The Time Machine
by H. G. Wells
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
sci-fi junkies, socialists, Rory Gilmore Book Club!
"There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change."
Ugh! This is not my favorite type of book. However, I appreciated the opportunity to delve outside of my comfort zone and embrace a little "sci-fi." And H.G. Wells, the father of all sci-fi, was a fitting place to start.
The narrator of The Time Machine is "The Time Traveller." The book starts in his home, as he is recounting his adventures to a group of listeners. On the first ...more
Ugh! This is not my favorite type of book. However, I appreciated the opportunity to delve outside of my comfort zone and embrace a little "sci-fi." And H.G. Wells, the father of all sci-fi, was a fitting place to start.
The narrator of The Time Machine is "The Time Traveller." The book starts in his home, as he is recounting his adventures to a group of listeners. On the first ...more
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Read in July, 2008
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 t...more
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Read in January, 2004
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This was my favorite book was I was 12. I don't know why I decided to read it again, but I did. It was, predictably, a completely different novel than I remembered. I think part of the weirdness came from the new introduction (written by Paul Youngquist) that essentially described Wells as this totally insane person who attacked every person and every entity he experienced in his entire lifetime, often contradicting whatever attack he had made just days before. He responded to all the perceived ...more
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Read in December, 2007
I picked up The Time Ships at a used bookstore last week to read on the plane, but discovered in the first few pages that it was a sequel, of sorts, to H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. And I realized that while I certainly knew the story of Wells' novel, I wasn't sure if I had ever read it.
So I downloaded the text from <...more
So I downloaded the text from <...more
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Read in December, 2007
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells is a good book so far. It is about the Time Traveler as he envents his new time machine that could travel to the fourth deminsion. The only problems is that Filby and the Medical Man did not know if the time traveller was clever enough to do so.On a Thursday the Time Michines of michines took off. When the machine stopped the Time Traveller looked around and observed the land. He said that the land was misty and vagued. The trees looked like puffs of vapor one b...more
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Read in January, 1998
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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Read in June, 2005
recommends it for:
Those interested in classic science fiction
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Read in July, 2008
Our community is doing the "Time Machine" as its "one great read" selection this summer. Although the classic 1960s Rod Taylor movie is one of my all-time favorites, I had never actually read the book. Now I have. It's an amazing story, and I enjoyed comparing it to the movie -- they're different in several significant ways. However, as a work of fiction, I can't say it was a great read. The writing is rather dry, and the story is told in a curious dual-1st person style: it ...more
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Read in March, 2008
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 descend...more
*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 descend...more
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This is a book I've been meaning to read for a long time -- and should have read back in high school. At any rate, never too late to get around to picking up a book about subterranean cannibals and time-traveling Victorians. Despite having this one covered for me by two films and countless cultural references, it still packed some surprises and a few legitimate chills. I'm not sure I'd ever read anything by Wells, oddly enough, but he was a fine writer. He may have come from a different time, an...more
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Read in April, 2008
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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Read in January, 2006
this book freaked me out. the wimpy little elois and the scary pale morlocks. i liked when the time traveler sees the museam and all the relics. It's kind of like in Planet of the Apes, when they realize they're on earth- to see all the evidence of your life on display in a museam- imagine how that would feel! and what did the morlocks actually do- they ran machines, but were afraid of fire? was there electricity? did they run in giant hamspter wheels to the machines? what exactly did the ma...more
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Read in March, 2008
I think I'd read this one before, but I couldn't quite remember and so read it again. I was surprised by the socio-political commentary in it - modern interpretations of the story rarely use the Traveler's own theory of evolutionary differentiation between the working class and the aristocracy as the source of the division between the Morlock and Eloi species. Very interesting. Wells' storytelling methods are noteworthy also - where today's writer would have stopped the time travelling...more
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Wells is particularly known for his science-fiction novels, the time machine included. Most probably, the book will not be considered a piece of Art by Henry James yet there are things in this novel that makes it totally different from many others of the genre. Characters are not psychologically cast but the dialouges together with the time traveller's train of thought in divining the fate of human race in the spanning time of millenia is indeed fascinatings and makes you to swing from left to r...more
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Read in March, 2008
recommends it for:
Those interested in the principles of time travel/the distant future
I found this to be an interesting and readable account of a potential future from a very imaginative and intelligent man. Having a fascination with time travel, I found the 'scientific' principles behind this story intriguing, in particular his explanation of time as a fourth dimension.
I'm sure it will provide me with plenty of fodder for day dreams and a lot of things to ponder over and in this way it was a very clever book. As for the actual story (as opposed to the ideas it deals with) I...more
I'm sure it will provide me with plenty of fodder for day dreams and a lot of things to ponder over and in this way it was a very clever book. As for the actual story (as opposed to the ideas it deals with) I...more
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Read in January, 2006
recommended to Cole by:
my friend Amirrecommends it for: everyone interested in science fiction
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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Read in July, 2008
H.G. Wells' future fantasy was really entertaining, thought-provoking, and unique. It was nice to encounter a time travel story without a lot of Back-to-the-Future conjecture about going back in time to change your life, or about how time travel would impact the future. My favorite part of the book was Wells' marveling at a future "social paradise" where "The shop, the advertisement, traffic, all that commerce which constitutes the body of our world, was gone." I guess traf...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Laney by:
selfrecommends it for: everyone, high schoolers, college age, anyone
This is now one of my favorite books.
I liked this book because it was fascinating, had vivid descriptions, was easy to read, and tells a great story. I could see every detail in my head. H.G.Wells was a terrific writer with a terrific imagination. I enjoyed that it had the newest scientific findings of the day and seems so much like it could have been written today, with the exception of the old-fashioned house.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is so short and easy to read tha...more
I liked this book because it was fascinating, had vivid descriptions, was easy to read, and tells a great story. I could see every detail in my head. H.G.Wells was a terrific writer with a terrific imagination. I enjoyed that it had the newest scientific findings of the day and seems so much like it could have been written today, with the exception of the old-fashioned house.
I highly recommend this book to everyone. It is so short and easy to read tha...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.67 (4043 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.67 (3486 ratings) number of reviews: 240popular shelves
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quote
"The Time Traveller (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us."
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trivia question
"Shoulderless. Neckless. His head was a nightmarish growth that swelled like a goiter from his massive chest." What fictional alien race does this partial description belong?
a. The Aliens in Music of the Spears: Aliens Series
b. The Taurans in The Forever War by Joseph Haldeman
c. The Triffids in The Day of the Triffids (20th Century Rediscoveries) by John Wyndham
d. The Eloi in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
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a. The Aliens in Music of the Spears: Aliens Series
b. The Taurans in The Forever War by Joseph Haldeman
c. The Triffids in The Day of the Triffids (20th Century Rediscoveries) by John Wyndham
d. The Eloi in The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
more »