This is the only Wells novel I can imagine going back to again in my old age. It has had the good fortune to be made into 2.5 wonderful films. (The Charles Laughton and Burt Lancaster versions count as one each, and the Marlon Brando counts as a half, with Brando serving as the other half.) A meditation on the essential nature of man as well as a fast-moving adventure, it will leave you thinking, as the best science fiction does, about things you may have taken for granted.