The Time Machine

By H.G. Wells

H. G. Wells' classic science fiction masterpiece The Time Machine explores human nature. The Time Traveler finds himself in 802,701 A.D., where he meets the peaceful Eloi and encounters the violent Morlocks. Wells uses these two descendants of man to explore evil and its causes, drawing conclusion that might surprise you in this riveting tale that has stood the test of time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781627556750

H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. He was the author of numerous classics such as The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and many more. 

Book preview

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, and we heard his slippers shuffling down the long passage to his laboratory.

The Psychologist looked at us. ‘I wonder what he’s got?’

‘Some sleight-of-hand trick or other,’ said the Medical Man, and

Filby tried to tell us about a conjurer he had seen at Burslem; but

before he had finished his preface the Time Traveller came back, and

Filby’s anecdote collapsed.

The thing the Time Traveller held in his hand was a glittering metallic framework, scarcely larger than a small clock, and very delicately made. There was ivory in it, and some transparent crystalline substance. And now I must be explicit, for this that follows—unless his explanation is to be accepted—is an absolutely unaccountable thing. He took one of the small octagonal tables that were scattered about the room, and set it in front of the fire, with two legs on the hearthrug. On this table he placed the mechanism. Then he drew up a chair, and sat down. The only other object on the table was a small shaded lamp, the bright light of which fell upon the model. There were also perhaps a dozen candles about, two in brass candlesticks upon the mantel and several in sconces, so that the room was brilliantly illuminated. I sat in a low arm-chair nearest the fire, and I drew this forward so as to be almost between the Time Traveller and the fireplace. Filby sat behind him, looking over his shoulder. The Medical Man and the Provincial Mayor watched him in profile from the right, the Psychologist from the left. The Very Young Man stood behind the Psychologist. We were all on the alert. It appears incredible to me that any kind of trick, however subtly conceived and however adroitly done, could have been played upon us under these conditions.

The Time Traveller looked at us, and then at the mechanism. ‘Well?’ said the Psychologist.

‘This little affair,’ said the Time Traveller, resting his elbows upon the table and pressing his hands together above the apparatus, ‘is only a model. It is my plan for a machine to travel through time. You will notice that it looks singularly askew, and that there is an odd twinkling appearance about this bar, as though it was in some way unreal.’ He pointed to the part with his finger. ‘Also, here is one little white lever, and here is another.’

The Medical Man got up out of his chair and peered into the thing.

‘It’s beautifully made,’ he said.

‘It took two years to make,’ retorted the Time Traveller. Then, when we had all imitated the action of the Medical Man, he said: ‘Now I want you clearly to understand that this lever, being pressed over, sends the machine gliding into the future, and this other reverses the motion. This saddle represents the seat of a time traveller. Presently I am going to press the lever, and off the machine will go. It will

Reviews for The Time Machine

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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."

[themulhern · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I believe this is the first of Wells' science fiction novels. It was published shortly before the turn of the century. The initial portion consists of a bunch of after-dinner chat about the science of time travel but the bulk of the book is the Time Traveller's tale of his experiences. In this part, the events follow very rapidly and somewhat chaotically upon each other, while the Time Traveller tries to make sense of the world he has arrived in. This book was intended to be a critique of the existing social situation in Wells' own time. Since the Time Traveller can not speak the language of the people of the future, and knows nothing of their history, he can only speculate about the true nature of their situation and how it came to be. He reminds his audience of this frequently, and thus Wells is not required to make his future entirely sensible or coherent, which is a nice trick. It _is_ hard for a modern reader to understand how the situation which the Time Traveller finds himself in could have come to pass. Wells writes well, and, as seems typical with his books, the Time Traveller readily admits his terror and distress at the situation in which he finds himself.The book ends abruptly, but very well and on a somewhat poignant note.In the museum in which the Time Traveller finds himself, there seem to be an excess of artifacts from the 20th century. Given that he has travelled to the year 800,000+, the items of the 20th century should not seem so significant.

[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!

[ashishg_50 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Story of time travel and imagination of future world.

[dste_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

 First off, I have to say that I enjoyed this book more than Wells' other book The Invisible Man. Unlike in that book, this one began by identifying the inventor of the time machine as a time traveler right off the bat instead of playing around with the revelation of an idea that’s contained within the title (as in, Oh, what do you think is up with this guy? He’s kind of weird and covered in bandages. He couldn’t by any chance be invisible, could he?) It also began by explaining the scientific theory behind the time machine, speaking of time as the fourth dimension and so on. I thought that the explanation of the underlying theory was one of the most interesting parts of [The Invisible Man], and the fact that this book began with something very similar ensured that it began on a good note. I also thought that it was a smart move on the author’s part to have his character travel exclusively into the future. He did mention the possibilities that existed if one travelled into the past, but usually in literature (and in theory) travelling into the past exposes one to all sorts of possible dangers and paradoxes: If you change even some small aspect of the past, is the present you return to affected in some major way? What happens if you go back in time and accidentally cause the death of one of your ancestors? etc. Travelling into the future can affect only events that haven’t happened yet, and thus vastly simplifies things. Travelling into the future also provided an opportunity for the author to engage in utopia and dystopia-type speculation. Yeah, that’s right, it’s both! At least, that’s my interpretation. I actually have no idea what all the literary experts out there classify it as. What I do know is that Wells takes some time to subtly take a dig at all the other utopia fiction of his time period: “This, I must warn you, was my theory at the time,” he says after explaining how the creatures of the time, the eloi and the morlocks, came to be. “I had no convenient cicerone in the pattern of the Utopian books.” Personally, I do think that the book was more interesting with the time traveler attempting to figure things out on his own instead of having another character explain everything to him. For one thing, it makes his final determination even more chilling. One thing that must be mentioned is that, because the story was told from the perspective of a character who is not the time traveler, the reader knows that the time traveller will make it back to his own time because he is telling the story after having already arrived there. That being said, I didn’t seem to mind, perhaps because there are further events after the time traveler tells his initial story. I thought this ending portion was one of the best parts of the book; I love the concluding lines especially.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[auntieclio · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a seminal work of science fiction, and as such blazed the trail for the genre as a whole. Reading it over 100 years after initial publication, gives me a sense of understanding science fiction. While taking this into consideration, as well as being a product of the Victorian era, I still found The Time Traveler to be more than a little overwrought in this tale. One surprising thing I learned was that Kodak did indeed have a camera available in 1895 and HG Wells must have been very well informed.

[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.

[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.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This very short novel is the classic birth of science fiction writing. The backdrop of time travel is used to discuss the ideas of how mankind and different economic classes of people will develop and play off of one another. The Time Traveler guesses that over time, the aristocrats or Eloi had become so used to living off the hard work of the working class Morlocks that they became complacent and lazy. In the end, they lost all drive and purpose and were fearful of the Morlocks who could only come out in the dark and would kidnap the Eloi to eat then. I found the story to be fascinating and I could not put it down until I finished. Wells was way ahead of his 19th century world and I really cannot wait to read another of his stories.