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The Time Machine (Step-Up Classics)

by H.G. Wells, Les Martin

3.69 · rating details · 43,818 ratings · 1,767 reviews

Illus. in black-and-white. When a turn-of-the-century scientist travels into the distant future in his time machine, he expects to find progress and superior people. But instead he discovers a world in decay. Reading level: 2.4.

Paperback, 96 pages

Published August 18th 1990 by Random House Books for Young Readers (first published 1888)

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Dec 26, 2011

Lou rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: december-2011-read-list, adapted-to-screen, classics, fantasy

2333 December 19th
Alas this is a fine work from a writer of bygone times and if he could only discover his vision and writings of Time Travel were in fact prophecies and became true. As I have indeed traveled to 802,701AD and meet the lovely Weena a female Eloi and the dreadful Morlocks. The Time Machine he speaks of was made in the year 2222 but something even greater is in my possession much smaller and highly efficient the 'iFuture' watch is now the tool of Time travel it will revolutio...more

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May 26, 2010

Michael added it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, audio-book, read-in-2009, obscure-references-book-group, read-in-2010

Without "The Time Machine," we might not have science-fiction. Or at least not as we know it.

That's not to say that someone wouldn't or couldn't have come along and filled a gap had H.G. Wells not written this. But would it have been as popular and caught fire with the imagination of the reading public if had been something or someone else. Maybe not.

What I'm trying to say is that sci-fi fans owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Wells for this story. Not o...moreWithout "The Time Machine," we might not have science-fiction. Or at least not as we know it.

That's not to say that someone wouldn't or couldn't have come along and filled a gap had H.G. Wells not written this. But would it have been as popular and caught fire with the imagination of the reading public if had been something or someone else. Maybe not.

What I'm trying to say is that sci-fi fans owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Wells for this story. Not only was it hugly influential, but it's still entertaining and readable to this day. Following the convention of the period, Wells relates the story twice removed. It's a first-person narrator relating the story of another first-person narrator. Wells introduces us to the Traveller, who has invented a way to break the barrier to the fourth dimension. He plans to travel in time and does so, going into the far future and meeting the Eloi and the Morlocks.

If you've seen the movie, you're probably familiar with most of what unfolds. But if you've only seen the movie, you've really only experienced half of the story. Like many great episodes of sci-fi shows today, the success of "The Time Machine" comes from the abililty to use fantastic fiction to comment on current real-world issues. "The Time Machine" does that in such a subtle way, making readers think and carry that thought process long after the final page is turned.

That's not to say it's all philosophical discourse (I'm looking at your Robert A. Heinlein). The novel wouldn't endure if it was just that. It's got a good adventure story at its center and it hangs the philosophical argument on that. Wells shows a mastery of this type of storytelling that many other writers in this field (again, I point to Robert A. Heinlein) have tried but come up woefully short in achieving.

It's a classic, no question about it. If you've not read it in a while, it's worth a second, third or even fifteenth look. If you've not read it all, you should treat yourself to one of the truly innovated stories in world literature. It's not every day you can read a story that is the starting point for an entire genre. (less)

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Jul 25, 2010

Jenelle rated it

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Shelves: sci-fi

how can things really be the way they seem/
love'm Elois & Morlocks. the speciazation of humanity in Wells' imagined future is still so fresh & cool!
there's very little real science in this book, which has done miracles for protecting it from its age (the Monica Vitti effect: being mysterious). however, it's a great study into how our ethos about science has changed in the last hundred years. here's the scientist-adventurist, looking vaguely aristocratic and very very romantic, wit...more

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Oct 22, 2008

Beth F. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, classic, time-travel, science-fiction, 2008

One of the most difficult courses I took in college was a class called Sociological Theory. The professor was either brilliant or a total nut, I’m still not sure, and one of the questions for our final exam was actually:

Why? (Use diagrams to support your response).

Ugh, ugh, ugh!!! I walked out of that class with a B and I kid you not, I have never worked so hard for a B in my life! I pity the one guy in my class who walked away with an A and don’t even want to think ...moreOne of the most difficult courses I took in college was a class called Sociological Theory. The professor was either brilliant or a total nut, I’m still not sure, and one of the questions for our final exam was actually:

Why? (Use diagrams to support your response).

Ugh, ugh, ugh!!! I walked out of that class with a B and I kid you not, I have never worked so hard for a B in my life! I pity the one guy in my class who walked away with an A and don’t even want to think about what his social life was like during that semester because I know mine was down the tubes.

At one point, the kooky prof mentioned The Time Machine as some interesting (but not required) reading to pick up on the side. But since he already had us reading upwards of 1,000 pages a week and we were required to hand in a 7-10 page paper every Monday (just for the one class!!!!), I was like, “screw you! H.G. Wells can kiss my ass!”

And that’s the funny thing about regret. Because now I’m wishing I’d have made time in my busy schedule to read it. Maybe I should have blown off another class for a couple hours so I could have read The Time Machine. And then I could have thought about it in a state of mind that was open and receptive to what was being said and layering it with some weird, academic extrapolations and connections (the kind professors slurp up) and it would become something ultra-meaningful and profound. Or something.

But no, I read it now. At age 29. Because I was dragging my feet and didn’t feel like finishing the book I’m supposed to be reading about Al Qaeda. And so the entire time I was reading it, I was like, “hm, interesting. If I was a younger person and still remembered the specific details about theories I studied in my past life as a student, the ideas in this book would have given me a nerd brain orgasm. And hot diggity damn! This book would have made a fantastic paper for my Soc. Theory class! By referencing several schools of sociological thought and combining those with discussions of evolution, social deconstruction and combining all that with the social norms of Victorian peoples—that would have knocked that prof’s socks off!"

So anyway. I liked this book okay. I’m really not a huge science fiction fan and that aspect probably kept me from getting into it as much as I could have given its potential for creating nerd brain o’s. Plus, it was only 90 pages long. It’s hard to really get into something that’s that short. Parts of the story felt like they weren’t fleshed out enough and Wells seemed to have skimmed over several scenes that shouldn’t have been skimped on. But then I found out that his original intent for this story was to turn it into a full-fledged novel but that just never happened due to some financial burdens and it sort of made sense.

The basic plot revolves around a Victorian gentleman and his theories about time travel. To prove them, he builds a machine and travels 800,000 years into the future where he befriends a group of people, the Eloi, who are descended from modern human beings. They are much shorter, childlike people who only eat fruit and spend most of their day playing games. They have no concept of work, they have no critical thinking skills and are incapable of logical reaction to problems. They are also terrified of the dark.

After spending a few days with them, the Time Traveler discovers another distinct species, also descended from modern man but of a much more sinister nature. This second group lives underground, only comes out at night, is a bit more cunning than the gentle people who live aboveground and this group is also extremely predatory in that they cannibalize the Eloi. These are the Morlocks.

The Time Traveler has several adventures during his time spent amongst the Eloi and the Morlocks and towards the end of the story, Wells makes some fairly blatant comparisons between the Eloi and the ultra-rich of our own society. If they spend their entire days being attended to by others, they will lose the ability to care for themselves and if they’re not careful, over the course of time and evolution of the species, they could turn into the Eloi, a group of wimpy wimpsters upon whom a life of privilege has backfired. (less)

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Nov 29, 2008

Werner rated it

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Recommends it for: Fans of 19th century fiction (esp. science fiction), and of adventure fiction

Shelves: science-fiction, classics

Wells was the first science fiction writer to posit time travel by mechanical means as a literary conceit for presenting both ideas and storylines that otherwise couldn't be explored in fiction; he had done this already in his 1888 story "A Chronic Argonaut," which is sometimes erroneously described as an early version of this novel, although the characters and plot are quite different. But it was through The Time Machine that the idea caught the popular imagination, and became a stap...moreWells was the first science fiction writer to posit time travel by mechanical means as a literary conceit for presenting both ideas and storylines that otherwise couldn't be explored in fiction; he had done this already in his 1888 story "A Chronic Argonaut," which is sometimes erroneously described as an early version of this novel, although the characters and plot are quite different. But it was through The Time Machine that the idea caught the popular imagination, and became a staple of the genre. (This work illustrates as well as any other the basic difference between Wells' "soft" approach versus that of "hard" SF patron saint Jules Verne; unlike Verne's technologies, this one isn't extrapolated from any existing knowledge and doesn't lay claim to any real probability as a prediction of future human achievement. It's just a pure and simple exercise in "what if?" regardless of scientific fact. Unlike many of Verne's technological wonders, it hasn't come to pass in the present (and Wells didn't expect it to). But it comes to grip with philosophical issues in a much more direct way than most of Verne's work.

As the book description above indicates, those philosophical issues are very much bound up with Darwinism, which the young Wells absorbed as a pupil of "Darwin's bulldog," Thomas Huxley. While the budding author never questioned the truth of what he was taught, he was much more ambivalent about its philosophical implications than the Social Darwinist, moneyed elite of his day (which embraced it with delight). He accepted the idea that "progress" would inevitably result in a Utopian conquest of nature that would abolish toil and scarcity --but he also recognized that, according to Darwinist dogma, without the toil, scarcity, and danger that supposedly functioned as the catalyst for continued upward evolution, the race would necessarily stagnate and devolve. Moreover, the sharp class divisions of Victorian society, with the genetic isolation and mutual antagonism of higher and lower classes, viewed through a Darwinist lens, was a perfect set-up for the evolution of separate and hostile species locked in a struggle for survival; and that one would become the prey of the other was as "natural" a phenomenon as the supposed ratchet towards "progress." And overarching this whole view of the world is the fact of the inevitable future exhaustion of the sun, which (in the absence of anything like Divine intervention) means that the world orbiting it is doomed to eventual extinction, rendering all human existence and achievement existentially meaningless. All of these ideas are worked out to their grim conclusions in the novel, leaving the narrator to observe, near the end, that "it remains for us to live as though it were not so" --a line that certainly serves as its own commentary!

Although I liked it, my rating of this novel isn't quite as high as that of most of my Goodreads friends. It's one of those novels, IMO, that are more important for their historical significance, and for the ideas they present, than for their entertainment value. Character development isn't strong here; we never even learn the Traveler's name, for example, and his interactions with the Morlocks and Eloi (even with Weena) aren't very deep. There is definitely danger and adventure; it's not wholly a novel of colorless ideas. But all the Traveler accomplishes in the end is bare survival, bringing back to the present a cargo of depressing ideas. For the original Victorian readers who shared his presuppositions (and for their counterparts today), those ideas would certainly be gripping and disturbing; and for readers who have never imagined time travel, that very concept would have been a striking source of wonder --like Capt. Nemo's submarine for Verne's original readers. But today, time travel is an old-hat concept for SF fans; it takes more than the bare idea to elicit wonder and excitement. And for readers who don't share his presuppositions, it's hard to suspend disbelief in his depictions of the future, while the ideas he's preaching fall flat. But they remain important ideas to understand, whether you agree with them or not, if you want to fully comprehend what Darwinism means philosophically.(less)

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Apr 11, 2009

Jessica rated it

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Shelves: dystopias-and-utopias, post-apocalyptic, sf, read-more-than-once

Ooo - I liked this a lot! What rich worlds Wells creates! In the year 802701 A.D., humans have evolved ("evolved"?) into two distinct species, borne from an increasingly growing chasm between the leisure class and the working class. The Time Traveler experiences this world in a way that is both entertaining and aphoristic. He finds that without challenges and change, humans have become simplistic and animalistic. He theorizes that "an animal perfectly in harmony with its environme...more

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Sep 12, 2009

Ben Babcock rated it

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Shelves: english-3950, 19th-century, 2009-read, science-fiction, time-travel, owned

Maybe it's unfair to compare them, but having read this hot on the heels of The War of the Worlds, I liked The Time Machine better. On thematic grounds it's a close battle, but The Time Machine is a far superior story, hands down.

I'm not even going to touch the whole "time travel" concept as Wells presents it in this book, both because it was written in 1895 and because science fiction has so thoroughly confused the matter that trying to claim something "accurately"...moreMaybe it's unfair to compare them, but having read this hot on the heels of The War of the Worlds, I liked The Time Machine better. On thematic grounds it's a close battle, but The Time Machine is a far superior story, hands down.

I'm not even going to touch the whole "time travel" concept as Wells presents it in this book, both because it was written in 1895 and because science fiction has so thoroughly confused the matter that trying to claim something "accurately" depicts time travel is always going to be specious. The main character has a time machine and he goes forward (then backward) in time. Got it? Good.

As with The War of the Worlds, precious few characters have names. In fact, I counted a grand total of two named characters: Filby, "an argumentative person with red hair" and Weena, an Eloi woman who befriends the Time Traveller. We never learn the name of the Time Traveller or the narrator of the book. Still, Wells somehow manages to pull this off with aplomb. And this time, he's even somehow acquired a story to mix in among his speculation and political theory!

Wells' Time Traveller builds his time machine in the hopes of going into the far future, where humanity will have solved all the problems looming ominously in the near future as Britain enters the 20th century. So when the Time Traveller arrives in 802,701, naturally he's pleased to find out that humanity has split up into two species, neither of whom retain the capacity for abstract thought, let alone solutions to all our problems. The happy-go-lucky, child-like Eloi live in a state of daytime bliss punctuated by their nightly Fear of the dark-loving, subterranean Morlocks. The Morlocks make off with the Time Traveller's machine, so he has to live with the Eloi while he plots to recapture it.

The Eloi and the Morlocks are the result of the ultimate separation of humanity, according to the Time Traveller, into a leisure-loving aristocracy (the Eloi) and the service-loving labourers (the Morlocks)—capitalism carried to its logical evolutionary extreme. Political theory aside, there's unquestionable, if unoriginal, validity in the statement that "the cause of human intelligence and vigour" is "hardship and freedom." Unfortunately, Wells never really advances beyond this basic thesis. We never learn if the example he sets during his confrontation with the Morlocks inspires the Eloi to improve themselves or not.

Despite Wells' enthusiastic confidence that the march of science would one day provide the answer to our problems, the Time Traveller, as his representative of the scientific genius, is far from a paragon. Indeed, he displays almost instinctual vitriol toward the ape-like Morlocks. The Eloi, on the other hand, "had kept too much of the human form not to claim my sympathy" despite "their intellectual degradation." To the Time Traveller, Beauty is Good and Ugly is Bad. Some readers may take this as a lack of depth on Wells' part; I interpret it as evidence of depth of character in the Time Traveller—that is, he's not all the virtuous hero; he occasionally succumbs to the prejudices of his era.

The Time Machine is a conflict-laden adventure backed by some interesting ideas, the best of both worlds, unified by Wells' trademark descriptive style. It's a "what if" story, a story of wonder—one-hit wonder. And in that limited respect, while short, it's satisfying.(less)

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Aug 11, 2008

DJ rated it

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Recommends it for: little boys and sci-fi fans

Shelves: fiction

Stranded in India with nothing to read, I picked this granddaddy of science fiction up in an Indian 'American classic' print for 50 rupees (just over a US dollar) - a steal for both its literary importance and compelling story.

One of the first sci-fi novels ever to be written from one of the first writers ever to write sci-fi, 'The Time Machine' is a short but captivating journey into the early 20th century imagination - and a fascinating extrapolation of popular philosophies.
...more

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Jul 25, 2008

Kristen rated it

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Shelves: classics, 1001-books-before-you-die

I am sure that you have seen the movies that have been made from this book, there are quite a few and most of them are very entertaining. Unfortunately none of the movies that I have seen have captured the social meaning behind this book. Certainly they have the adventure part down pat, but the rest of it is changed, for the times I’m sure. I would advise those of you who love Sci-fi to read this book, and to those of you, like myself who have a hard time getting into that genera, look at thi...moreI am sure that you have seen the movies that have been made from this book, there are quite a few and most of them are very entertaining. Unfortunately none of the movies that I have seen have captured the social meaning behind this book. Certainly they have the adventure part down pat, but the rest of it is changed, for the times I’m sure. I would advise those of you who love Sci-fi to read this book, and to those of you, like myself who have a hard time getting into that genera, look at this as a classic and read it anyway.

The unnamed inventor of a time machine, known only as the traveler, leaves his home to travel forward through time. Seeing drastic changes in the world he finally settles on a distant future to get out and explore. He quickly meets tiny humans which he refers to as the Eloi. They are fair to look at, complete ADD cases with little to no true knowledge or skills. The Traveler attempts to communicate with them and has some difficulty. He spends a great deal of time in this futuristic world and discovers that the Eloi are not alone in this new world, and that their counterparts are far more sinister.

One of the biggest changes made in the movies is the cause of the split between the Eloi and the Morlocks. It is very interesting to read Well’s actual reasoning, which is the separation and elitism between the social classes. This becomes more defined and is the actual basis of the entire novel. Rather than being a true Sci-Fi book, this really is about Victorian Society and what it would look like if left unchanged for 800,000 years. Because this book only vaguely touches on the science involved, it is likely to never be outdated. Though this is not a fast read by any means, it is a fun and meaningful one. I don’t know that I would hand it to a 10 year old because odds are they would be bored before he even leaves for the trip. However if you can take a deep breath and leave our societies mindset behind (the theory that everything needs to be exploding and that we all need instantaneous gratification at all times) this is a brilliant piece of fiction that spans several genres and is in fact as timeless as the Traveler.
(less)

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Apr 24, 2008

Tracy rated it

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Time Machine was required reading for a course I took in college about the history/evolution of science and man's place in nature. Wells' classic, along with Shelley's Frankenstein and Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, was written in response to the panic that ensued following Darwin's publication of The Origin of Species. People were freaked out by the idea that we evolved from "lesser creatures" and feared that if evolution explains how humans developed, then "de-eveolution...more

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May 10, 2011

Ivonne rated it

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Once again H.G. Wells let us dwell in futuristic landscapes with our feet still in the present. It is amazing how this author manages to bring actual and current topics to fiction and future and mixes them to make you think about reality, it all with the perfect touch of entertainment, good narration, incredible stories and amazing characters you can relate to.

I like the way he tells the story in this book, that first person telling us what he's seeing and how he deals with the situ...more

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Jul 10, 2011

Rebecca rated it

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Shelves: science-fiction, adult-fiction

(We listened to this book on CD on a road trip with our children.)

Wow. Sophisticated writing and incredibly thought provoking. Because we listened to rather than read this, there were many times that I wished I could have stopped and re-listened to a well-worded idea or a deep (deeper than I could absorb!) theory. This was not feasible, so one day, I will re-read this book.

Incidentally, my twelve-year-old son loved it, but my nine-year-old daughter did not.

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Dec 20, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it

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Shelves: classics, science-fiction

I was torn between 3 and 4 stars on this one and finally went with 4 based on the time it was written. It doesn't read like a more recent SF novel, but it's another thought provoking read. The storage devices that survived times passing, the question of what went with him on his last trip and what kind of society would now result stays with us. Not a bad read.

This has been made into more than one movie (the earliest probably being the closest to the actual book). It like many of Well...more

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Mar 29, 2008

Catherine rated it

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This was a surprisingly fast read. I enjoyed the narration greatly. Wells does a good job of including detail but not over doing the descriptions. The story was different than many movie versions I've seen, but I suppose that is the way it is when books are made into movies.
*Spoiler*
I was amazed that in all of the movie versions that I have seen of this book that none of them to my knowledge mention the fact that the Morlocks are cannibals. It is an intriguing idea to think that our...more

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Apr 23, 2009

Greg of A2 rated it

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Shelves: fiction-scifi, read-before-1990

I recall reading this after seeing one of the movie versions again and it actually stood up pretty well. Scary at times (Morlock cannibalism!) with the touch of a romance built in. Stands up to this day.

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Jan 09, 2010

Emily rated it

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Shelves: science-fiction

SUMMARY
"This is my mini model of the time machine", said the young scientist proudly. Filby and everyone else just stared boringly. Then a random man yelled " Well make it do something!". Then...POOF...it was gone! Filby was amazed as he ran his hands over the table that the model had been sitting on. He was shocked, especially when the young scientist came back one day looking like a zombie!!!

R...more

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Jun 18, 2011

Rob rated it

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Shelves: 2011

A classic from the Dean of SF. My only gripe is I wish he had flushed the little book out a little more. Still, the benefit of him not expanding the novella, is he allowed that work to be done by generations of SF writers following in his footsteps.

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Nov 24, 2008

Ron rated it

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Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, apochalypse

The power of this classic work is undiminished by the familiarity of its story. Not even 100 pages long, Machine captures the reader now as it must have over a century ago.

Much of the foundation upon which Wells based his story has faded into obscurity--both the fictional and the scientific--but the book remains a tale well told.

Read it first, without reading the prefaces and notes. Surrender yourself to the tide of the tale. Then go back and read all the for- and after-...more

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Mar 29, 2008

Cole Gregory rated it

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Recommends it for: everyone interested in science fiction

Recommended to Cole by: my friend Amir

Shelves: literature

When I was in sixth grade one of my good friends, Amir, was reading a book by H.G. Wells called "The Island of Doctor Moreau". He told me that the book was very good, but that he also has written other very good novels. Taking his advice, the next day I went to Barnes and Nobles to get a book by H.G. Wells. The one that caught my eye the most was one named The Time Machine. When I got home I started to read it and I couldn't put it down. It was so good. I strongly suggest this book to ...more

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Dec 12, 2008

J. rated it

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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 21, 2012

Rachel rated it

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I'm not a great reader of sci fi, but since this one is considered the great grand daddy of them all, I thought I'd give it a knock. This was one of H.G. Wells' earliest and he is considered to have invented the genre. He tries to be scientific in his descriptions of inanimate objects such as the "quartz" in the time machine, what to do when their is no "sulphur" to light a match, and purposed investigation into what the chimneys could mean.

The introduction contras...more

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Jan 13, 2012

Michelle rated it

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Shelves: classic, science-fiction, in-libris-veritas-reviews

Oh how I've missed reading the classics. I love them dearly, but I never seem to get around to reading them. They are truly wonderful and rarely do they ever disappoint, and this one certainly did not. I've been meaning to get around to reading something from HG Wells, so I decided upon the shortest one which also happened to be the one I've seen in movie form. I think this has definitely made my appetite for his writing grow so hopefully in the future I'll be reading War of the Worlds.

...moreOh how I've missed reading the classics. I love them dearly, but I never seem to get around to reading them. They are truly wonderful and rarely do they ever disappoint, and this one certainly did not. I've been meaning to get around to reading something from HG Wells, so I decided upon the shortest one which also happened to be the one I've seen in movie form. I think this has definitely made my appetite for his writing grow so hopefully in the future I'll be reading War of the Worlds.

The Time Machine is one of those books that actually can transcend the time in which it was written. The time traveling plot actually makes the dated writing style fit perfectly, and actually made my reading experience better. It's also a relatively short and quick read, but given that the actual time frame in which this happened is also short it doesn't really detract from the story at all. The one thing that really took me a moment to get use to is the lack of actual names, our main character is The Time Traveler and other characters in his present day are known by similar titles. It doesn't really matter, as the real story has no call for his name and with the ending Wells gives you it really enriches the story. Who ever thought that not knowing the character's name would be a good thing? There is also a tremendous amount of scientific and philosophical thought that goes into this, and it really got me thinking about what will come after us and why.

The main story of time travel in this one is one that most are familiar with through at least some pop culture reference. Like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory, which probably my favorite spoof.
The story in itself is kind of a chilling realization. You have the kind, dainty and beautiful Eloi who live on the surface of the future Earth. They seem to live the perfect existence. Then you have the lurking, furry, and terrifying Morlocks who live beneath the surface with their machinery. The two races play pivotal role in each others lives and more importantly they play an even bigger role in showing an over the top example of what occurs when one section of human lifestyle distance themselves from another. In this case the seemingly wealthy and lap of luxury against the workers who are relayed upon and yet shunned. But if that's too much thinking for you, you have no need to fear the story is wonderful without all the insight, especially if you've seen the movie.

I would certainly recommend this to anyone with an interest science fiction and time travel. It's pretty short and only took me about a day to read so it's certainly not to much of a time consumer. Also if you haven't seen the original movie from 1960 go watch it, I haven't seen the newer one so I'm not sure about it.(less)

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Jan 05, 2012

Elizabeth rated it

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Shelves: classics, science-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The Time Machine is the story of a man in Victorian England who builds a time machine, travels forward in time thousands and thousands of years to see what has become of the earth, what has become of humans. He expects we have evolved to some sort of perfection, but he finds instead humans have basically dumbed down and spend all their time playing around and basically doing nothing. His time machine goes missing, but initially he isn't terribly concerned as these humans seem so harmless. The...moreThe Time Machine is the story of a man in Victorian England who builds a time machine, travels forward in time thousands and thousands of years to see what has become of the earth, what has become of humans. He expects we have evolved to some sort of perfection, but he finds instead humans have basically dumbed down and spend all their time playing around and basically doing nothing. His time machine goes missing, but initially he isn't terribly concerned as these humans seem so harmless. Then he finds there is another sort of human, one that has evolved quite differently. They live underground, can't stand the light, and apparently provide the other humans with their clothes and food, which explains why that first group of humans he encounters don't seem to have to work for anything. And, in trying to find his missing time machine, he finds out something rather unsettling about this underground species of human.

The 1960 movie mostly stays true to the book, but there were a few differences. (Here I might include a spoiler or two so be warned and will write as if you already know the story.) The Time Traveler's relationship with the future human Weena in the movie I felt was over-romantacized now having read the book. Those humans, the Eloi, are described as looking much different than humans are today. Smaller, delicate, Weena does not strike me as someone the Traveler would develop a romantic attraction for but instead just a strong affection. A parental sort of relationship. Also, the movie, I thought anyway, insinuated that the Traveler was going back to Weena and the Eloi at the end, but the book only suggests he is continuing to travel. Another difference was how the Morlocks (those underground humans) harvest, so to speak, the Eloi seemed to be much less calculated. In the movie, this great siren sounds and the Eloi go into a trance as they are led underground. The book has the Morlocks simply going out at night to try to collect Eloi. The movie gave it more of a nuclear attack sort of feel.

And speaking of nuclear attacks, or at least big bombs, I felt, and perhaps this was my own misunderstanding, that it was insinuated in the movie that the division of humans into Morlocks and Eloi was a result of wars. In the book, the division came about through class differences. Through one group serving another and that over time, the Morlocks degraded into this subspecies of ground dwellers serving the other subspecies who were originally the upper classes. The upper class, having all their needs met, simply stopped bothering to do anything and became naive and innocent (stupid) and spent all their time playing around and doing nothing. The Morlocks were also not bright, but perhaps Wells saw this as normal as being the poorer class they would have been uneducated anyway? Each subspecies (I hope I'm right in called them subspecies) had degraded to living off their instincts. Instead of advancing, they had regressed and didn't know to do otherwise. Wells of course wrote this book before both of the World Wars and the movie was filmed after. Class distinctions, while still present, were perhaps less so than in Wells time so the wars, not long after World War II, made more sense for movie-goers?(less)

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Nov 26, 2011

Sophie rated it

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Fabulous book.

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

"'It sounds plausible enough to-night,' said the Medical Man; 'but wait until to-morrow. Wait for the common sense of the morning.'"

"And then, as the idea came home to him, he resorted to a caricature. Hadn't they any clothes-brushes in the Future?"

"I felt the same horribl...more

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Nov 19, 2011

Sarah O'Brien rated it

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Shelves: reviewed

Time travel still perks our interest even in this day of mass technological progress. With the television of today we've been catapulted into the world of amazing computer graphics and digital images that now even the thought of time travel seems like an everyday attainability. Imagine how the idea would have hit the masses back in 1895 when The Time Machine was first published. It was something of a mystery and actually a fairly frightening concept. Especially when reading about the future...more
Time travel still perks our interest even in this day of mass technological progress. With the television of today we've been catapulted into the world of amazing computer graphics and digital images that now even the thought of time travel seems like an everyday attainability. Imagine how the idea would have hit the masses back in 1895 when The Time Machine was first published. It was something of a mystery and actually a fairly frightening concept. Especially when reading about the future world H.G.Wells described. He spoke of a world with only two classes of people and their very contrasted lifestyles. The Time Machine is more than a fictional tale however. It's a narrative exploring the possibility that class distinction will evolve over time into it's most base form.

In the year 802,701 (could that even be considered C.E.?), the earth has transformed back into its most natural state. Lush greens and beautiful flowers bloom everywhere on the sunny landscape. The first people who the time traveler meets are those he calls the Eloi. They are a pale, fragile, human-looking sort of people, but they all look alike and they all seem to wear the same kind of robes for clothing. For all their genericness, the Eloi are a gentle and peaceful, albeit extremely mentally simple, sort. They accept the time traveler with great curiosity and openness and by the end of the day have grown bored with him. The time traveler saves one female from drowning and she attaches herself to him like a lost puppy. He names her Weena and takes her with him wherever he goes including the search for his invaluable time machine which has been stolen! The second class of people live below ground and he calls them the Morlocks. Like any creature that lives in an unilluminated atmosphere, the Morlocks have no sight in their reddish eyes and have no pigment to their skin. They only venture out at nighttime to feast upon the hapless Eloi. Now they've stolen the time machine and the time traveler must retrieve it all costs.

The Time Machine narrative is written by one of the time traveler's friends who heard the story and is relating it to us, the reader, secondhand. It's a strange set-up for a narrative but not an unpleasant or confusing one. It would seem that Wells had a fantastic idea of the evolution of the social structure. That idea being that those of elite social status who have no need to work and who have not a real care in the world would deteriorate into an unintelligent and simple-minded creature living only for the pleasure of pretty things. By contrast, the lowly working class working underground (ie: sewers, subways, etc.) would go on to acclimate to their underground world by losing their vision and body pigment and also to practice animalistic eating habits by preying on other people. Perhaps putting this whole social prediction into the construct of a novel would make it more appealing? As everyone knows, anything is acceptable if it's labeled as fiction. Wells doesn't even bother to name the characters in the story. The protagonist he simply refers to as "the time traveler". His whole focus is in telling the story and the idea.

It is a very short and easy read. However, the concept of the evolution of social status is one that will always be elusive and complex.

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Nov 18, 2011

Chad Warner rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, science-fiction

Another imaginative sci-fi classic from H.G. Wells. (view spoiler)...more

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Nov 12, 2011

Erin Rogers rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi-fantasy, fiction

I was prompted to seek out this classic by H.G. Wells after watching an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, The Big Bang Theory, in which the main characters buy a replica of the time machine used on the set of the movie based on this book. I am so happy I picked it up! I didn’t realize just how influential this science fiction novel is until Wikipedia informed me, “This 32,000 word story is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel using a vehicle that allows ...more

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Oct 19, 2011

Amruth Kumar Juturu rated it

· review of another edition

I don't think I got the story. If it were just the story of a time traveller depicting his ostensibly fantastical experiences, it isn't as good as it is expected to be. There has to be some thing more, which I think, I didn't get in my first go. The depiction of a human society which has reached it's end point in development, where there is no more need to improve and conquer, and consequently resulting in decadence of physical and mental powers, caught my fascination. When I was expecting a pro...more

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Oct 07, 2011

Cheryl in CC NV rated it

· review of another edition

GR says five stars means 'it was amazing.' Well, I was amazed by how much I liked this. I'm not clever enough to enjoy Classic Literature - but this was surprsingly fun! Exciting, resonant, thoughtful - and much more accessible to modern readers, whether fans of SF or not, than I thought it would be.

Yes there were some slang and some allusions I didn't understand, especially at the dinner parties at the beginning. Nor do I understand why each gathering had different members. Nor...more

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Sep 25, 2011

Emily rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: action, fantasy-fiction, sci-fi, my-favorites, classics, cliffhanger

This book is kind if hard to understand at the beginning, but I think that adds to the mystery of the whole book
All the characters are nameless, their only titles being an adjective that descibes them and their proffessions. the point of view is of a man that is never named, but you can tell he is a good friend if the "Time Traveler". When the Time Traveler finally shows up, he shows definite signs of wear and tear, hardly talking as they eat dinner. Then they go to the smoking ro...more

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About H.G. Wells

Herbert George Wells, better known as H. G. Wells, was the third son of a small shopkeeper. After two years' apprenticeship in a draper's shop, he became a pupil-teacher at Midhurst Grammar School and won a scholarship to study under T. H. Huxley at the Normal School of Science, South Kensington. He taught biology before becoming a professional writer and journalist.
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Quotes from ماشین زمان

“Nature never appeals to intelligence until habit and instinct are useless. There is no intelligence where there is no need of change.” — 49 people liked it

“We should strive to welcome change and challenges, because they are what help us grow. With out them we grow weak like the Eloi in comfort and security. We need to constantly be challenging ourselves in order to strengthen our character and increase our intelligence. ” — 19 people liked it

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