Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Timeline

3.73 of 5 stars 3.73 · rating details · 83,641 ratings · 2,298 reviews

Michael Crichton's new novel opens on the threshold of the twenty-first century. It is a world of exploding advances on the frontiers of technology. Information moves instantly between two points, without wires or networks. Computers are built from single molecules. Any moment of the past can be actualized -- and a group of historians can enter, literally, life in fourteen...more

Hardcover, 444 pages

Published November 16th 1999 by Alfred A. Knopf (first published 1999)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Treasure Hunter Thrillers

6th out of 138 books — 145 voters

Hardest Book to Put Down

499th out of 710 books — 458 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Apr 10, 2013 Space rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: time-travel

This was the first Crichton novel I read, which is probably to his advantage. I knew it was fiction, so I was able to pick it up and cruise right through it. Had I started on The Andromeda Strain, or Airframe, I might have thought he was a non-fiction writer and not given him a proper chance. As it turns out, I was instantly hooked, and began to furiously and ferociously collect everything I could get my hands on by Michael Crichton. Now I've read most of his novels, and have met him in person....more

13 likes · like · see review

Feb 24, 2012 Rad Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorite

A novel for all-time. The one who made me to love books.
At my age when I read it, I was like WHAT THE HELL, WHAT's THE MEANING OF THAT WORD . I was 13 at that time, I always make a fool out of myself. My classmates were asking me how can I understand it or do I understand it, all kinds of questions who irritates me.

3 months=1 book!
I mean how hurtful and so hateful with it! There are more books than to read! And my goal for my life is to read more than 100 books or even more!
~~I HATE NOVELS~~ *c...more

5 likes · like · see review

May 18, 2008 Stacey rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, pissed-me-off

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Another one-star book for the "so bad it pissed me off" category. I so wanted to like this book. Up until this book I think I read nearly everything Crichton wrote.

Timeline, in my opinion, had a great premise. Swashbuckler disguised as Sci-Fi. The problem I had was that Crichton tried too hard to explain his premises, and ended up making a jumble that even he couldn't untangle.

This book was supposed to have all the good stuff: time travel, knights, castles, fighting, suspense. But the characte...more

15 likes · like · see review

May 28, 2008 Eric rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, books-from-library

I’ve never been terribly impressed with Michael Crichton. He writes excellent action and adventure scenes, but his characters always seem flat and one-dimensional, never doing much more than dodging dinosaurs or white gorillas. Not surprisingly, what I feel is his best novel to date, Disclosure, lacks the heart-pounding action and delves more into conflicts between characters, which I found much more compelling.

I had high hopes for Timeline, a weighty book that had drawn good reviews from the f...more

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 13, 2013 Damon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Crichton takes another swing at time travel. After a brainy first act that presents a layman's comprehension of quantum physics, the narrative shifts admirably into a more traditional adventure story about a group of college students trapped in France during the Hundred Years War, who have to use their modern educations of the 17th century to survive and get back home. One of the things I like about the science in Crichton's books is that it feels like he is explaining it to himself even as he e...more Crichton takes another swing at time travel. After a brainy first act that presents a layman's comprehension of quantum physics, the narrative shifts admirably into a more traditional adventure story about a group of college students trapped in France during the Hundred Years War, who have to use their modern educations of the 17th century to survive and get back home. One of the things I like about the science in Crichton's books is that it feels like he is explaining it to himself even as he explains it to the reader. You feel like you are going along with him on his quest for further research to make his story more compelling and rich. The premise is absurd, but awesome, and it's a credit to his patience and power as a writer of typically deadpan Hollywood prose that he is able to go to such great lengths to keep the pace tight, the pages turning and the discoveries believable and fresh.

The book is shamelessly rife with action, romance, villainous mustache-twirling, and detailed descriptions of appalling gore (a character attempts to decapitate a marauding knight, but only manages to get his sword halfway through, then struggles to withdraw the weapon while dragging the guy around the room as blood spurts from his visor) which serve to root us in the dangerous, up-close brutality of historical warfare that the characters are confronted with, all the more believable thanks to the late doctor's firsthand knowledge of gaping wounds. On that same coin, the act of multidimensional transport is depicted as an aberration of nature, with costly and compounding effects on the human body, a welcome detail that is often ignored in these kinds of stories, which is strange because it would be THE FIRST THING ON MY MIND if someone offered to take me apart at a molecular level and rebuild me on the other side of space-time.

Of course it's impossible to tell a story like this without calling upon loving homages to other classics, the likes of Treasure Island, A Yankee In King Arthur's Court and The Time Machine, stories the author no doubt grew up with. There is an excellent jousting sequence, and a climactic battle with no shortage of flaming arrows and scalding-hot oil. Like the contemporary heroes, we feel as though we are visiting not just a different time, but a different universe of meta-fiction. In Crichton's articulate words the fusion of modern physics and medieval warfare go together like chocolate and peanut-butter, or genetic engineering and dinosaurs.

I am obligated to point out glaring plot holes so I will say that the form of time travel presented in Timeline is compelling, but inconsistent. A shocking discovery early on has the characters unearthing a pair of modern reading glasses at an archaeological dig site, tipping off the crew of the Mystery Machine to the fate of their professor. However, we learn later on that the evil corporate "3D fax machine" that makes the trip possible works, albeit clumsily, by extrapolating microscopic worm-holes in the quantum foam to effectively burrow into another universe where it is still the fourteenth century-- NOT the same as "going back" in time! This is a unique gimmick, one that the premise of the story is built upon, presumably to avoid the narrative issue of time paradoxes. Logically, anything the characters do in the "Feudal France Universe" should have no effect on our world. But for some reason they do, and it's distracting. So why did they keep finding hints of their past actions in another universe? Who cares.

Despite this confusing point, Timeline is a fantastic, unpretentious, swashbuckling adventure yarn with cool science and cool action, and falls just outside what I would consider Crichton's "comfort zone". I kept expecting the story to end halfway through the book because he threw in the towel, stepped back and said "wow, this is retarded" and left the last hundred pages blank but he sees it through to the end and the gamut of modern adventure fiction is better off because of it.

Also: If you harbor an ill opinion of this book and refuse to read it because you watched the awful film adaptation... **** you?(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 19, 2007 misha rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fastreads, 2007

Total piece of crap book that I got from a book swap.

That said, while I did a lot of skimming, this was a perfectly fine book to read while on mass transit... as long as I kept the cover down so that no one would know that I was reading crap.

And now you know that I sometimes read crap.

7 likes · like · see review

Apr 15, 2008 John rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-fiction, mystery-crime-and-thriller, multiple-re-reads, sci-fi-and-fantasy

I loved this book... and then some arse made a really crap film and the book lost some of its shine... I couldn't rid my mind of the film set and actors.

I still quite like the book.

13 likes · like · see review

Dec 23, 2008 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was my introduction to Crichton and I fell in love!
I fell in love because this is an author who does extensive research on the subjects he writes about. So he not only entertains, he teaches you something in the process.
In Timeline, Crichton combines science(quantum technology) and history(medieval) in a heart-stopping adventure. A group of historians are given the opportunity to literally enter life in fourteenth-century feudal France. But this is not your typical time travel story.

8 likes · like · see review

Oct 19, 2008 Elyse rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those interested in time travel and medieval history

Recommended to Elyse by: My friend

Professor Johnston is leading an excavation trip in France with several of his students, but he leaves to speak with the founder of the company that's sponsoring the dig. There he finds out that the company has built a time machine that can transport you to 14th century France. He decides to see for himself what life was really like back there. But he is trapped and leaves clues for his students to find in the future, informing them that he is lost in the past. From there, they must travel back...more

1 like · like · see review

May 08, 2008 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-action

This was a good one.

When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole," and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords, and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the...more This was a good one.

When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole," and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords, and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the social front, you should avoid provoking "the butcher of Crecy" or Sir Oliver may lop your head off with a swoosh of his broadsword or cage and immerse you in "Milady's Bath," a brackish dungeon pit into which live rats are tossed now and then for prisoners to eat.

This is the plight of the heroes of Timeline, Michael Crichton's thriller. They're historians in 1999 employed by a tech billionaire-genius with more than a few of Bill Gates's most unlovable quirks. Like the entrepreneur in Crichton's Jurassic Park, Doniger plans a theme park featuring artifacts from a lost world revived via cutting-edge science. When the project's chief historian sends a distress call to 1999 from 1357, the boss man doesn't tell the younger historians the risks they'll face trying to save him. At first, the interplay between eras is clever, but Timeline swiftly becomes a swashbuckling old-fashioned adventure, with just a dash of science and time paradox in the mix. Most of the cool facts are about the Middle Ages, and Crichton marvelously brings the past to life without ever letting the pulse-pounding action slow down. At one point, a time-tripper tries to enter the Chapel of Green Death. Unfortunately, its custodian, a crazed giant with terrible teeth and a bad case of lice, soon has her head on a block. "She saw a shadow move across the grass as he raised his ax into the air." I dare you not to turn the page!

Through the narrative can be glimpsed the glowing bones of the movie that may be made from Timeline and the cutting-edge computer game that should hit the market in 2000. Expect many clashing swords and chase scenes through secret castle passages. But the book stands alone, tall and scary as a knight in armor shining with blood. --Tim Appelo (less)

9 likes · like · see review

Jun 17, 2009 Werner rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of action-oriented science-fiction

Shelves: science-fiction, books-i-own

My reaction to this book was a lot more favorable than Stacey's --but I do have to agree with some of her criticisms. Because of his "hard" sci-fi orientation, Crichton insisted on trying to extrapolate an explanation for time-travel from existing science, his vehicle being quantum theory. Since this is too complex and counter-intuitive for most people to understand (and some of us suspect it of being a bunch of hooey anyway!), the "explanation" doesn't serve much purpose, and does wind up being...more

8 likes · like · see review

Jul 25, 2007 Jared rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When an author can't create anything new you end up with this. This is a Michael Crichton novel so you know you going to get a team of top-notch scientists, some wealthy, eccentric entrepreneur, and a big scientific/horrific dilemma. The only problem is the entire plot. Here we have time travel. A wealthy, eccentric entrepreneur with some scientists figure out how to go back in time. They go to the middle ages. People get lost in time. Now, they need a new team of scientists to get them back. Th...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 21, 2008 Anastasia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

like · see review

Feb 22, 2012 Lynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

It seems a lot of people feel this was one of Crichton's weaker efforts but I enjoyed reading this. It may be that, beyond the opening, there was not as much technology-driven plot as there was medieval adventure and romance. I thought it was entertaining and found that Crichton was able to keep me interested while I was reading.

Not a bad way to spend your reading time.

5 likes · like · see review

Aug 02, 2011 Esther Medina De Leon added it · review of another edition

2. When a man appears out of nowhere in New Mexico, and mysteriously dies, questions start to arise as to where he came from, how he got there, and eventually the people he worked for. The corporation, for which he works, ICT, seems legitimate enough. They provide funding for excavations, research, and restorations of long ago villages and castles. Little do the researchers and archeologists and historians of these various projects understand how complex and underhanded the corporation has becom...more

like · see review

Mar 25, 2009 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

I really enjoyed this story. Timeline was a book that mixed sci-fi with fantasy in a pretty interesting and believable way. The book was a very easy and quick read and provided a nice diversion. One of my coworkers, Ed, also read the book and enjoyed it. However, he also saw Timeline the Movie and had nothing but bad things to say about it. As it so happens, he isn't the only one who had nothing good to say about the movie.

The funny thing is the book reads like it should be a movie. I can't thin...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 31, 2009 Eric_W rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-and-thrillers

A man is found wandering in the desert southwest near Black Rock New Mexico. He is taken to a local hospital where he dies. An autopsy, required by law, reveals some strange anomalies. His fingers, which had appeared gangrenous, had veins that did not match up, and his heart had similar conditions on the walls. The man should not have been able to live more than a few hours, let alone the seventy plus years he turned out to be. His fingerprints revealed his identity to be that of a physicist wor...more A man is found wandering in the desert southwest near Black Rock New Mexico. He is taken to a local hospital where he dies. An autopsy, required by law, reveals some strange anomalies. His fingers, which had appeared gangrenous, had veins that did not match up, and his heart had similar conditions on the walls. The man should not have been able to live more than a few hours, let alone the seventy plus years he turned out to be. His fingerprints revealed his identity to be that of a physicist working at a very high-tech and secret facility some two hundred miles from where he had been found. He appeared to be delusional, muttering all sorts of bizarre poems and he had no identification other than a strange ceramic disk that turned out to be an ID device from the corporation. He also had a piece of paper with strange dots and letters that appeared to be Monastaire Marie, a monastery that had burned to the ground in the fourteenth century.
The corporation had been a substantial supporter of an archaeological dig in France that was restoring the monastery in the drawing. There the researchers discover a pair of spectacles that are clearly twentieth century and a note asking for help that could only have been written in the fourteenth century. They worry the site has somehow been contaminated and they report their findings to headquarters. The historians and archaeologists are summoned to New Mexico to the headquarters of the corporation where they are stunned to learn that this corporation, for monetary reasons of its own, had perfected time travel based on theories of multiverse and quantum physics. Crichton always does his homework and the explanations of fourteenth century France and quantum physics are clear and appear accurate (not that I would have a clue about quantum physics.) They are sent back to retrieve a research who has not been able to return. Regretfully, as they well knew, the area was also at that time in the midst of the Hundred Years War. One of the guards sent along to help them insists on taking along weapons covertly, despite admonitions not to, and a grenade explodes in the transmission room on his return. The travelers have only a thirty-nine hour window to return so they must battle language problems, warring factions, and other travails to retrieve the professor who had been left behind.
It’s a great story to read or listen to if you suspend some rational thought. The twentieth century visitors are just a little too competent in making there way around.

(less)

like · see review

Dec 30, 2008 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

like · see review

Nov 07, 2008 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction, time-travel

Time travel gets me almost everytime!
This novel was exciting and unique, I could hardly put it down. Cool quantum technology that I barely understood aside, I felt like I was transported to the 100 Years War along with the team that sets out to find the Professor. And that's what makes a good novel into a great novel for me, and Timeline delivered.
One of Crichton's best.
And I got a crush on Marek so that helps in keeping it on my favorite book list. I think I'll read in again soon.

6 likes · like · see review

Jun 17, 2013 Ohr rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The plot is always moving, the book contains plenty of action, and Crichton still retains mastery of his superlative ability to organically include plenty of interesting and entertaining information (in the case of this book that information is about medieval France, not the ridiculous quantum physics time travel nonsense Crichton vomited on to the page), but it's just SO stupid and dull. Not to mention my loathing of time travel plots to begin with (if you think you found a way to avoid a parad...more

like · see review

May 29, 2013 Gigngogn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

An old man wearing a brown robe is found wandering disoriented in the Arizona desert. He is miles from any human habitation and has no memory of how he got to be there, or who he is. The only clue to his identity is the plan of a medieval monastery in his pocket.

So begins the mystery of Timeline, a story that will catapult a group of young scientists back to the Middle Ages and into the heart of the Hundred Years' War.

Timeline cements Michael Crichton's place as the king of the high-concept t

...more

So begins the mystery of Timeline, a story that will catapult a group of young scientists back to the Middle Ages and into the heart of the Hundred Years' War.

Timeline cements Michael Crichton's place as the king of the high-concept thriller, and a master storyteller to boot.

Amazon.com Review

When you step into a time machine, fax yourself through a "quantum foam wormhole," and step out in feudal France circa 1357, be very, very afraid. If you aren't strapped back in precisely 37 hours after your visit begins, you'll miss the quantum bus back to 1999 and be stranded in a civil war, caught between crafty abbots, mad lords, and peasant bandits all eager to cut your throat. You'll also have to dodge catapults that hurl sizzling pitch over castle battlements. On the social front, you should avoid provoking "the butcher of Crecy" or Sir Oliver may lop your head off with a swoosh of his broadsword or cage and immerse you in "Milady's Bath," a brackish dungeon pit into which live rats are tossed now and then for prisoners to eat.

This is the plight of the heroes of Timeline, Michael Crichton's thriller. They're historians in 1999 employed by a tech billionaire-genius with more than a few of Bill Gates's most unlovable quirks. Like the entrepreneur in Crichton's Jurassic Park, Doniger plans a theme park featuring artifacts from a lost world revived via cutting-edge science. When the project's chief historian sends a distress call to 1999 from 1357, the boss man doesn't tell the younger historians the risks they'll face trying to save him. At first, the interplay between eras is clever, but Timeline swiftly becomes a swashbuckling old-fashioned adventure, with just a dash of science and time paradox in the mix. Most of the cool facts are about the Middle Ages, and Crichton marvelously brings the past to life without ever letting the pulse-pounding action slow down. At one point, a time-tripper tries to enter the Chapel of Green Death. Unfortunately, its custodian, a crazed giant with terrible teeth and a bad case of lice, soon has her head on a block. "She saw a shadow move across the grass as he raised his ax into the air." I dare you not to turn the page!

Through the narrative can be glimpsed the glowing bones of the movie that may be made from Timeline and the cutting-edge computer game that should hit the market in 2000. Expect many clashing swords and chase scenes through secret castle passages. But the book stands alone, tall and scary as a knight in armor shining with blood. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly

"And the Oscar for Best Special Effects goes to: Timeline!" Figure maybe three years before those words are spoken, for Crichton's new novelAdespite media reports about trouble in selling film rights, which finally went to ParamountAis as cinematic as they come, a shiny science-fantasy adventure powered by a superior high concept: a group of young scientists travel back from our time to medieval southern France to rescue their mentor, who's trapped there. The novel, in fact, may improve as a movie; its complex action, as the scientists are swept into the intrigue of the Hundred Years War, can be confusing on the page (though a supplied map, one of several graphics, helps), and most of its characters wear hats (or armor) of pure white or black. Crichton remains a master of narrative drive and cleverness. From the startling opening, where an old man with garbled speech and body parts materializes in the Arizona desert, through the revelation that a venal industrialist has developed a risky method of time-travel (based on movement between parallel universes; as in Crichton's other work, good, hard science abounds), there's not a dull moment. When elderly Yale history prof Edward Johnston travels back to his beloved 15th century and gets stuck, and his assistants follow to the rescue, excitement runs high, and higher still as Crichton invests his story with terrific period detail and as castles, sword-play, jousts, sudden death and enough bold knights-in-armor and seductive ladies-in-waiting to fill any toystore's action-figure shelves appear. There's strong suspense, too, as Crichton cuts between past and present, where the time-travel machinery has broken: Will the heroes survive and make it back? The novel has a calculated feel but, even so, it engages as no Crichton tale has done since Jurassic Park, as it brings the past back to vigorous, entertaining life. Agent, Lynn Nesbit. 1,500,000 first printing; Literary Guild nain selection; simultaneous large-print edition and audiobook. (Nov. 16)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

(less)

like · see review

May 24, 2013 Nick Hannon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Timeline by Micheal Crichton is a book about time travel, alternate universes, sword fights, and medieval times. I felt like the beginning of the book was good because of how they were explaining time travel and alternate dimmesnsions. I was intreged by the fact that when they go to another dimmension there body is destroyed and then rebuilt in that other world. Or how since time doesn't work in a straight line you have to jump from one dimmension to another. But besides all of that I felt like...more Timeline by Micheal Crichton is a book about time travel, alternate universes, sword fights, and medieval times. I felt like the beginning of the book was good because of how they were explaining time travel and alternate dimmesnsions. I was intreged by the fact that when they go to another dimmension there body is destroyed and then rebuilt in that other world. Or how since time doesn't work in a straight line you have to jump from one dimmension to another. But besides all of that I felt like the books plot line was boring and easliy predicted. For example one of the charaters is Marek and he is one of those guys who wishes that he was born at a different time to when he goes back in time he decides to stay there. I myself have read many of Crichton's books such as State of Fear, Micro, Jurassic Park, Prey, and Timeline is the book that I have just read. And from a readers stand point after you start to read the 4th Crichton book begin to see some patterns in his writing/story telling. For example he always has 4 characters that are similar to each other in every book. For example Dongier in Timeline and Nick Drake in State of Fear are both young geniuses who like to hear themselves talk and have an bad sense of morality because they will do anything to get what they want and they don't care who they have to care in order to get it. Then you have Marek who is built like an action hero how is a good fighter and very smart. Marek resembles Kenner in State of Fear because of how Kenner is very knowledgeable about the environment and always knows what to do. Lastly you have Kate and Chris who at first don't like each other but by the end of the story they fall in love because Chris does some kind of a heroic feat. This also happens in Micro and in State of Fear. But besides that I felt like the book would have been better if he had spent more time talking about the science of how they time travel instead of worrying about the actual story because the plot line, as I have said before, is not that good. Even though it sounds like I am bad mouthing this book and Crichton I think that the book was good and people who like Crichton's writing style should read it.(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 09, 2013 Van rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Timeline by Michael Crichton is a sci-fi thriller based around a group of college graduates who have to go back in time to save their professor who is trapped in the past. Every Crichton book that I have read including Timeline has two main parts. First, the science that is the backbone of the book. Second, the plot or story itself. Having read several other Crichton books, when I started reading Timeline I was incredibly curios about he would use science to back up the idea of time travel to t...more Timeline by Michael Crichton is a sci-fi thriller based around a group of college graduates who have to go back in time to save their professor who is trapped in the past. Every Crichton book that I have read including Timeline has two main parts. First, the science that is the backbone of the book. Second, the plot or story itself. Having read several other Crichton books, when I started reading Timeline I was incredibly curios about he would use science to back up the idea of time travel to the past because I had seen a multitude of science shows stating that there is no way to travel back in time. The science used in Timeline was based around Quantum Theory and the idea that there are an infinite number of interconnected parallel universes. For me this idea had both advantages and drawbacks. I liked it because it gave me another way to look at time travel, so that every time I read about it in a science fiction book I did not have to say, “impossible” to myself. Second, I had always been curios about what Quantum Theory was and I have to say that Crichton explained it beautifully. Whenever I had tried to research Quantum Theory in the past the information I could collect was far to dense and convoluted for me to make heads or tails of. However, this idea one serious drawback. Crichton never explained how a person traveling to another universe and changing something their could have an effect on our universe. To me this seems rather important, though the story did not necessarily hinge on it. Timeline’s plot is in similar condition. The story itself was relatively entertaining. Crichton can often sound boarding or preachy when he rights, but he avoided this almost completely in Timeline. I also thought Crichton did a great job of weaving in interesting historical facts and ideas with the plot. On the other hand, some of the plot twists in the story were obvious, for instance that the character Marek would stay in the past. Second, the relations ship between Chris and Kate is incredibly similar to the Crichton book State of Fear. Additionally, the ending of the story felt rather rushed and under explained, with some loose ends that felt like they needed to be tied up. Overall I would say that Timeline was an entertaining book, and I am sure that if you are a Michael Crichton fan you will enjoy it. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Apr 21, 2013 Farnoosh Brock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am not a history buff. I had no particular reason to read the “Timeline” other than Michael Crichton wrote it. I am very happy I followed my notion. I read the first 50 pages two months ago, forgot all about it, and then picked it up to keep me company on some long flights. The writing of Crichton is what I crave through and through. The story and plot are sometimes even secondary motives to read a Crichton novel. The first 4 books which I happened to read, in no particular order on Crichton’s...more I am not a history buff. I had no particular reason to read the “Timeline” other than Michael Crichton wrote it. I am very happy I followed my notion. I read the first 50 pages two months ago, forgot all about it, and then picked it up to keep me company on some long flights. The writing of Crichton is what I crave through and through. The story and plot are sometimes even secondary motives to read a Crichton novel. The first 4 books which I happened to read, in no particular order on Crichton’s account, were brilliantly written, and kept me intrigued to the last page. I was not disappointed here either.

The fantasy and adventures of paying a visit to the past, and not just our own past but decades and centuries past is our central theme. Crichton renews yet again the popular well-used concept of time machines and time travel with his unique twist.

In this story, Crichton’s masterpiece mind, Robert Doniger, has created a machine to send people back to the infamous year of 1357 in feudal France. The theory behind the brains of this machine is intriguing – difficult to fully fathom and yet very original.

According to the genius scientist of the book, we do not live in a single “universe“, we live in a “multiverse“. Many many other universes exist at the same time we do, in a different dimension in space, representing different times in such a way that the past of our own universe is happening in another universe at our present time. The past and present are no longer a function of a moving arrow in one dimension, completely dependent and tightly wound to one another. No. This is a world of many possibilities so stretching the imagination is critical!

The brilliance of Crichton’s creation is not just this fictional theory, it is the solution for our accessing these other universes from our own: sending a human fax. As a result, the machine can easily transport – “fax over” – a human from one universe at one time to another at another point in time. It can then successfully retrieve them should they find themselves in the “special spot” and signal over with the “special marker” their intent to come back, all within the 37 hour time span allotted to them in this medium of time and space. If the 37 hour period is missed, the “quantum channel” is closed and the characters are caught amidst a bloody civil war between mad lords, starving peasants and knights-in-armor.

Crichton’s brilliant account of the world of 1357 takes you back to a time which seems thousands of years in regression of civilization. The advancements since then in our civilization, technology, medicine, science and general knowledge of the world are astounding. The suspense is unpredictable, well-narrated, and interesting. The plot thickens and the reading becomes enjoyable albeit challenging.

For weeks after reading of this book, I would find myself thinking about life in the year 1357. I would imagine what my life would have been like, and I shudder at the grimness of it all. The feeling was eerie, exciting, and foreign and the sensations produced from these images is simple: I am delighted to be living in current present day.
(less)

like · see review

Mar 16, 2013 Kathryn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was stunned at the lack of character description in this book. It's no wonder these novels are made so easily into screenplays. Granted, it's only the second Crichton novel I've ever read, so perhaps I should know better?

The premise of Timeline was strangely dichotomous pro/anti-science. I'm not sure if the author is implying that people are what make innovations morally wrong, or that extreme innovations are morally wrong by themselves. This story is another instance of the low-tech scientist...more

like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Leya rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: keeper-shelf, all-time-favorite

I was hooked right from the beginning. I didn't want to let go of the book. Which wasn't a good thing, the kids needed me and I...well...needed, no I wanted the book. Eventually I found the time to finish it. And I'm glad that I found the time to re-read it. I first read years ago, and then I watched the movie recently and I just had to re-read. It was like reading it for the first time.

I've always found time-travel fascinating, even if I don't quite understand the scientific facts behind it. My...more

like · see review

Jan 17, 2013 Softymel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

En lisant ce livre, j'ai eu l'impression que l'auteur s'est beaucoup documenté sur son sujet, et pour rentabiliser son temps, il nous recrache l'ensemble.
Ainsi, l'histoire commence par un cours d'histoire, puis un petit cours de science, avant d'entrer dans l'histoire (qui est elle-même parsemé d'explication sur les us et coutumes de l'époque).

Personnellement, j'aime beaucoup les fictions historiques, mais là c'était plus un manuel rédigé par un prof amateur, parsemé de quelque élément d'aventur...more

like · see review

Oct 23, 2012 Quinn H rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This quarter I read Timeline by Michael Chrichton. It is a compelling story of a group of historians working on a castle site in France. The research site that the historians work on is funded by a company called ITC. One day, a representative from ITC comes to inspect the site, but reveals that she knows something about the site that even the historians did not know. This lead the leader of the research team "the professor" to become suspicious and then demanded to go back to ITC's facility to...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2012 Daianara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The story is interesting at first-a group of history students travel back in time (thanks to an invention of their sponsor) to save their mentor (The Professor). One of the students feels right at home in 1357 but mainly they all fight for their dear lives since everyone in that time period seems to want to kill them. I have two main problems with the book. One, everyone always escapes certain death with just a scrape and/or a bruise. Two, the Professor is a little bitch. Who either ignores them...more

like · see review

Oct 11, 2012 Daniel Murillo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was painfully slow in the beginning but eventually sped up once they were in the think of in medieval france. The story is about time travel, which is possible with quantum mechanics in the book. As typical with Michael's book's, they always are tied with extensive research with the technology or sciences behind the story which is always a pleasure to read.

I thought that this book wasn't as great as i have been told by my peers and even teachers, but that is my personal preference. I...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
SFBRP Listeners: Time travel (#152). Crichton's Timeline	10	47	Feb 09, 2012 08:34pm

combine
Other Editions (91)

More editions...

Genres

Science Fiction

980 users

Thriller

442 users

Science Fiction > Time Travel

340 users

Historical Fiction

289 users

Fantasy

225 users

Adventure

176 users

Science Fiction Fantasy

117 users

Suspense

115 users

Mystery

78 users

Travel

57 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton (1942–2008) was one of the most successful novelists of his generation, admired for his meticulous scientific research and fast-paced narrative. He graduated summa cum laude and earned his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1969. His first novel, Odds On (1966), was written under the pseudonym John Lange and was followed by seven more Lange novels. He also wrote as Michael Douglas...more

More about Michael Crichton...

Books by Michael Crichton

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Timeline

13 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Timeline

“In other centuries, human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. But in our century, they want to be entertained. The great fear is not of disease or death, but of boredom. A sense of time on our hands, a sense of nothing to do. A sense that we are not amused.” — 45 people liked it

“Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree.” — 23 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Timeline
avg rating	preview: Timeline Goodreads rating: 3.73 (83641 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222193.Timeline?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320491708l/222193.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222193.Timeline?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Timeline by Michael Crichton[/url]

Timeline

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website