
First Lensman
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $22.84
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Harry Shaw
-
By:
-
E.E. Doc Smith
About this listen
No human had ever landed on the hidden planet of Arisia. A mysterious space barrier turned back both men and ships. Then the word came to Earth; "Go to Arisia!" Samms of the Galactic Patrol went—and came back with the Lens, the strange device that gave its wearer powers no man had ever possessed before. Samms knew the price of that power would be high. But even he had no idea of the ultimate cost, and the weird destiny waiting for the First Lensman.
Book 1 of the classic Lensmen series by E.E. 'Doc' Smith.
Public Domain (P)2022 Mark NelsonListeners also enjoyed...
-
Triplanetary
- First in the Lensman Series
- By: E.E. Doc Smith
- Narrated by: Phil Chenevert
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added six new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year.
-
-
Audible performance review
- By ron Roscoe on 10-14-18
By: E.E. Doc Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
-
-
For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
-
Sixth Column
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....
-
-
The Yellow Peril as it was
- By Thomas Martin on 04-16-12
-
PartnerShip
- Brainship
- By: Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball
- Narrated by: Constance Towers
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new "shellperson"—someone born with grave physical disabilities that required her human body to be encased in a massive titanium column—is provided a direct link between her mind and the computer of her ship, XN-935. Nancia is now a brand-new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds, the “brainship” of the most advanced interstellar ships around. But her innocent vision of human nature is shattered on her first voyage. Nevertheless, the idealistic Nancia and her worldly-wise new “brawn” partners must band together to save the galaxy.
-
-
abrided
- By Shirley Lafferty on 03-30-19
By: Anne McCaffrey, and others
-
The Galaxy Primes
- By: E. E. Smith
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men and two women, all Psionic Primes, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the cosmos to find their way back to Earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's classic science fiction novel - one of the greatest space operas of all time!
By: E. E. Smith
-
Triplanetary
- First in the Lensman Series
- By: E.E. Doc Smith
- Narrated by: Phil Chenevert
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Triplanetary was first serialized in Amazing Stories in 1934. After the Lensman series became popular, Smith took his Triplanetary story and turned it into the first of the Lensman series, using it as a prequel to give the back story for the protaganists in the Lensmen series. He added six new chapters, doubling it in size and it's really a different book from the serialized novel, being published 14 years after the first. It was put into Gutenberg just last year.
-
-
Audible performance review
- By ron Roscoe on 10-14-18
By: E.E. Doc Smith
-
The Skylark of Space
- Skylark Series #1
- By: E. E. "Doc" Smith
- Narrated by: Reed McColm
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brilliant government scientist Richard Seaton discovers a remarkable faster-than-light fuel that will power his interstellar spaceship, The Skylark. His ruthless rival, Marc DuQuesne, and the sinister World Steel Corporation will do anything to get their hands on the fuel. They kidnap Seaton's fiancée and friends, unleashing a furious pursuit and igniting a burning desire for revenge that will propel The Skylark across the galaxy and back.
-
-
Space Operas - Good Story telling!
- By Madge on 01-27-10
-
Spacehounds of IPC
- By: E.E. "Doc" Smith Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Harry Shaw
- Length: 9 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Inter-Planetary Corporation has sent the space ship Arcturus on a routine fact-finding mission, only to have it ambushed by a strange alien craft, leaving physicist Steve Stevens and Nadia Newton first stranded on Ganymede, and then caught up in the Vorkul-Hexan war. A space adventure of staggering proportions by science fiction master writer E. E. “Doc” Smith.
-
-
For me this book was a gift!
- By Roger Lorette on 06-24-15
-
Sixth Column
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The totalitarian East has triumphed in a massive invasion, and the United States has fallen to a dictatorial superpower bent on total domination. That power is consolidating its grip through concentration camps, police state tactics, and a total monopoly upon the very thoughts of the conquered populace. A tiny enclave of scientists and soldiers survives, unbeknownst to America’s new rulers. It’s six against six million - but those six happen to include a scientific genius, a master of subterfuge and disguise who learned his trade as a lawyer-turned-hobo, and a tough-minded commander....
-
-
The Yellow Peril as it was
- By Thomas Martin on 04-16-12
-
PartnerShip
- Brainship
- By: Anne McCaffrey, Margaret Ball
- Narrated by: Constance Towers
- Length: 3 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A new "shellperson"—someone born with grave physical disabilities that required her human body to be encased in a massive titanium column—is provided a direct link between her mind and the computer of her ship, XN-935. Nancia is now a brand-new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds, the “brainship” of the most advanced interstellar ships around. But her innocent vision of human nature is shattered on her first voyage. Nevertheless, the idealistic Nancia and her worldly-wise new “brawn” partners must band together to save the galaxy.
-
-
abrided
- By Shirley Lafferty on 03-30-19
By: Anne McCaffrey, and others
-
The Galaxy Primes
- By: E. E. Smith
- Narrated by: Arthur Vincet
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were four of the greatest minds in the Universe: Two men and two women, all Psionic Primes, lost in an experimental spaceship billions of parsecs from home. And as they mentally charted the cosmos to find their way back to Earth, their own loves and hates were as startling as the worlds they encountered. Here is E. E. Smith's classic science fiction novel - one of the greatest space operas of all time!
By: E. E. Smith
-
The Door into Summer
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dan Davis, an electronics engineer, had finally made the invention of a lifetime: a household robot that could do almost anything. Wild success was within reach, but then Dan's life was ruined. In a plot to steal his business, his greedy partner and greedier fiancée tricked him into taking the "long sleep": suspended animation for 30 years.
-
-
classic
- By Greg on 04-05-09
-
Firefly: Big Damn Hero
- Firefly, Book 1
- By: James Lovegrove
- Narrated by: James Anderson Foster
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Battle of Serenity Valley was the turning point that led the Independents to their defeat at the hands of the Alliance. Yet the Browncoats had held the valley for weeks against all odds, before being ordered to lay down their arms. Command stated they refused to send in airpower because the ground war was "too hot". But the soldiers who were there insist that was not true.... While picking up a new cargo on Persephone, Captain Malcolm Reynolds is kidnapped by a bunch of embittered veteran Browncoats who suspect him of sabotaging the Independents during the war.
-
-
Take me out to the black!
- By Adam on 12-06-19
By: James Lovegrove
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman - Foreword
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the twentieth century: the story of Elric, emperor of the dying kingdom of Melniboné. For a hundred centuries the Melnibonéans have ruled from the Dragon Isle of Imrryr. Now, after years of corruption and decadence, Elric’s amoral cousin Prince Yyrkoon, the brother of his beloved Cymoril, sets his eyes on the Ruby Throne. Elric must face his treacherous cousin not as a warrior but as a sorcerer king once again in league with the ancient gods of Melniboné, the Chaos Lords, and thus sealing his inexorable fate.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
Robert Heinlein Radio Dramas
- By: Robert Heinlein
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This collection features four classic, dramatized Robert Heinlein stories: "Universe", "Requiem", "The Green Hills of Earth", and "The Roads Must Roll".
-
-
Heinlein at his Best
- By Chris on 08-21-07
By: Robert Heinlein
-
Slip Runner
- By: J.N. Chaney, M.F. Lerma
- Narrated by: Neill Thorne
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cole Riker is a Slip Runner. A contractor tasked with finding alien salvage in exchange for credits. For an ex-smuggler like Cole, there’s a catch: Don’t break the terms of parole. That means doing things by the book. Find salvage, turn it in, get paid. But everything changes when a retrieval mission lands him in a previously unknown sector. There, he finds the material he’s been sent to recover, along with something more. A brand-new form of ancient alien life.
-
-
Great Start on a new Renegade Universe Series
- By Robert Meridy Jr on 11-04-22
By: J.N. Chaney, and others
-
The Cat Who Walks through Walls
- By: Robert Heinlein
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.
-
-
Abridge Version
- By Klipper421 on 10-05-12
By: Robert Heinlein
-
Ringworld
- By: Larry Niven
- Narrated by: Tom Parker
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Ringworld, an intermediate step between Dyson Spheres and planets. The gravitational force created by a rotation on its axis of 770 miles per second means no need for a roof. Walls 1,000 miles high at each rim will let in the sun and prevent much air from escaping. Larry Niven's novel, Ringworld, is the winner of the 1970 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1972 Ditmars, an Australian award for Best International Science Fiction.
-
-
Genuinely Creative
- By Kennet on 05-25-03
By: Larry Niven
-
Farmer in the Sky
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Farmer In The Sky is a 1953 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about a teenage boy who emigrates with his family to Jupiter's moon Ganymede, which is in the process of being terraformed. A condensed version of the novel was published in serial form in 1950 in Boys' Life magazine (August, September, October, November), under the title "Satellite Scout".
-
-
Back to the future.
- By Ray DiFazio on 11-13-16
-
Revelation Space
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nine hundred thousand years ago, something annihilated the Amarantin civilization just as it was on the verge of discovering space flight. Now one scientist, Dan Sylveste, will stop at nothing to solve the Amarantin riddle before ancient history repeats itself. With no other resources at his disposal, Sylveste forges a dangerous alliance with the cyborg crew of the starship Nostalgia for Infinity. But as he closes in on the secret, a killer closes in on him because the Amarantin were destroyed for a reason.
-
-
Defeated
- By Eoin on 07-15-12
-
Pushing Ice
- By: Alastair Reynolds
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 19 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
2057. Humanity has raised exploiting the solar system to an art form. Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclear-powered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. And they're good at it. The Rockhopper is nearing the end of its current mission cycle, and everyone is desperate for some much-needed R & R, when startling news arrives from Saturn: Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, has inexplicably left its natural orbit and is now heading out of the solar system at high speed.
-
-
Proof that a good story doesn't require a trilogy
- By Jesse on 01-14-12
-
Forgotten Ages
- The Complete Saga
- By: Lindsay Buroker
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 23 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The greatest military leader of his time. The most talented code breaker her people have. Sworn enemies. When deadly secrets from the ancient past are unearthed, secrets capable of fracturing the world and destroying all life on the planet, these two enemies will have to work together. They are humanity's only hope.
-
-
Fun and strange mashup of scifi and fantasy
- By domlav on 06-28-16
By: Lindsay Buroker
-
The Stars, Like Dust
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His name was Biron Farrill and he was a student at the University of Earth. A native of one of the helpless Nebular Kingdoms, he saw his home world conquered and controlled by the planet Tyrann - a ruthless, barbaric Empire that was building a dynasty of cruelty and domination among the stars. Farrill’s own father had been executed for trying to resist the Tyrann dictatorship and now someone was trying to kill Biron. But why? His only hope for survival lay in fleeing Earth and joining the rebellion that was rumored to be forming somewhere in the Kingdoms.
-
-
A Great Literary Master
- By Michael F. kloppel on 06-21-21
By: Isaac Asimov
What listeners say about First Lensman
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- o2b18again
- 04-23-23
Great book
I love the series, but the voices the narrator uses don't really match the character. It might be that the voices in my head are a better fit.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Rapini
- 10-15-23
Top notch storyteller
I’m 75 years old and I remember the wonder the whole series brought me. I have read and collected all the works of EE Doc Smith. He helped define me today.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H. Metz
- 07-24-24
Hm…
Soo… on the downside, we have two things which I can’t decide on which is worse:
One, the whole cycle is built on a strangely good vs evil, deeply intolerant religious philosophy. The good guys do good, and only good things because good, higher-level beings nudge them in that direction - the bad guys do the (only bad) things they’re doing because bad, higher-level beings manipulate them to do them. That is just garbage, sorry. Not only were there already much more open-minded and facetted (science fiction or not) stories around then - but this really disgusting slave perspective also limits any character decelopment or any real depth to the characters to near-zero. Somewhat hard to separate from that issue is the fact that 99% of the population are really just background fodder for the heroic superbeings - and no consideration that maybe every person, even a Lensman, is just one.
The other galling issue is the treatment of women. It’s almost comical how even when those elite superhumans evolve oh-so-far beyond their measly earthly roots… across space and time… still everyone wants to get married. Even at the time that must have been a peculiarly quaint perspective - even given the fact that society made life impossibly hard for women, especially if not being married, wanting to live their lifes, maybe even with a kid. I read somewhere that the author had pulled in his wife for advice on female characters… but the result then is an artwork completed under the mental duress of the societal Stockholm syndrome. And not to speak of the limitations this all puts on the potential of an interesting story.
Add to this the whole Lensmen thing. Yeah, I know, wouldn’t it be great to have the lens, an indestructible super-device ensuring complete fidelity of any wearer to a common greater goal, weeding out all spies and not-quite-good enough folks? Uh… maybe… but maybe the SS (from the time of the author) would have loved to have that type of device, too… for technological reasons, they just had to do with brainwashing and tattoos. And this isn’t a minor quibble - the whole story would completely fall apart without that. You’d immediately have all kinds of complications - like, you know, in real life!?! And this, too, limits the books. Yes, there’s a lot going on… but ultimately, nothing is really happening.
Compare to Star Trek. They also had/have heroes and villains in a fantastic future, sure… but there are moments where life intervenes, and weak humans have to come up with answers to moral questions and stand up for those answers, or not. THAT makes a hero - not some gadget. And THAT is life. And THAT is interesting.
Soo… why is this still somewhat readable (listenable) at all? I’m thinking it’s primarily because of the steady high-speed clip of the ever-expanding action - it’s just flying by, the universe. Which in turn is in the writing perfectly adapted to the original serialized publication of the stories as pulp fiction.
For some reason, I actually feel like the pure science fiction of it all is less interesting here than in the Skylark cycle. It’s just overshadowed here by the genetically engineered, merciless, neverending cult-like postulated goodness of the Lensmen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!