar settings clearly reflect the imagination of their era; it should not be treated as rigorous science writing. Its value lies more in showing how popular literature of the time romanticized technology and exploration. Readers should treat it as literary imagination rather than scientific explanation, and reading it with a historical eye is more appropriate.

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About the author

Appleton, Victor Author

Victor Appleton is the credited author of the Tom Swift series of juvenile science-adventure novels. Public information about his real identity is limited, and the name is generally understood to be a pen name used by a team of writers organized by the publisher. The library holds 31 of his works, covering subjects such as motor-boats, electric rifles, airships, sky racers, submarines, electric runabouts and air gliders. The protagonists often embark on adventures through their inventions, combining scientific imagination with a sense of adventure. These works are known for their brisk pacing and rich imagination, and they have had a certain influence on twentieth-century juvenile science and technology reading.