George Ponderovo's quiet young life is changed for ever when he is forced to leave home and is apprenticed to his dynamic Uncle Edward in his chemist's shop. Edward, determined to 'strike out', invents a bogus medicine called Tono-Bungay which earns him a vast fortune. George's share of the wealth enables him to live out his fantasies by building an aeroplane. As he witnesses the spectacular rise of the Tono-Bungay empire he contemplates a corrupt English society that allows his uncle to wield so much power. This is the only popular edition of the text to include Wells's final revisions. The notes explain his multi-layered allusions, and the Introduction places the novel in its literary and historical context.