The book acquaints the reader with the best samples of short stories by Herbert George Wells (1866—1946), a well-known English science-fiction writer. The people become the heroes of his stories if something un­usual bursts into their well-regulated life: whether it be a scientific discovery, or a sorcerer who meets everybody’s wishes, or simply a hungry ostrich which accidentally swallowed a diamond. In these stories a thin line between reality and people’s notion of it is being erased, and humour and light irony in combi­nation with chimerical plots only intensify the effect of immersion into new worlds.