The Time Machine

By H. G. Wells

The book's protagonist is an eng scientist and gentleman-inventor living in Richmond, Surrey, identified by a narrator simply as the Time Traveller. The narrator recounts the Traveller's lecture to his weekly dinner guests that time is simply a fourth dimension, and his demonstration of a tabletop model machine for travelling through it. He reveals that he has built a machine capable of carrying a person, and returns at dinner the following week to recount a remarkable tale, becoming the new narrator.
In the new narrative, the Time Traveller tests his device with a journey that takes him to 802,701 A.D., where he meets the Eloi, a society of small, elegant, childlike adults. They live in small communities within large and futuristic yet slowly deteriorating buildings, doing no work and having a fruit-only diet. His efforts to communicate with them are hampered by their lack of curiosity or discipline, and he speculates that they are a peaceful communist society, the result of humanity conquering nature with technology, and subsequently evolving to adapt to an environment in which strength and intellect are no longer advantageous to survival.
(Excerpt from Wikipedia)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Otbebookpublishing
• Release date: Dec 27, 2015
• ISBN: 9783956760655

H. G. Wells

H.G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English novelist who helped to define modern science fiction. Wells came from humble beginnings with a working-class family. As a teen, he was a draper’s assistant before earning a scholarship to the Normal School of Science. It was there that he expanded his horizons learning different subjects like physics and biology. Wells spent his free time writing stories, which eventually led to his groundbreaking debut, The Time Machine. It was quickly followed by other successful works like The Island of Doctor Moreau and The War of the Worlds.

Book preview

Wells

I

The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burned brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere when thought roams gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity.

'You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.'

'Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?' said Filby, an argumentative person with red hair.

'I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it. You will soon admit as much as I need from you. You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. They taught you that? Neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.'

'That is all right,' said the Psychologist.

'Nor, having only length, breadth, and thickness, can a cube have a real existence.'

'There I object,' said Filby. 'Of course a solid body may exist. All real things—'

'So most people think. But wait a moment. Can an instantaneous cube exist?'

'Don't follow you,' said Filby.

'Can a cube that does not last for any time at all, have a real existence?'

Filby became pensive. 'Clearly,' the Time Traveller proceeded, 'any real body must have extension in four directions: it must have Length, Breadth, Thickness, and—Duration. But through a natural infirmity of the flesh, which I will explain to you in a moment, we incline to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions, three which we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time. There is, however, a tendency to draw an unreal distinction between the former three dimensions and the latter, because it happens that our consciousness moves intermittently in one direction along the latter from the beginning to the end of our lives.'

'That,' said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to relight his cigar over the lamp; 'that … very clear indeed.'

'Now, it is very remarkable that this is so extensively overlooked,' continued the Time Traveller, with a slight accession of cheerfulness. 'Really this is what is meant by the Fourth Dimension, though some people who talk about the Fourth Dimension do not know they mean it. It is only another way of looking at Time. There is no difference between Time and any of the three dimensions of Space except that our consciousness moves along it. But some foolish people have got hold of the wrong side of that idea. You have all heard what they have to say about this Fourth Dimension?'

'I have not,' said the Provincial Mayor.

'It is simply this. That Space, as our mathematicians have it, is spoken of as having three dimensions, which one may call Length, Breadth, and Thickness, and is always definable by reference to three planes, each at right angles to the others. But some philosophical people have been asking why three dimensions particularly—why not another direction at right angles to the other three?—and have even tried to construct a Four-Dimension geometry. Professor Simon Newcomb was expounding this to the New York Mathematical Society only a month or so ago. You know how on a flat surface, which has only two dimensions, we can represent a figure of a three-dimensional solid, and similarly they think that by models of three dimensions they could represent one of four—if they could master the perspective of the thing. See?'

'I think so,' murmured the Provincial Mayor; and, knitting his brows, he lapsed into an introspective state, his lips moving as one who repeats mystic words. 'Yes, I think I see it now,' he said after some time, brightening in a quite transitory manner.

'Well, I do not mind telling you I have been at work upon this geometry of Four Dimensions for some time. Some of my results are curious. For instance, here is a portrait of a man at eight years old, another at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at twenty-three, and so on. All these are evidently sections, as it were, Three-Dimensional representations of his Four-Dimensioned being, which is a fixed and unalterable thing.

'Scientific people,' proceeded the Time Traveller, after the pause required for the proper assimilation of this, 'know very well that Time is only a kind of Space. Here is a popular scientific diagram, a weather record. This line I trace with my finger shows the movement of the barometer. Yesterday it was so high, yesterday night it fell, then this morning it rose again, and so gently upward to here. Surely the mercury did not trace this line in any of the dimensions of Space generally recognized? But certainly it traced such a line, and that line, therefore, we must conclude was along the Time-Dimension.'

'But,' said the Medical Man, staring hard at a coal in the fire, 'if Time is really only a fourth dimension of Space, why is it, and why has it always been, regarded as something different? And why cannot we move in Time as we move about in the other dimensions of Space?'

The Time Traveller smiled. 'Are you sure we can move freely in Space? Right and left we can go, backward and forward freely enough, and men always have done so. I admit we move freely in two dimensions. But how about up and down? Gravitation limits us there.'

'Not exactly,' said the Medical Man. 'There are balloons.'

'But before the balloons, save for spasmodic jumping and the inequalities of the surface, man had no freedom of vertical movement.'

'Still they could move a little up and down,' said the Medical Man.

'Easier, far easier down than up.'

'And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the present moment.'

'My dear sir, that is just where you are wrong. That is just where the whole world has gone wrong. We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface.'

'But the great difficulty is this,' interrupted the Psychologist. 'You can move about in all directions of Space, but you cannot move about in Time.'

'That is the germ of my great discovery. But you are wrong to say that we cannot move about in Time. For instance, if I am recalling an incident very vividly I go back to the instant of its occurrence: I become absent-minded, as you say. I jump back for a moment. Of course we have no means of staying back for any length of Time, any more than a savage or an animal has of staying six feet above the ground. But a civilized man is better off than the savage in this respect. He can go up against gravitation in a balloon, and why should he not hope that ultimately he may be able to stop or accelerate his drift along the Time-Dimension, or even turn about and travel the other way?'

'Oh, this,' began Filby, 'is all—'

'Why not?' said the Time Traveller.

'It's against reason,' said Filby.

'What reason?' said the Time Traveller.

'You can show black is white by argument,' said Filby, 'but you will never convince me.'

'Possibly not,' said the Time Traveller. 'But now you begin to see the object of my investigations into the geometry of Four Dimensions. Long ago I had a vague inkling of a machine—'

'To travel through Time!' exclaimed the Very Young Man.

'That shall travel indifferently in any direction of Space and Time, as the driver determines.'

Filby contented himself with laughter.

'But I have experimental verification,' said the Time Traveller.

'It would be remarkably convenient for the historian,' the Psychologist suggested. 'One might travel back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings, for instance!'

'Don't you think you would attract attention?' said the Medical Man.

'Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.'

'One might get one's Greek from the very lips of Homer and Plato,' the Very Young Man thought.

'In which case they would certainly plough you for the Little-go.

The German scholars have improved Greek so much.'

'Then there is the future,' said the Very Young Man. 'Just think! One might invest all one's money, leave it to accumulate at interest, and hurry on ahead!'

'To discover a society,' said I, 'erected on a strictly communistic basis.'

'Of all the wild extravagant theories!' began the Psychologist.

'Yes, so it seemed to me, and so I never talked of it until—'

'Experimental verification!' cried I. 'You are going to verify that?'

'The experiment!' cried Filby, who was getting brain-weary.

'Let's see your experiment anyhow,' said the Psychologist, 'though it's all humbug, you know.'

The Time Traveller smiled round at us. Then, still smiling faintly, and with his hands deep in his trousers pockets, he walked slowly out of the room,

Reviews for The Time Machine

[coach_of_alva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I think this must have been one of the first novels to warn that the future might not be a Utopia. I found convincing because the unhappy future wasn’t caused by the establishment of an evil dictatorship or the destruction from a catastrophe. No, it came about as the logical climax of certain social trends, trends that are continuing in our time.What I have learned listening to audio versions of Wells’ classic science fiction novels, which I read when I was young, is that he not only an idea man but also a good novelist, with much skill at scene setting, world building, sharp characterizations, and sheer story telling.Scott Brick portrays the Time Traveler as an upper-class adventurer with a sneer in his voice that his terrible experiences do nothing to remove.

[branimal · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant inventor creates the world’s first time machine. After explaining its inner-workings to guests of his weekly dinner parties, he arranges for a follow up meeting about a week later. When the group convenes, they find the scientist exhausted and weathered. After cleaning up and consuming a well deserved meal, he sits down to tell of his journey over 800,000 years into the future.

Damn, this book is old. In fact, I’m certain it is the oldest novel I've yet to read clocking in at one hundred and twenty one years since initial publication. Wells seemingly went to great lengths to explain to the reader how a theoretical time machine would operate and I often wondered if Wells had built one himself based on how detailed his explanations and theories were. It would certainly explain the theory that the author himself is the main character.

That isn't to say it’s too philosophical and technical, there is quite a bit of action and danger. The events in the future carried with it a constant sense of urgency. Whether the traveler is trying to understand his surroundings, avoid capture or trying to find his missing time machine, the action moved at a brisk pace. In fact, a memorable moment had the traveler racing forward in time, worrying that a pillar or some kind of concrete structure may now be erected in the spot he occupied when he initially began his journey. Would he become a part of the object when he slammed on the brakes or would his machine and body simply explode? The story would be a hell of a lot shorter if he ended up like Han Solo encased in carbonite.

While I enjoyed the world building and the spectacle of time travel, I found myself re-reading passages over and over again as I struggled with Wells’ writing. I’m sure prose like this was probably commonplace back in the late 1800s but it was a major hurdle for me in 2013. However, you probably don’t need my endorsement or recommendation, this book is certainly a classic that inspired generations of sci-fi writers - it’s just not something I think I’ll find myself picking up again.

Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing

[tess_schoolmarm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a novella about a time-traveller who firstly embarks to about 8270 AD (?) to the world of flesh eating Morlocks and peace-loving Eloi. I liked this book much better than The War of the Worlds as I think it has withstood the test of time a little better. I loved the vocabulary of Wells, much larger than today's writers and I even had to look up a few words to add to my word journal. Sci-fi is really not my genre at all (I usually despise it), but due to the writing and the short length of this book, it kept by rapt attention and I read it in one sitting. 88 pages

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Regina Spektor was on NPR today speaking with Terry Gross. The NPR interviewer accomplished no favors. She asked woefully stupid questions about the Soviet Union and its relationship to WWII. this originated when Spektor noted that growing up in the USSR she always felt that the Great Patriotic War had happened recently, given its absorption into the collective consciousness. Emigrating to the Bronx, she was struck that such wasn't a universal condition. Such made me think of The Time Machine.

As with most archetypes of speculative fiction, the premise had been closeted in my brainpan before opening the book, yet, this one succeeded, especially as a treatise on species within or over time. I'm curious what Spengler thought of this?

[themythbookshelf · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Time Machine proved to be a lovely, albeit short, read, even for someone who isn't that much of a science fiction enthusiast, but that's probably because I haven't read much of the genre. First published first in 1895, this powerful little book shattered literary ground with a single man, the anonymous Time Traveller, and his "squat, ugly, and askew" machine of "brass, ebony, ivory and translucent glimmering quartz" (110). The tale is told from the perspective of one of the man's acquaintances, who is invited to dinner to hear of his adventure upon his return. Naturally, the Time Traveller's account dominates most of the book, though I found that these two contrasting perspectives complemented each other nicely.The adventure of the Time Traveller consists more of him running around to recover his stolen time machine than anything else. The descriptions of the "post-human humans" he meets are, for this reason, limited, and so is the depth to which the landscape is explored. This read reminded me of two other works, both classics in their own right--Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. The former vaguely resembles this work in prose and descriptive style, while the latter, in its representation of the Eloi race. The Time Traveller describes the Eloi people, who we are the ancestors of, as innocent, pure, and child-like race, having degenerated into ignorance as a result of privilege and laziness. As the traveller reflects, "there is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change" and they serve as a wonderful representation of this (97). A dangerously similar description is found in Bartolomé de las Casas' anthropological account of the natives, which is recounted from the perspective of a European missionary. (The difference, however, is that de las Casas enthusiastically viewed them as perfect receptors of the Christian religion, while here such qualities ignite the total opposite reaction).Furthermore, as this is the first of Wells' works that I read, I'm not sure if this is his natural prose — it was elegant but a little too verbose for my taste. Nevertheless, it was acceptable because it suits the character of the Time Traveller rather perfectly. All in all, you do not have to be a sci-fi fan to appreciate this book, though I'm sure it would help.

[aspirit-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really wanted to like this book but had to force myself to finish it out of a feeling of obligation. How can I consider myself a science fiction fan without having read Wells' The Time Machine?

My biggest issue with the story is that the only moments that felt realistic were within the narrator's home, in which too much was spent trying to hype up the time adventure.

Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more 15 years earlier in my own timeline.

[proustitutes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I surprisingly enjoyed this book VERY much! It's tiny, for one thing--I read it in a single car drive to Orlando. Usually I wouldn't be able to afford so much praise to a tiny book. Novella, really. But this book is a glorious exception.

In it, a time traveler talks lucidly and plainly of his experiences traveling into the future. He sees two races of human-like species, descendants from modern day humans. However, they are "lower" than us and less intelligent life-forms.

Wells conjectures on what made them this way over the hundreds of thousands of years, and comes to the conclusion that our technology created a society that made it very easy for humans to survive. Intelligence no longer became a factor in reproduction, as is necessary to ensure intelligent offspring. Therefore you get this end result!

Wells wrote beautifully of social theorizing and what he suspects may happen in both the near and distant future. It's a great book for its time (written in 1895), with people just beginning to wonder about the ultimate effects of technology and increasing industry.

I also enjoyed, by the way, Wells' numerous comments about the continuing heart and sentiment and love of humans, and our capacity for gratitude, which he portrayed so very nicely in the endearing Weena.

[mcov_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Invisible Man was an amazing book, its wide range of vocabulary and continuous amounts of action kept me interested the whole way through. Also the stories multiple names for the “Invisible Man” were great and also helped me get a better image of what people see when they interact with the “Invisible Man”. However what I didn’t like so much about this story is how the “Invisible Man” didn’t travel very far to spread his rage or to escape from being chased after from the town’s people. This story’s first couple of chapters were quite slow but yet very interesting, this allowed me to automatically know I was going to really take pleasure in reading this book. The beginning of this book caused me to change my thoughts of what this book was really about. At first I believed it was about an “Invisible Man”, meaning he could not be seen by anyone. Then, after reading the first and second chapter, my thoughts changed to make me think this book was about a man who no one would ever know, meaning he was unable to be understood by others. Around half way through the story, it’s revealed that he was in fact invisible, meaning he was not able to be seen by anyone. After finding that out, I kind of got lost in wondering what was going to happen next since he has been revealed and people know about him. This story foreshadows, allowing it to bring great interest and understanding about the future of the “Invisible Man” and the books beginning half to the readers.This story was a terrific story for me to read because if I were to have a super power, invisibility would be my first choice. I enjoyed being able to read what someone would do if they were invisible and what they would have to go through to get through their lifetime. An example I thought of from the beginning of this book was how does the “Invisible Man’s” family and him get along when they can’t see him? I found that out towards the end of the book which was great. The author, H.G Wells did a marvelous job describing the “Invisible Man’s” past allowing the readers to get a perfect image.The book’s worst part, that could have been changed, was the ending. The story had great excitement and energy leading into the ending which was where it all just stopped. The ending which was the chase of the “Invisible Man” was just too short and made the capture of him look extremely easy. Also the ending didn’t make too much sense to me. Griffin, the “Invisible Man”, was trapped on the ground being held down by Mr. Kemp who was surrounded by the town’s people. As they were calming down Griffin, his ability to become invisible was coming to an end, once he was able to be seen by everyone, they took him to the Jolly Cricketers which then ended the story. H.G Wells ended this great story with a horrible cliff hanger which would now lead you to know my reaction to this book, which is I would recommend this book but be warned it does not end the way I believe it should.

[theampersand · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this one as a teen, but it's different, and, in some ways, better than I remember it. "The Time Machine" is, in some ways, an efficiently composed manly-man adventure story that comes complete with monsters, cool machines, and a beautiful, playfully sexual female companion. But in other ways you its a profoundly Modernist text that ably reflects the intellectual currents of its time. Both Darwin and Marx loom large here. Wells's take on human intelligence and endeavor seem directly drawn from the more muscular, violent interpretations of Darwinism: his deceptively peaceful future seems to contain a lesson about the necessity of struggle and suffering in human lives. Meanwhile, the future that the time traveler glimpses might also be described one of the possible fates that might, in the very long run, await a class-stratified society. I don't know too much about the author's politics -- though his character seems to have a low opinion of communism -- so it's hard for me to tell if this aspect of "The Time Machine" has more to do with socialist critique or the author's Englishness. Perhaps it's the latter: there's something about the Eloi, for all their tropical fruits and brightly colored robes, also reminded me of the sort of gently pastoral little folk you sometimes meet in British fantasy literature. After that, the book gets really wild, as the time traveler rockets billions of years into a far future where Earth has become both uninhabitable and almost unrecognizable. The images that Wells presents here are both memorably bizarre and desolate, and it's here that the book really earns its place in the cannon of dystopian science fiction. Indeed, for all the future's beautiful novelty, loneliness seems to be the emotional chord struck most often here. From being the only man with any need of his wits among the Eloi to being the human left to witness an earth taken over by strange, monstrous creatures, to being the only man at his dinner party who really believes that he has traveled in time, the time traveler is very much by himself at almost every stage of this book. Recommended as both a well-written story and an artifact of sorts from another intellectual age. Be careful what you wish for, Wells seems to be telling his readers: human progress doesn't always come as advertised.

[ameise1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this story was written in 1895 and one should Wells pay tribute about his vision of the future, the story do not grabbed me really. He described his landing in a country where there is only harmony and peace. At closer inspection there was still a shadow world. This should be the life of the rich and poor, which is not fully convinced me. He also flew in the distant future, where there were only giant crabs etc..It is probably due to me that this book is not really one for me.

[bryndahlquis · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simply amazing, and very intense. I only put it down once, when it all started to overflow in my brain and I had to let it settle (plus it was two in the morning). It's the kind of book that can really impact your emotions, if that makes any sense. It made me feel lonely and awestruck and I'm finding it hard to stop thinking about it.

[boundtogetherforgood · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a short book. I found that I was sort of drawn into the story, eventually. I certainly think that if I'd written it I'd have gone in different directions, quite literally, probably the past! But that wasn't his intention. Wells intended to go where others hadn't been in thought or deed. I suppose that is what stirred me to read it, knowing that it was one of the first of an entire genre wondering where the future might take us. I probably won't read any more Wells books unless I find 'The Invisible Man' which I had begun and then lost but was enjoying more than The Time Machine at the beginning of the two books. I have recently seen the statue of the alien that someone created in honor of a character in Well's book War of the Worlds. That also stirred my interest in finishing the book.

[vanishext · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great time travel classic. I have read it three times.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Things look bleak in the future as told by the Time Traveler in this classic. I read this curriculum book to prep for working with a class. This was my first eBook. I read it on the Kindle app (the book was a free download) for the iPad.

[ariesblue · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

a good fictional novel i have read many years ago......
human race has evolved into two species, the leisured classes and the working class ...

[ca8bookwyrm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another classic that I took too long to read...

I enjoyed this, but am glad (I think) that I read it after seeing the movie. The movie was nothing like this, and I could read the book and be pleasantly surprised at the differences, rather than watching the movie after knowing the book and being incredibly disappointed.

It is a product of its era, however, and does read in the literary fashion that is common in other classics. If you like that style - as I do, when I'm in the mood for it - then this is a good book to read.

[crazymamie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was originally published in 1895, and, pardon the pun, it stands the test of time. Although the writing style is one you will recognize if you have read anything by say, Henry Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first person narration of the story still is adequate enough to pull you in and gives it the feel of an adventure being told to you orally. The first two chapters set up the story that is to be told by the Time Traveler, a scientist who has built a time machine capable of traveling into the future and back again. By chapter three, the Time Traveler is relating his tale of traveling a great distance into the future and finding that humanity has become two distinct species - one, the Eloi dwell above ground and are happy if not overly intelligent beings. The other species, the Morlocks, dwells below ground and represent a sinister working class. Excited by his success in time travel, the Traveler leaves behind his time machine to explore the new world before him only to find upon his return that his machine is nowhere in sight. Suspecting foul play, the Traveler realizes that it is very likely that he will have to venture into the underground world in order to retrieve his invention and travel back home.This story is cleverly told, but fell just a bit flat for me. I loved the vision that Wells shared in his futuristic tale, but wanted the Time Traveler to be smarter. Still, often people who are gifted in one area are lacking in another. I wanted a man who was intelligent enough to build a machine capable of traveling into the future to also be capable of forward thinking. He should realize that if he intends to travel into the future, he should pack provisions and think through some contingency plans before actually taking off. However, I could also see the mad scientist type who got caught up in the linear thought progression of time travel without stopping to think about practical matters. I think this book was perhaps supposed to be more of a study in societal development than a sci-fi tale, but it provides both and is worth the time it takes to explore it. I loved the museums that the Time Traveler encounters and was impressed by Wells ability to tell a story that can still stand up today, more than a century after he wrote it. "And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the present moment.""My dear sir, that is just where you are wrong. That is just where the whole world has gone wrong. We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface."

[ricardob-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've watched many movie and tv adaptations of HG Wells Time Machine, but reading it is a totally diferent experience.

Some will call it science fiction, others social criticism but I find it to be an adventure; and what a beautifully told adventure it is.
The time traveler telling its journey into the unknown future is filled with wonderful details and very interesting ideas of mankind evolutions and legacies.

A classic that is great to read.

[shelley.s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Time Machine 4/5I really really liked this book, it was short and sweet and i loved it. It keeps you gripped and reading despite it being so short. I flew through it enjoyed every moment but didn't have that disappointment when i released id come to the end (it looks longer because of the notes at the back) as i found it was rounded off nicely (as i also found with The Isldand of Dr. Moreau) Defiantly will be reading more Wells this year!

[paakre-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book I read all the way through on a Kindle, and watched my progress in "locations" instead of pages. Do all time travel books become about the history of technology and man's relationship to it? The narrator is a Victorian gentleman who reports on his trip to the future non stop, with no pauses, and no dialogue. It is hard to believe that a group of men, the other characters from his time period, no matter how stalwart, would listen to such a long story without interrupting once and questioning some of the details. But still, since I am reading time travel books (When You Reach Me, A Wrinkle in Time) I wanted to try the granddaddy of them all.

[fyrefly98 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Summary: His Victorian colleagues don't believe he's constructed a time machine, but the Time Traveller returns with a tale to tell, of his journey to the year 802,701. There (Then?) he found that humankind had evolved into two distinct races: the childlike Eloi, who live a life of leisure, free of worry, sickness, or care; and the Morlocks, who are more mechanically inclined but dwell exclusively underground. The Morlocks steal his time machine immediately after he arrives, and in his attempts to get it back, he discovers that the life of the Eloi is not as idyllic as it might seem.Review: As much as I love the genre of science fiction as a whole, The Time Machine is one of my first forays into its origins. I was already fairly well-versed in its plot from having read the fantastic The Map of Time earlier this summer, but I was surprised to find that the main point of the book was not the technology or its consequences, but rather a statement of Wells's beliefs about the effects of class division on the human condition. Of course, the social politics are wrapped up in a fantastical adventure story, but they're not buried particularly deep. I also didn't find the message to be particularly complex, or even particularly plausible.But, setting aside the underlying theme, Wells certainly manages to tell a good story. His vision of the Eloi's world is fascinating, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how things got from here to there. (I particularly loved the scene in the ruined museum.) Once the protagonist leaves the time of the Eloi, he goes even farther into the future, and Wells's vision of a desolate Earth under a dying sun is nightmarishly vivid. It's a very short book - barely long enough to qualify as a novella, really - and part of me wishes it were longer, with a more complex plot. The prose, while not as dense as I was expecting, did take some getting used to, but overall it was definitely worth the read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: It probably should be read by every sci-fi fan, particularly those interested in time travel stories, as a basis of where the genre started; it's quick enough and with an interesting enough story to win over even the more ardent avoiders of the classics.

[sweetiegherkin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A group of Englishmen sit around theorizing about the (im)possibility of a fourth dimension and time travel. One of them claims he has built a time machine. They all meet again another day, with the time traveler entering the room looking disheveled before embarking on a long story about his adventures travelling into the future.So I was very much looking forward to reading this book, as I had never read anything by H.G. Wells before and this book is considered a science fiction classic (perhaps even arguably the science fiction classic). Unfortunately, I found myself rather disappointed with it. For starters, I just didn't find it that interesting; it didn't really hold my attention. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to get through this slim book because I couldn't focus on it for long. Mostly I couldn't get past how it was VERY much a "tell" rather than a "show" book, with 90 percent of the story being one long narrative from the time traveler. I prefer books that paint a picture rather than simply being talked at by one rather bland character with little personality. Also, maybe because I've read a decent amount of more recent science fiction, this one didn't have the usual appeal of using a speculative idea to talk about the very real issues of today. I think that Wells was trying for that, but I struggled with the transition from "arcane class system" to "thousands of years in the future, cannibalism!" The logical leap just wasn't there. Although I was trying to appreciate its place in science fiction history, this book fell flat for me. I wish I had better things to say about it, but I'd much, much, much rather read anything by Margaret Atwood or Ursula Le Guin for something compelling and thought-provoking -- and would recommend those authors' books over this one.

[ninelarks-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Time Traveler looks you in the eye and tells you a fantastical tale of the future. And why shouldn't time travel be possible, the book proposes, if it is just another dimension? We listen to his story of another world where mankind has evolved or perhaps devolved, we see his future. Or is it our future?

I haven't read anything by H.G. Wells until now, even though I profess to love science fiction. And I'm glad I finally read this - not because I particularly love the story, but for the way I can see how it has influenced recent books I love. I can see why it is classic, almost timeless, in the way it uses thoughts on human nature and the potential of human progress in this story.

I appreciate how it doesn't try to utilize science to make time travel plausible, but rather takes it on literary faith using two mysterious levers and the time travel machine.

The plot is fairly straight-forward, the discovery and slow reveal of the new world and the Time Traveler's hypothesis on how things came to be.It was straight-forward, but interesting. Not exactly engaging because I found myself putting it down intermittently, but definitely interesting. Thought-provoking.

It's not a difficult read. And the themes are now common in tv shows and other scifi books. But still... this book is worth reading, or at least worth a skim.

2.5 stars because it was good, but not great. It was interesting and thought-provoking, but not mind-blowing. It's just another perspective into how science fiction has been influenced.
Recommended for people who like science fiction and wonder where the thoughts of time travel came about. If you liked a Wrinkle in Time and you've grown up a bit, you'll want to read this.

[ejp1082_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure that this is a great novel in its own right, or that it's held up well over time (pun intended, har har).The most interesting aspect to me was the fact that Wells devoted a good portion of the books opening to explaining the idea of time travel itself. Not how the time machine itself worked - Wells skillfully avoids any attempt to explain that, to his credit. But rather, he presumably felt that "time travel" would be so alien a concept to his readers that it warranted a lengthy exposition. This more than anything illustrates just how groundbreaking the novel was. But while interesting on a meta level, it's a bit dull for a modern reader to plow through.It was also interesting on this level: all science fiction is inherently about the present, and in this case, it said a lot about late 19th century London. Wells took Darwin's (then still new-ish) ideas about evolution, and invented a fictitious time traveler so he could take them to a logical conclusion and use the story as a warning and bit of social commentary. Again, to the modern reader it seems a bit ho hum, but it's fascinating on a meta level.We're all familiar with the basic elements of the story. The time machine, the Eloi, the Morlocks. But surprisingly, that's about all there is to the novel - he makes a trip to the future where he discovers them (spurred by his machine being stolen), and there's little else in terms of story. Wells offers very vivid and captivating descriptions of the world, but there's not that much action. Further, the narrator seems kind of detached from it all, despite living through the experiences. There's no exploration of some of the implications of time travel, only this thinly veiled warning about the future.In short, if one is interested in a science fiction classic, it's a worthwhile read. But as a novel in of itself, it falls fairly flat.

[lovinglit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The main man holds court in his parlour in late 1800s England with a story of his incredible travels through time. His chums are advised to listen carefully and to not interrupt. The story begins with conversation on the possibility of time travel itself, and continues with the event having happened. Time travel, in this case, means going forward a lot of centuries to an improbably futuristic year of 800,000 and something. Humans have evolved into two separate sub-species, one placid pleasant lot living above ground and a light-hating flesh-ripping lot who dwell in subterranean darkness. The time machine itself goes AWOL and our man is understandably in a panic about getting it, and himself, back. A rollicking and gripping story which surprised and delighted me.

[sweetbriarpoet · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked The Time Machine. I think it is a perfect classic sci-fi read, especially for those new to the genre, or those who want to know how the genre began. The existentialist themes in the book were probably very important during the time the book was written, but it does leave a desire for more description of the new world and the technology. However, the read is short, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to fly through some sci-fi.

[coffeehag · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story is well told. I enjoyed the nineteenth-century atmosphere of the Time Traveler's gatherings with his friends and Well's description of how the dim light of the smoking room illuminated the people within it. Wells pays attention to detail without spilling over into tedium, and the main story, which tells of the protagonist's travels forward into the future, was gripping, so that I didn't want to put the book down.

[neverstoptrying · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Before I actually read this book, I assumed that I had read it as a child, but now I am less sure. Perhaps I only saw the movie and knew the story line because the story line is that well known. Not certain. There were certainly ways in which it felt like a new read. At any rate, given how long ago it was written and given that I did know the story line, I assumed I would not enjoy the read all that much. I was wrong.To begin with, my copy is a Penguin, which means it had a readable and helpful Introduction and useful footnotes. The Introduction grounded me in Wells' context: His visions of our technical future, many details of which have proven true, although not those in this story, as yet, predate both radio and the airplane. So his imagination was impressive. On the other hand, he lived well into the 20th Century, so he was not so "pre-historic" as I thought of him being. Acutely, he saw future history as being "a race between education and catastrophe". Finally, there were many ways he was truly a man of his time, as well, grappling, as so many of his time did, with the moral and ethical implications of Darwin's recently published Origin of Species.I am in some ways an unforgiving or narrow-minded reader of fiction: I look for character development, plot and emotional grab. These attributes are not what make this book important. In my reading of the text itself, I found that the narrative contains more intellectual speculation than dramatic action, no character development and little or no depiction of meaningful relationships. For a whole novel, that would have been a bit much; for a novella, it did not bother me, especially as I was reading for historical interest and not, primarily, for fun. The language is mildly Victorian-verbose, but not too badly so. I also found that knowing the story line ahead of time freed me to appreciate the process of reading it. I found the ideas complex enough that I would consider re-reading it sometime.The rating is in context of its being a classic, not in comparison with contemporary R&R reads.

[nielspeterqm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As much time travel as futurist dystopia – 800 000 years from now! – this is one of the first "real" sf novels & it reads as fluidly & thoughtfully as ever.

[df6b_laurene · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was a well-written book about time travel. In this story the main character goes on a trip to the future. When he arrives, he meets the Morlocks and the Eloi. The Eloi are the good, lighter side of this world. The Morlocks on the other hand are the evil, darker side of this world, they live down below the earth and capture and kill the Eloi. He meets many friendly Eloi, especially one named Weena. She's his little buddy.