The Time Traveller, a dreamer obsessed with traveling through time, builds himself a time machine and, much to his surprise, travels over 800,000 years into the future. He lands in the year 802701: the world has been transformed by a society living in apparent harmony and bliss, but as the Traveler stays in the future he discovers a hidden barbaric and depraved subterranean class. Wells’s … transparent commentary on the capitalist society was an instant bestseller and launched the time-travel genre.
The Time Machine inspired the international bestseller The Map of Time by Felix J. Palma. As a gift to our readers, we are including the first three chapters of The Map of Time in this ebook edition.more
I’m so glad I finally read this classic! As a child, I had watched the old PBS series Wishbone, and I loved the retelling of this story, but I could never remember the title or author. It’s one of the first science fiction stories ever published, way back in 1895, near the turn of the century. Recently I finished a collection of sci-fi stories …
The Time Machine, even on the face of it, is an extraordinary story, particularly if you consider the time when it was written. The book is narrated by a third party who tells of the Time Travelers wonderful invention of a machine that can travel through time and of his experiences, travelling into the future.
The books starts with the Time Traveler explaining his theories of time travel to friends and others whom he has invited to a dinner party. He demonstrates his theories using a miniature time machine that he has built and tells them that he is nearly finished building a full sized one. The attendees of the dinner are most circumspect although they recognise the Time Travelers superior intelligence. His audience come across as slightly suspicious of the Time Traveler and it seems they think he is far to clever for his own, or anyone else’s, good and that he might be tricking them. The narrator reveals that he has pranked his friends in the past.
He is quite genuine though and does manage to travel far into the distant future on his machine. He discovers a world that appears to be on the decline, that is inhabited by beautiful, almost doll-like people, who demonstrate the behavior and intelligence of children. The Time Traveler, who is an intellectual snob, finds this very difficult to understand and speculates at length about why the intelligence and innovation of mankind has eroded so significantly. He initially comes to believe it is because the Eloi have evolved over time to have a perfect life, completely free of any sort of threats. The climate is lovely and temperate, there is plenty of delicious fruit to feed them and, as a result, they do not need to develop their brains in order to deal with adversity and to improve their chances of survival.
Soon after the Time Travelers arrival in this future world, his time machine is removed and hidden. He quickly works out where it must be stowed but he can’t understand the circumstances around the theft. As time passes, he soon realises that everything is not quite as it seems in this paradise. There is a threat and it is more horrible than the Time Traveler could have ever believed.
I already knew the basic story of The Time Machine before I re-read this book recently. The story is fascinating but I was most intrigued by H.G. Wells interesting analysis of human intelligence, how it develops and how it could decline. He also makes acute and accurate observation about societies and how the interaction between the employers and the employees could play out over time. There are some conveniences in the book which a reader quickly identifies, but for me, they did not detract from my delight and interest in this great story.
H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine was required reading in high school for most when I was in 9th grade (about 25 years ago), and one of my teachers chose this book as 1 of 10 books we read that year in an English literature comparative analysis course. Each month, we’d read a book and watch two film adaptations, then have discussions and write a paper. At the time, I thought, this book is a little cheesy… I mean, not that I was a huge Star Trek fan (although I did love me some Voyager), but even I know time machines were a lot cooler than what I saw in the movie and read about in the book.
THEN, I realized HG Wells published this book in 1895… an entire century before I started watching TV shows about time travel. And that’s when you realize what a priceless book this was. It was the advent of a new genre’s blossoming into fandom. And I became fascinated with these types of stories. But there was so much more to it than time travel.
It’s a commentary on society and values. Are you ostracized when you think differently? What if you look different… like as in your skin looks blue. Do you know what a Morlock is? Check it out (thanks the original GIF source in link!)
MORLOCKS photo TIMEMACHINE-new.gif
What I loved about this story was the thoughts and ideas of an 1890s man writing about the potential for traveling to the past and the future, suggesting what happens to humankind over time. In the era of Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species, or perhaps a few decades later, this book covers those ideas and helps activate a reader’s imagination outside their own limited world. It was the 1890s… no TV, no phones, car engines being built for the first time, indoor plumbing had just become common in regular homes… life was every different.
That said, it’s the words and imagery that catch you in this book. You have to forego current life and pretend you were still back in time.
I’ve read this a number of times and see something different every time. Can be read on so many levels. At times quite scary, and the sense of desolation and foreboding on the beach in the far future with the swollen blood-red sun and strange creatures inhabiting a dead world, leaves you with a genuine feeling of dread and loneliness. A classic, of course!
One of my favorite classic Sci-Fi books
I have yet to find a time travel novel that compares to the original time travel novel. This book was absolutely amazing and it had so much to offer. I read this book early on, and adored it. It is one of the books that inspired me to write science fiction.
I was actually lucky enough to get my hands on a first edition of this book last year, and I can say I was VERY happy with myself. It isn’t often that you stumble across the first edition of a book you loved growing up, especially if said book is over a hundred years old!
So, I literally only read this book because it’s “iconic” and a “classic” but I honestly had no expectation of liking it. But, I loved it. I think maybe it’s because it’s written like a story being told between people and not like a novel. Also I felt like there were points of view, and descriptions that resonated with me and seemed to be directly responsible for modern day stories about time travel. Or, maybe it’s just that time travel is the only sub-genre of Science Fiction that I’m interested in. Regardless, i think this was an amazing story, and it’s super short so there’s honestly no reason everyone doesn’t read it!
A very great read that is well written. Will always be my favorite book.
I’ve read this book many times and each time I read it, I love it.
I think this is one of my favorite books. I thought it was quite a ride. The best movie version I feel is the 1960 version by George Pal with actors Rod Taylor, Alan Young and Yvette Mimieux
I read the book many years ago when I was in my pre-teen years. Might be time to re-read it.
The book “The Time Machine” was awesome because it had some action in it. It had some entertainment in some parts. It had some realistic parts in it which means that it sounds like it could be real but it is also fiction. Also, the buildings in the story you could just picture in your mind how it was built and things… It was a happy ending because the time machine was successfully built and in the beginning it was not looking out to well then at the end it was successfully built. Also, it had wonderful characters because they were very interacting when it was there part to speak… Also, it was very informative because it shows how they built the time machine and why they built the time machine and they also which was very important they introduced the characters at the beginning…
This book is about a Time Traveler (who is never named in the book) who built a time machine. He travels to the year 800,000+ and stays for 80 days there before returning to the 1800s to tell his tale. The book is mostly the Time Traveler telling his friends of his experiences with the people in the distant future (who are named the Murlocks (undergrounders who only come out at night and are dangerous) and the Eloi (overlanders who are out during the day and are child like). He falls for a girl named Weena who he plans to have return with him to the 1800s, but it was not to be.
The reason he spends so much time in the distant future is because the Murlocks have hidden his time machine and he needs to figure out how to get it back. Once he does, he actually goes forward in time – curious to see what happens to the earth millions of years into the future. Once he travels to the end of time, he reverses his course and goes home.
Do his friends believe him? Does he stay in the past? Does he prove his travels? You will have to read to find out.
I did enjoy this book. I found the part of him going to the end of time especially gripping. Wondering always, as we are, what it will be like when the earth is no more. HG Wells theories are not far from what science believes today. The air is thin, the earth is quiet, and life is basically non-existent. No reason to stay.
This book is really (really) short. I have a small copy and it was 120 pages. If you get a typical sized book (like the one they sell on Amazon) it is only 58 pages. A quick, yet enjoyable, read.
IF you have not read this classic, you should. And then try one of “The Time Machine movies” (the one I saw was only a little like the book.)
A true classic, though the last time trip is quite a downer.
This is the first “time travel” book I read when I was a teenager so many years ago. It is a wonderful story.
It’s a classic. A must read. I think this is the first novel to deal with time travel.
This is a science fictuon classic. All of the HG Wells books that I’ve read are wonderful. You just have to remember
that they were written over a hundred years ago.
An outstanding book. For the time frame of its writing the story is very prophetic.
I read this back in junior high and again earlier this year. It’s a great and curious thing, rereading a classic. My life experience has finally caught up and I understand the depth of what the author meant between the lines, something I couldn’t begin to grasp at the tender age of 13. I think everyone should pick up a copy of a classic you read in school, and give it another try. You may just find those stuffy old books aren’t quite as boring as you thought. 😉