The World Set Free

With this publication, Fabian Reimann embarks on a journey into the Warburg universe and explores the concepts of the world put forward by the ever-popular science-fiction writer H. G. Wells (1866 – 1946). His novel The World Set Free, which was published in 1914, anticipated various future scenarios: World War I, aerial warfare over Europe, atomic bombs in 1956, the reconstruction of Europe, and the emergence of a world government. There are descriptions of progressive gender equality, English as the international second language, and the redundancy of money in the traditional sense. Many of his ideas have manifested in one form or another. Sometimes, there may have been a reciprocal effect, as in the book’s promotion of the US atomic bomb programme.
The publication by Fabian Reimann is nevertheless not an unconditional veneration of Wells as a visionary but rather combines the multifaceted original text with an engaging visual essay.