19世紀與20世紀之交，車卓教授帶領一個科學考察團，離開煙霧彌漫的倫敦，遠赴南美雨林尋找時光停滯的傳說之地——那裡仍有恐龍漫步大地。同行的有車卓教授的學術勁敵薩馬裡教授、勇敢的獵人羅斯頓勛爵、年輕記者馬龍。考察團將經歷種種冒險，在失落的世界掙扎求存……

亞瑟·柯南·道爾，1859年出生於蘇格蘭的愛丁堡。他學過醫，並於1882年開始掛牌行醫。剛開業的時候，來找這位年輕醫生看病的人並不多。於是，在等待病人就診的時問裡，他開始嘗試寫點東西。道爾開始寫的一些短篇故事並沒有取得成功，然而他的第一部福爾摩斯探案小說《血字的研究》卻旋即取得了巨大的成功。道爾以他曾經就讀的醫科大學韻一位老師約瑟夫·貝爾為原形，創造了福爾摩斯的形像。貝爾醫生是個很聰慧的人，他不僅能為病人診病，而且能從他們的外貌、背景和習慣推斷出有關他們的一些情況。於是道爾也賦予了福爾摩斯這種奇妙的觀察和推斷能力，使這位偉大的神探能從委托人嘴裡怪誕、神秘甚至有時荒謬的描述中發現線索。在六十六個短篇故事和四部長篇小說中，亞瑟·柯南·道爾還塑造了夏洛克·福爾摩斯及他的朋友兼助理約翰·華生醫生的形像。本書收錄的這三個懸疑小說來自短篇故事集《福爾摩斯探案集》。當福爾摩斯被塑造成為一個世界聞名的傳奇人物時，道爾也被認為是一個犯罪分析專家。因此，有人將真實生活中的案子帶給他，相信他能還被冤枉入獄的人一個清白。也許世界上沒有哪個作家能像亞瑟·柯南·道爾那樣，能把筆下的夏洛克·福爾摩斯塑造得讓讀者覺得如此真實。

忘了邁克爾·克賴頓的書和斯皮爾伯格的電影吧，這本書中講述的失落世界中的恐怖歷險纔是真正的原創。
——書店
這個歷久彌新的冒險故事不僅為《金剛》和《侏羅紀公園》提供了靈感，而且仍是同類故事中最引人人勝的。
——美國《圖書館期刊》

Chaptet 1 There Are Heroisms All Round Us
Chaptet 2 Try Your Luek wifh Professor Challenger
Chaptet 3 He Is a Perfecfly Impossible Person
Chaptet 4 Its Just the Very Diggest Thing in the World
Chaptet 5 Ouesfion！
Chaptet 6 I Was the Flail of the Lord
Chaptet 7 Tomorrow We Disappear into the Unknown
Chaptet 8 The Ouflying Pickers of the New World
Chaptet 9 Who Could Have Foreseen It?
Chaptet 10 The Mosf Wonderful Things Have Happened
Chaptet 11 For Once I Was the Hero
Chaptet 12 It Was Dreadful in the Forest
Chaptet 13 A Sight I Shall Never Forger
Chaptet 14 Those Were the Real Conquesfs
Chaptet 15 Our Eyes Have Seen Greaf Wonders
Chaptet 16 A Procession！ A Procession！

For an hour or more that evening ！ listened to his monotonous chirrupabout bad money driving out good， the token value of silver， the deprecia-tion of the rupee， and the true standards of exchange.
Suppose，he cried， with feeble violence， that all the debts in theworld were called up simultaneously and immediate payment insistedupon. What， under our present conditions， would happen then？
I gave the self-evident answer that I should be a ruined man， uponwhich he jumped from his chair， reproved me my habitual levity， whichmade it impossible for him to discuss any reasonable subject in my presence，and bounced off out of the room to dress for a Masonic meeting.
At last I was alone with Gladys， and the moment of fate had come！All that evening I had felt like the soldier who awaits the signal which willsend him on a forlom hope， hope of victory and fear of repulse alternatingin his mind.
She sat with that proud， delicate profile of hers outlined against the redcurtain. How beautiful she was！ And yet how aloofl We had been friends，quite good friends; but never could I get beyond the same comradeshipwhich I might have established with one of my fellow-reporters upon theGazette——perfectly frank， perfectly kindly， and perfectly unsexual. Myinstincts are all against a woman being too frank and at her ease with me.It is no compliment to a man. Where the real sex feeling begins， timidityand distrust are its companions， heritage from old wicked days when loveand violence went often hand in hand.