I found this book on Librivox and decided to give it a try.
I wasn't sure I'd enjoy a book written so long ago.
I have also never been able to watch the movie, the man is so obnoxious.

However, the book turned out quite good. It was a bit like reading Steam Punk.

The book start's the story from the middle, and only late returns to tell the tale of how the man became invisible. It gives you time to sympathies with him before you gradually find out what a prick he is.

I was also pleasantly surprised that this first book about invisibility didn't take a rose tinted view of it, but chose to deal the the problems of invisibility strait out.

I thought a first book would say, hey look how cool and wonderful invisibility is. and only later another author would deal with the down side.