When the "Time Traveller" courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700 - and everything had changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings - unearth their secret and then return to his own time - until he discovered that his invention, his only avenue of escape, had been stolen. H. G. Well's famous novel of one man's astonishing j... (show more)
When the "Time Traveller" courageously stepped out of his machine for the first time, he found himself in the year 802,700 - and everything had changed. In another, more utopian age, creatures seemed to dwell together in perfect harmony. The Time Traveller thought he could study these marvelous beings - unearth their secret and then return to his own time - until he discovered that his invention, his only avenue of escape, had been stolen. H. G. Well's famous novel of one man's astonishing journey beyond the conventional limits of the imagination first appeared in 1895. It won him immediate recognition, and has been regarded ever since as one of the great masterpieces in the literature of science fiction.
Wells touches gently on time travel as a notion, but mostly The Time Machine is about the terminal future he sees for mankind: His nameless time traveler ventures to the world that will be 802,701 A.D., And there he finds mankind divided among the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are a gentle, winsome, idle race, who do not labor; the Morlocks, in contrast, are a barbaric race -- who use the Eloi for food. It's a grim vision, and a gripping one. There's a reason that The Time Machine has become a classic. (show less)
Photo Gallery
You might like these
H.G. Wells, one of the forefathers of science fiction, is perhaps best known for his novel 'War of the Worlds,' but his 1895 novella 'The Time Mach... (show more)
H.G. Wells, one of the forefathers of science fiction, is perhaps best known for his novel 'War of the Worlds,' but his 1895 novella 'The Time Machine' is not far behind in the prestige of Wells' collective works. The story is pretty straight forward: a brilliant scientist referred to as simply The Time Traveler by onlookers, discovers the secrets of traveling through time, and constructs a device that allows him to do so. He is an enigmatic but engaging character, with the only description we get being his gray eyes.
The story is fast-paced and always engaging. Wells writes with a certain quality that is rare among those of his era, in that his prose never feels antiquated. It is written beautifully, and never pretentious or difficult to follow. In a really short piece, Wells manages to create an interesting and engaging world, while giving just enough detail to fascinate, but not, say, to the Tolkien level of piling on detail to the point of being boring. Although I haven't had the chance to read 'War of the Worlds' yet, if 'The Time Machine' is any indication, it should be quite a treat. I would recommend will be most excellent. (show less)
The Time Machine is first and foremost an adventure story, based on a fairly original idea at the time. The notion of time travel has probably been... (show more)
The Time Machine is first and foremost an adventure story, based on a fairly original idea at the time. The notion of time travel has probably been around for ages, but Wells was one of the first to craft a plot with it. I found the characters to be somewhat shallow and unoriginal, although the main storyline is decent. Particularly interesting was the way that the society of the future satirized (in a potentially Marxist fashion) the society of capitalism. The Eloi seem to reinforce the "idle rich" group taken to it's (logical?) extreme, while the Morlocks(workers) hold the the real power. However, the fact that the Morlocks, presumably the more sympathetic race, are hideous and vicious, seems to depict a more complex view than the conventional one of have/have-nots and oppressor/oppressed. Wells also writes of the end of the world, a fate which he suggests might be avoided if society were changed for the better. The overall stylistic quality and writing technique is somewhat lacking, but it's the idea that is important. This is one of the founding books of the science fiction genre, and as such is probably more important for the position it occupies than as a free-standing work of art. (show less)
Literally, I could not put it down, not until I turned that last page in the wee hours of the morning! The Time Machine accomplished what most science-fiction novels fail at: subtlety (in my opinion, too much sci-fi does too much explaining than showing) and innovation. I suppose it has the fact that it is now over a century old going for that latter of the two, but H.G. Wells here produced a futuristic world vastly different from any other. Heck, even that shoddy 2002 film version severely d... (show more)
Literally, I could not put it down, not until I turned that last page in the wee hours of the morning! The Time Machine accomplished what most science-fiction novels fail at: subtlety (in my opinion, too much sci-fi does too much explaining than showing) and innovation. I suppose it has the fact that it is now over a century old going for that latter of the two, but H.G. Wells here produced a futuristic world vastly different from any other. Heck, even that shoddy 2002 film version severely destroyed Wells' future worldview. But in his Time Machine tale, there is mysterious, well-thought-out future of a decaying humanity, not filled with flying cars and immense city-utopias, but with very inhuman creatures, all of them frightening for their warped and near humanity. While, I might not believe the same naturalistic principles which guided Wells' imagination toward this future of his, I do find it a vivid and powerful picture, more so than any future-realm sci-fi has yet to conjure up. Wells, you've made a masterpiece! (show less)
Already read
I haven't watched its movie version..i heard of it and not quite sure if its same story plot, anyway ..i want to read the book first.. its a short book and an easy read but very thought provoking.. Wells showed us another way of looking at man's end.. his story made me think about heaven and hell.. i went through comparing the world of Eloi to our concept of 'heaven' ..and the Morlocks as 'hell'.. i admire his perception of 'man', where man will lead himself in his pursuit to 'perfection'..or... (show more)
I haven't watched its movie version..i heard of it and not quite sure if its same story plot, anyway ..i want to read the book first.. its a short book and an easy read but very thought provoking.. Wells showed us another way of looking at man's end.. his story made me think about heaven and hell.. i went through comparing the world of Eloi to our concept of 'heaven' ..and the Morlocks as 'hell'.. i admire his perception of 'man', where man will lead himself in his pursuit to 'perfection'..or if he let himself be engulfed by his 'fear'.. i also like how he tried to share in the end the 'power of now' ~ok its a classic sci-fi! ..actually, it brought to mind Plato's ideal world, Wachowski's Matrix evolution, and this tv series with bear-like-creatures as characters who flies with somewhat make-shift 'planes'..oh my i forgot the name of the show! haha! .. i highly recommend it to all, a definite must have for the book collectors out there.. i miss Weena! will read this again soon! ; ) (show less)
Already read
This book has been added to these lists:
LivingSocial.com is a social discovery and cataloging network that allows people to review and share their favorite movies, books, games, music, restaurants and beer
