About the book: 1917 / The proposed new astronomical novel by Arthur Tran is one of the few successful works of educational fiction. This is the fruit of a collaboration between an artist and a scientist: it was written by an American fiction writer with the participation of a prominent scientist Robert Wood, a professor of physics at the University of Baltimore, a scientific power of the first rank. The collaboration of the physicist, famous for his ingenious experimental research, is reflected in the unique plot of the novel, in its careful and plausible development; and the participation of an experienced literary worker ensured that scientific details do not aggravate the narrative, but merge with it into an organic whole. The result is an original and entertaining work, in which both the artistic and scientific sides are at the proper height. The novel was published in 1917 in the best American monthly “Cosmopolitan”, from where we also reproduce the drawings illustrating the text.