Welcome to The Lost World Read 2009!

You’ve got hold of a book that is part of the UK’s largest reading campaign. We’re celebrating Arthur Conan Doyle’s 150th birthday and Charles Darwin’s bicentenary by bringing people across the UK together to read a classic adventure tale of a lost plateau, discovery and dinosaurs - The Lost World.

Investigative journalist Ed Malone joins a band of explorers sent to South America to prove that deep in the jungle there is a forgotten world where dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals still survive. What do they find - and will they make it home to tell the tale? It's the first Conan Doyle story featuring the larger-than-life Professor Challenger.

And, welcome to The Lost Book!

The Lost Book is a collaborative adventure in storytelling. It’s taking place online and anyone can join in. At its heart is an animated web series: the adventures of 21st century investigative journalist Aileen Adler.

There are loads of ways you can get involved and it won’t cost you anything. You can help us to write the story for the web series. You can join our special guest writer Jasper Fforde to reconstruct a stolen book in our weekly microstory competition. You can enter our soundtrack competition by creating your own music for the web series. You can produce your own animation.

And, you can read this book, tell us what you thought of it, give it away, and follow its journey. So join in, wherever you are, and have fun!

(Oh, and sometimes you’ll need a password to get into sections of www.thelostbook.net. Only people with a copy of this book will have the password, so these areas will be exclusive to you. The password is: the last word on page 150 of this book. Don’t forget!)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is travelling to Molyneux in Oxfordshire, who will release it at a BookCrossing table at Kennington Library on Saturday 07 March for UK World Book Day.

If you've found this book - welcome to BookCrossing! I hope you enjoy The Lost World and then pass it on to continue its journey. It'd be great to find out where it has travelled to and read your review. You can stay completely anonymous if you prefer, or you can join BookCrossing (it's free) if you'd like to take part in this booklovers' community.

To find out more about the adventure of The Lost Book, go to the website at www.thelostbook.net and to read more about The Lost World and the reading campaign here in Edinburgh check out www.cityofliterature.com.

Picked up from Mol without too much persuasion because (a) I'm not sure I've ever read it and (b) I had a quick look at the Lost Book website but haven't yet had the courage to join in, so this might be a stimulus. Will bounce it towards the top of Mount Toobie and get it out there in this part of the Midlands soon.

Definitely a Boy's Own adventure story - the one real woman in it starts as strong and decisive, having a huge impact on the narrator's life, but ends up being capricious and as incomprehensible as the rest of the species were to the bold adventurers of the time. I have vague recollections of film versions of this, and I'm sure Professor Challenger was never portrayed as the ugly brute described by Doyle in those. Is that because a visual medium has a greater need for the appearance of the hero to reflect his status in the narrative? For all that there are elements of the anti-hero about him, he is still more a caricature than a complex character and for this, as well as the (non) role of the female of the species and other inferior beings I would say this certainly shows Doyle as the forerunner to Asimov in the world of sci-fi.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

To be released at this afternoon's BCBirmie meet.

If you're a fellow bookcrosser, you know the drill. If not, read on:

Dear Reader,

If this is your introduction to Bookcrossing, welcome. Thank you for taking the time to call in here and tell us that you have found this book and, perhaps, what you have thought of it.

This book is now yours to do with as you choose. Keep it, pass it on, or leave it around for someone to find; but please leave the label so it can keep in touch with us. If you would like to share in its future travels, and find out what other people think of it, then do join us using the link at the top of the page: BookCrossing is free, private and fun!

And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me, CaterinaAnna, as your referring member.

Happy reading!

Picked up at the meet

Welcome to BookCrossing. Thanks for taking the time to visit the site. Please make a journal entry to let me know that you have found this book, you may do this anonymously or you may join. There is no charge to join this site, if you are like myself from time to time you may donate to help support Bookcrossing; but it is not mandatory. If you are new to BookCrossing and choose to join, please indicate that you were referred by Nordie. Membership is free and your name and e-mail address is not shared with anyone else and it will never be sold. BookCrossing is a world-wide group of people who love books and wish to share them with others.

Please enjoy this book, if it is not your genre pass it along to someone else or wild release it. In this way we promote literacy and at the same time we can watch our book continue on its journey