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Wood, R W

(1868-1955) US author and optical physicist of some note whose sf works were written with Arthur Train (whom see for details). His comic verses and drawings in How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers: A Manual of Flornithology for Beginners (coll 1907 coll) – positing unlikely Evolutionary links based on supposed visual similarities, as between "The Bee, the Beetle and the Beet" – once had a cult following. Further verse in similar vein appears in Animal Analogues (coll 1908 chap); both these slim volumes to some extent Parody the sentimental "nature faker" writers who anthropomorphized the habits of wild animals, leading to an early-twentieth-century US controversy. [DRL/JC]

Robert Williams Wood

born Concord, Massachusetts: 2 May 1868

died Amityville, New York: 11 August 1955

works (selected)

series

Benjamin Hooker

• The Man Who Rocked the Earth (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1915) with Arthur Train [first appeared 14-28 November 1914 Saturday Evening Post: Benjamin Hooker: hb/]
• The Moon Maker (Hamburg, New York: Krueger, 1958) with Arthur Train [chap: first appeared October 1916-February 1917 Cosmopolitan as "The Moonmaker": Benjamin Hooker: illus/hb/Frank D McSherry]

individual titles

• How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers: A Manual of Flornithology for Beginners (New York: Paul Elder, 1907) [poetry: coll: chap: illus/hb/R W Wood]
• Animal Analogues (New York: Paul Elder, 1908) [poetry: coll: chap: illus/hb/R W Wood]

about the author

• William Seabrook. Dr Wood, Modern Wizard of the Laboratory (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1941) [nonfiction: hb/]

links

• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Project Gutenberg
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 16:37 pm on 21 January 2025.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wood_r_w>