The Time Machine

I was repeatedly impressed by H.G. Wells’ book, constantly reminding myself that it was written in the 19th century before relativity and the concept of spacetime, even before the game Red Dead Redemption 2 took place.

Conceptually, I found the ideas remarkably ahead of their time and enjoyed seeing the different eras of sci-fi that would follow represented to varying degrees, especially the Golden Age and New Wave. I went through a period of going through all of the fundamental science fiction I’d never read, and this was by far the most meaningful.

I frequently drive between L.A. and the… show more.

For me, this is the ultimate science fiction story: the Victorian inventor whose contraption works so well that he can travel to witness the end of human society. I first saw the film, with the wonderful Rod Taylor, then loved the book—what a story!

The Morlocks terrified me as a child, but as I grew older, I realized there is much more complexity to these apparent antagonists. Who should we sympathize with more, the Eloi who have forgotten all human knowledge and leave their books crumbling as they frolic mindlessly, with no sense of social responsibility, or the resourceful Morlocks… show more.

Christmas, 1979: My gifts include a Radio Shack tape recorder and tapes of All Creatures Great and Small star Robert Hardy reading this book. I’m already familiar with the story via George Pal’s 1960 film adaptation, but Hardy’s reading and Wells’ breathless prose bring the tale to life so vividly that I embark on a Wells obsession that lasts for several years.

This is a book I return to regularly–and I still can’t read those first few lines without hearing Hardy’s rich, commanding voice.

I had to include this book because this is the book that opened up the whole world of time travel for me.

I read it as a young teenager and have loved everything about the concept of time travel ever since. I think the reason is that there is this implied desire to fix the mistakes of our past or something, and that whole idea bubbles under the surface of Wells’ classic.

Of course on the other side of that coin is that I would later come to learn that Wells was an atheist, and so that brings up the… show more.

The novella that gave birth to science fiction and introduced the world (and a very young me) to the magical concept of time travel. After hosting a dinner party, and via his “time machine” (a term coined by the author), the Time Traveller embarks on a journey to the year 802,701 when our Earth has evolved into a lush paradise seemingly void of industry. Humans have become fragile, docile, and childlike (the Eloi), lacking curiosity about their world or the discipline to maintain it or build upon it. They fear the night, but remain silent about their reason. The… show more.

The genius of HG Wells lies not only in his mastery of words, but in his uncanny way of predicting the future and future events. From submarines to flying machines to future societies, many of Wells’ predictions came to fruition over the course of the 20th century. An enjoyable, albeit cautionary read, The Time Machine takes readers on a white-knuckled ride into the past and far into the future, exploring and questioning man’s own humanity.

The Time Machine was part of a book study I did in grade seven. The complex time travel theories made my mind swirl and would eventually inspire me while I wrote my first novel. This is a time travel book that has no rival; the ideas and concepts are captivating.

H.G. Wells was way ahead of his time, and The Time Machine proves this. Although usually considered to be pure Science Fiction, I would argue that it has horror elements to it as well. Our hero, the Time Traveller, finds himself flung far into the future where mankind has evolved into two distinct species, the Eloi and their carnivorous masters, the cave-dwelling Morlocks. Some of the writing in this is pure horror, and Wells writes in such a ‘modern’ way that readers in the 21st Century can still relate to it.

This is actually not the first time travel novel – Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee and Bellamy’s Looking Backward preceded it by a few years – but it’s the first that can properly be called science fiction rather than fantasy, since Wells provides a machine to do the time travel. It respects the paradoxes in a straightforward way, by telling a story of travel to the future that doesn’t run into any mind-twisting paradoxes at all.

An oldie but goldie, I’m sending you even further back into history for this rec’ to the year 1895 and even as I’m writing that I can’t get my synapses around how ahead of his time ol’ Herbert was.

Sure, it’s got that time travel razzle dazzle surrounding the time machine itself, but what this book is really about is actually more a case of putting class systems under the microscope and proving that if we don’t learn from past mistakes humanity will end up in the same state as the dinosaurs from my last recommendation. That is to say,… show more.