Joe Haldeman "has quietly become one of the most important science fiction writers of our time" (Rocky Mountain News). Now he delivers a pro...
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May 30, 2009
Jon
rated it: 
3.4 stars
A very quick read for me. A time travel tale with vaguely described quantum physics (string theory and gravitons) and shallow character development. A satisfying ending, but too happy and convenient with a dash of poetic or ironic justice to appeal to me. The religious aspects didn't disturb me; in fact, they intrigued me. I look forward to the book club discussion.
A very quick read for me. A time travel tale with vaguely described quantum physics (string theory and gravitons) and shallow character development. A satisfying ending, but too happy and convenient with a dash of poetic or ironic justice to appeal to me. The religious aspects didn't disturb me; in fact, they intrigued me. I look forward to the book club discussion.
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May 09, 2008
Ryan
rated it:
Oh the fun you can have with time travel. I would say this was a slightly above average sci-fi exploration of the space-time continuum, although I thought it borrowed a little too heavily from H.G. Wells' classic. The periodic regression of civilization and the eventual extinction of life on Earth just didn't strike me as that creative. I would have also like to see more on the inherent paradoxes of time travel instead of the clumsy interpersonal relationships he spends so much time on. I don't
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Jun 18, 2009
Libby
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Apr 23, 2010
Karina
rated it: 
This was light reading; I have finished it in one day. I'm still not all clear on the detail how the protagonist bails himself out of prison, and it's bothering me. So I guess the conclusion isn't all that neat as in The Door Into Summer where the story goes full circle. Still there was a happy ending for the protagonist apparently. I kind of wish I'd finished reading Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid since this book mentions Godel and strange loops, which I only have a basic understa
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May 29, 2009
Beth A.
rated it:
I got caught in this story immediately, it had an interesting premise, and it flowed quickly. It was entertaining enough to keep me up late even though I was very tired and had a long drive the next day. The characters were believable even if some of their circumstances required a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. I liked the ending, too.
Note: This book contains some themes that reflect negatively on religion, also occasional foul language, drug use, and not-too-explicit me More...
Note: This book contains some themes that reflect negatively on religion, also occasional foul language, drug use, and not-too-explicit me More...
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Oct 21, 2007
Jamie
rated it:
This was pretty good - Haldeman is a great storyteller, and his characters are always likeable.
Maybe it's because I recently watched the time travel movie Primer, but the invention/discovery of the time machine seemed a little trite (this box was designed to do x, but it's actually a time machine!) The time travel itself was very interesting, and different from anything I've read.
The book might be considered post-apocalyptic, as the time traveler discovers a future world More...
Maybe it's because I recently watched the time travel movie Primer, but the invention/discovery of the time machine seemed a little trite (this box was designed to do x, but it's actually a time machine!) The time travel itself was very interesting, and different from anything I've read.
The book might be considered post-apocalyptic, as the time traveler discovers a future world More...
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Aug 05, 2009
Richard
rated it:
This was the SciFi selection for the Goodreads SciFi and Fantasy Book Club for the month of June 2009. Visit this link to see all of the discussions, group member reviews, etc.
This is old school science fiction. Very clever, nicely thought-out hard-scifi plausibility, and very light on character development.
The plot is a classic voyage-and-return in which our likable but flawed protagonist is more-or-less forced far from home, undergoes struggles, and — perhaps — finds hi More...
This is old school science fiction. Very clever, nicely thought-out hard-scifi plausibility, and very light on character development.
The plot is a classic voyage-and-return in which our likable but flawed protagonist is more-or-less forced far from home, undergoes struggles, and — perhaps — finds hi More...
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Apr 05, 2009
Andy
rated it: 
I am have fairly specific requirements for time travel stories. However they treat time travel, it has to make sense to me. This book did, which is the main reason it got 5 stars. The plot is actually fairly simplistic, and there are really only 2-3 characters none of whom are very deep or rich. But it was quite entertaining. The story follows Matt into the distance future, one leap at a time in a way that reminded me quite a bit of Marooned in Realtime (another favorite).
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Aug 25, 2008
Nate
rated it:
Another compulsively readable title from Joe Haldeman. Think The Forever War in terms of scope & central character focus. The hero is pretty much instantly likable and it has a nice denouement at the end.
It'll be a quick read for you--finished it in one day, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that it moves swiftly, through time no less! Pa-ching!
I agree that the introduction of a deus ex machina towards the end leaves more questions than answers, but overall it was More...
It'll be a quick read for you--finished it in one day, but that shouldn't detract from the fact that it moves swiftly, through time no less! Pa-ching!
I agree that the introduction of a deus ex machina towards the end leaves more questions than answers, but overall it was More...
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Feb 08, 2009
Paul
rated it:
The Accidental Time Machine, by Joe Haldeman.
Coincidentally, I was recently talking about a Poul Anderson short story, "Flight to Forever", which has some resemblance to this novel.
The basic premise is similar with some twists. Matt, a grad student at MIT, accidental invents the eponymous time machine. Its only a one way device, and the "jumps" are logarithmically longer and longer, and so his journey quickly becomes a one way trip to the future, look More...
Coincidentally, I was recently talking about a Poul Anderson short story, "Flight to Forever", which has some resemblance to this novel.
The basic premise is similar with some twists. Matt, a grad student at MIT, accidental invents the eponymous time machine. Its only a one way device, and the "jumps" are logarithmically longer and longer, and so his journey quickly becomes a one way trip to the future, look More...
May 28, 2008
Eva
rated it:
An MIT grad student discovers that a calibrator he built for an experiment is actually a time machine, but only into the future. Dreaming of fame and fortune (not to mention a Ph.D), Matt hops farther and farther into the future, dodging in and out of dicey situations and, incidentally, meeting a nice girl. The pleasant, easy-going style kept me reading, but the further I read, the more questions I had - and most were never answered. Frustrating...although the ending was a neat little twist.
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Jan 30, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
The Accidental Time Machine is Joe Haldeman's most recent stand-alone novel written in a quirky style rivaling Terry Pratchett's fun novels and even Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Matt is a research assistant at MIT when the calibrator he's working on becomes a time machine by complete accident - hence the book's title. Upon discovering he's lost his job and his girlfriend to the man replacing him at work, Matt decides to take a trip with his time machine. We More...
Matt is a research assistant at MIT when the calibrator he's working on becomes a time machine by complete accident - hence the book's title. Upon discovering he's lost his job and his girlfriend to the man replacing him at work, Matt decides to take a trip with his time machine. We More...
Jul 31, 2010
Ryun
rated it:
Joe Haldeman has nothing to prove as a science fiction writer. His bibliography includes enduring classics and multiple award winners, and his following and appeal is such that he could probably just phone in a book or two every year and make a decent living for himself. That’s one of the reasons his newest book, THE ACCIDENTAL TIME MACHINE is so great, because it didn’t have to be.
THE ACCIDENTAL TIME MACHINE follows MIT graduate student Matt Fuller. He’s got a semidetached geek’s-ey More...
THE ACCIDENTAL TIME MACHINE follows MIT graduate student Matt Fuller. He’s got a semidetached geek’s-ey More...
Jan 15, 2010
Chip
rated it:
Well, I can say I've finally met Jesus - sort of, anyway. I was not the only reader who cringed as the protagonist advanced into the future, worried that the plot appeared for an uncomfortable while to parallel the novel of (nearly) the same name by HG Wells. There was a Jurassic Park moment, which made me wonder if Haldeman's novel preceded Crighton or the other way around. As far as the actual physics of the time machine - one man's dilithium crystal is another man's graviton/string theory.
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Aug 31, 2009
Brendan
rated it:
I read The Forever War a while ago, and enjoyed it immensely. One way to articulate that book’s project, though, is as follows:
A man joins the army and, because of successively longer relativistic jumps, experiences the slow evolution of the human race and society over hundreds or thousands of years. Interesting developments of character and thought experiments about humankind follow.
Here’s a brief summary of The Accidental Time Machine:
A man accidentally invents More...
A man joins the army and, because of successively longer relativistic jumps, experiences the slow evolution of the human race and society over hundreds or thousands of years. Interesting developments of character and thought experiments about humankind follow.
Here’s a brief summary of The Accidental Time Machine:
A man accidentally invents More...
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Feb 10, 2011
Tyrone
rated it:
This is a short easy read which zips along nicely and has a nice finish. Matt Fuller, our main protagonist, is an under achieving student working as a research assistant, seemingly to avoid completing his education. His girlfriend has just left him and when he loses his job to the same man; seemingly a younger, handsomer and more dynamic version of himself that his girlfriend has taken up with the future seems bleak. Or is it? When he discovers that a machine he has constructed has the ability t
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Jul 25, 2009
Kate
rated it:
This book often threatened to tip into the territory of David Gerrold's wondrous The Man Who Folded Himself but never quite made that trip. It would have been fine with me if it had, but one of those is probably enough.
What we have here instead is a playful use of a not-quite-MacGuffin (as Haldeman explains in his author's note, a scientific paper was quite recently published in which his graviton/string theory conceit is explored as serious science) to explore a few possible futures More...
What we have here instead is a playful use of a not-quite-MacGuffin (as Haldeman explains in his author's note, a scientific paper was quite recently published in which his graviton/string theory conceit is explored as serious science) to explore a few possible futures More...
Jun 01, 2009
Daniel
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Aug 11, 2011
Jennifer
rated it:
Summary:
MIT lab technician Matt Fuller discovers that the calibrator he was working on can disappear. At first it vanishes for only a second, then for several seconds, then minutes. Matt decides it is, in fact, a sort of time machine, able to leap into the future for longer and longer periods of time each instance he activates it. He designs an experiment to send a turtle into the future, then finally himself.
When he reappears about a month later, Matt is accused of murder More...
MIT lab technician Matt Fuller discovers that the calibrator he was working on can disappear. At first it vanishes for only a second, then for several seconds, then minutes. Matt decides it is, in fact, a sort of time machine, able to leap into the future for longer and longer periods of time each instance he activates it. He designs an experiment to send a turtle into the future, then finally himself.
When he reappears about a month later, Matt is accused of murder More...
Aug 17, 2010
Rob
rated it:
The Accidental Time Machine is a straightforward SF adventure with a simple premise. There’s very little toying with paradox and and brain-aching concepts, and it’s straight on with the story, a ripping yarn about a graduate student who builds a bit of lab equipment that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Instead, it seems to be able to move forward in time. The twist is, it goes further forward by a factor of twelve each time it’s switched on.
Problem is, it has a tendency to move More...
Problem is, it has a tendency to move More...
Sep 06, 2010
Cheney
rated it:
Phenomenal book. Haldeman has a nice linear style and is easy to read. It comes off like an old crow telling a familiar anecdotal story. This is good because it makes the string-theory and brane universe science involved in the time travel a little easier to digest. The characters are well developed and either believable in their actions or very likable accordingly. Martha is about the best female character I could imagine arising out of the experiences that ensue. I enjoyed this to the point of
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Nov 06, 2009
Drake
rated it:
After reading another time travel book by Joe Haldeman, ‘The Forever War’ and absolutely loving it, I figured I’d give ‘The Accidental Time Machine’ a shot. Although not as entertaining or as illuminating his classic, it was fun trip through space and time. The story follows a young graduate student as he accidentally invents a time machine and begins to jump into the future. However, he soon discovers that it can’t do the one thing he wants, return to the past. And the further he gets into
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Jun 18, 2009
Shannon
rated it:
It's 2057 and Matt Fuller is a postgrad student in chronophysics at MIT. He's essentially given up on his thesis and works as an assistant to Professor Marsh, and his girlfriend Kara has just dumped him. Having constructed a calibrating machine for the professor's work, Matt hits the "reset" button and watches it blink out of existence, only to return before anyone but him notices. The second time he presses it, it disappears for ten seconds. Kidnapping the machine, he takes it home an
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Mar 04, 2011
B.C.
rated it:
The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman tells the story of Matt Fuller. As a lab assistant at MIT, he accidentally discovers a time machine – thus the name of the book. The discovery takes him on a journey that spans thousands upon thousands of years, where he comes in contact with different civilizations in the future. But his one goal is to finally go home, or I should say, to his time period.
The Good: If you are like me, and you like time travel stories, then you should enjoy th More...
The Good: If you are like me, and you like time travel stories, then you should enjoy th More...
Jun 04, 2009
Brad
rated it:
**A spoiler or two follow, but nothing that will wreck The Accidental Time Machine. At least I don't think they will.**
The Accidental Time Machine is a pretty disappointing piece of Sci-Fi, but then my expectations were probably too high.
I've heard great things about Joe Haldeman over the years, particularly about his Hugo Award Winning book The Forever War, so I was expecting The Accidental Time Machine to be entertaining and hoping it would be compelling.
I More...
The Accidental Time Machine is a pretty disappointing piece of Sci-Fi, but then my expectations were probably too high.
I've heard great things about Joe Haldeman over the years, particularly about his Hugo Award Winning book The Forever War, so I was expecting The Accidental Time Machine to be entertaining and hoping it would be compelling.
I More...
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Aug 05, 2011
From this multiple time winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards comes another great work of science fiction. While The Accidental Time Machine does not in any way compare to The Forever War (1976) or Camouflage (2004), Joe Haldeman still creates an exciting novel that you cannot put down. This book starts out like a standard adventure novel about time travel, but quickly picks up speed and interest. Haldeman manages to pack the Puritans, Jurassic Park, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Stranger in a St
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Oct 04, 2010
Tamera
rated it:
An okay quick read. The main character accidentally discovers a quirk that turns a boxed mechanical device into a travel forward only time machine. Instead of dealing with and solving his problems he finds it easier to push a button to escape his preducament. Each jump into the future takes him into a world that has changed. Eventually he has to be rescued by beings that appear in his dreams and lands him back in time to predate his own birth. So many opportunities to explore several interes
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May 25, 2010
A good sci fi yarn with a little gosh-shuckery reminiscent of the golden age, but with a more interesting hero. Matt assembles a piece of lab equipment for his boss and presses the reset button to find the thing disappears; try it again and it vanishes for longer. He works out that the device is somehow jumping forward into the future, and a quick experiment with a watch, camera and pet turtle suggest he could go along. So of course he does.
Each jump into the future is 12 times lo More...
Each jump into the future is 12 times lo More...
Aug 28, 2010
Marcus
rated it:
I'm never entirely clear why Haldeman's books don't really get published over here. Yes, you can get the Forever books, but that seems to be about it. So when I saw this in the 'guest library' in the site office when I was on holiday, I thought I'd grab it. I should have given it back, but I didn't. Hah! Master criminal, me. It's pretty good, to be honest. It has a slightly old-fashioned feel to it, although I'm not sure I can really quantify that. It just had a sixties sf-feel to it, as if it
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Jan 03, 2012
Chris
rated it:
I picked up this book because I read Joe Haldeman's "Camouflage" a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. This one is a bit of a "lighter" read, mainly because the main character (an MIT research assistant who accidentally discovers a time machine) is a generally likable, humorous character.
He bounces all over the place with the time machine (which, alas, can only jump ahead and not back), at one point coming to a point a few hundred years in the future where More...
He bounces all over the place with the time machine (which, alas, can only jump ahead and not back), at one point coming to a point a few hundred years in the future where More...
