Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
97th out of 636 books
—
2,166 voters
Time Patrol (Time Patrol #1-3 omnibus)
Forget minor hazards like nuclear bombs. The discovery of time travel means that everything we know, anyone we know, might not only vanish, but never even have existed. Against that possibility stand the men and women of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the history they know and protecting the future from fanatics, terrorists, and would-be dictators who would remol...more
Mass Market Paperback, 784 pages
Published
January 31st 2006
by Baen
(first published 1955)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,033)
Originally published on my blog here in May 2006.
The Time Patrol stories of Poul Anderson are classics of the science fiction genre, dealing with the efforts of the eponymous group to maintain the status quo of history against the accidental or deliberate manipulations of other time travellers. This book, sharing the name of the original story which began the series, collects them all (and it is not to be confused with an earlier volume, also called Time Patrol, which contains only the first two...more
The Time Patrol stories of Poul Anderson are classics of the science fiction genre, dealing with the efforts of the eponymous group to maintain the status quo of history against the accidental or deliberate manipulations of other time travellers. This book, sharing the name of the original story which began the series, collects them all (and it is not to be confused with an earlier volume, also called Time Patrol, which contains only the first two...more
A nice classic sci-fi book. It is actually a collection of short stories, but they all include the character Manse Everard, an Unattached Agent of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the current timeline of history by thwarting the attempts of those who would try to fashion an alternate future. A fun book, especially if you like history, although I take all the historical "facts" with a grain of salt, because I'm not sure how much was fictionalized for the story, and some of it definitely r...more
I thought these were wonderful time travel stories. They were detailed, and authentic. I was appreciative that they weren't predictable in skipping right to popular historical events but rather involved much more subtle and lesser-known historical events and examined the role time guardians might play if such were threatened.
Although I noticed some of the few writing quirks that others have commented about those did not make me fall out of the story. I would rank these stories below only Heinle...more
Although I noticed some of the few writing quirks that others have commented about those did not make me fall out of the story. I would rank these stories below only Heinle...more
Collected herein are the nine stories -- one is of short-novel length and most of the rest are novelettes/novellas -- in Anderson's famous series; missing is the 1990 novel The Shield of Time, but this is already a very long book:458 pages may not seem so much, but the pages are large and the type is small, and a lot of the prose is pretty soporific, lurching haphazardly between a sort of relentless drab utilitarianism, an affected cod-epic poesy, and a clumsy impressionism. I recall reading som...more
The concepts in the book were kind of fun but the story line left me scratching my head from time to time. Sometimes I think Poul Anderson is overrated and this may be one of those times.
Forget minor hazards like nuclear bombs. The discovery of time travel means that everything we know, anyone we know, might not only vanish, but never even have existed. Against that possibility stand the men and women of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the history they know and protecting the future fro...more
Forget minor hazards like nuclear bombs. The discovery of time travel means that everything we know, anyone we know, might not only vanish, but never even have existed. Against that possibility stand the men and women of the Time Patrol, dedicated to preserving the history they know and protecting the future fro...more
The first 2/3 of the book were amazing but once the 2nd german history mission began,I started to lose interest for a couple of different reasons. I don't find ancient German tribes terribly interesting in the first place so 2 missions focused on them wore me out. Also, because the previous stories had established a pattern, I found myself correctly guessing the ending about 10 pages in. Either way, I started losing interest.
However, that first 2/3s was amazing time travel adventure so I'd recom...more
However, that first 2/3s was amazing time travel adventure so I'd recom...more
***Zero Spoilers***
If you're looking for an intelligent novel on time travel, skip this one.
Perhaps it would have been better off as a comic book. Then maybe I'd have appreciated it more. If James Bond had a flying motorcycle time machine, this might be close to what it would look like.
Time Patrol is a collection of stories to be taken lightly. If you find yourself saying, "Well that just makes zero sense" then maybe you're looking into it too far... like me.
Each story follows a particular time...more
If you're looking for an intelligent novel on time travel, skip this one.
Perhaps it would have been better off as a comic book. Then maybe I'd have appreciated it more. If James Bond had a flying motorcycle time machine, this might be close to what it would look like.
Time Patrol is a collection of stories to be taken lightly. If you find yourself saying, "Well that just makes zero sense" then maybe you're looking into it too far... like me.
Each story follows a particular time...more
The good: vivid evocation of far-flung time and places, a great sense of how history works, an interesting take on time-travel paradoxes and Anderson's usual large-scale vision of past, present and future, as well as unobtrusively vivid prose and instinct for heroic pathos.
The bad: Basic plots are repetitive, so you can't read too many at one go. Too many firm-jawed manly men and winsome wenches waiting to be won; deeply antediluvian gender politics, in other words. But still not as bad as Heinl...more
The bad: Basic plots are repetitive, so you can't read too many at one go. Too many firm-jawed manly men and winsome wenches waiting to be won; deeply antediluvian gender politics, in other words. But still not as bad as Heinl...more
view 2 comments
I hoped for more interesting characters, honestly. Every story I've read from this compilation has a slapdash B-plot romance driving the characters along. Bleagh. Just when the stories start to get interesting historically or scientifically, somebody starts thinking about somebody else's girl. TEDIOUS.
I want to like reading it. Really, I do.
I want to like reading it. Really, I do.
Didn't finish it because it was a lot of the same. I think if it weren't a library book I'd read it all because I'd leave it be for a week or two between stories and it wouldn't seem so much the same. I love the concept and his delivery, but 400+ pages of similar trips through time was too much for one concentrated reading effort.
Poul Anderson must of wrote these before quantum theory made a splash in popular culture. The "Time Patrol" helps keep history on track, and prevents bad guys from going back and changing the course of history as we know it.
Pretty standard genre stuff.
Pretty standard genre stuff.
one of the classics of the grandmasters of the sci-fi genre. I read all of Anderson's Time Patrol books as a child, and finally got them all in hardback. Re-read them and brought back great memories, and reinforced my love of time-travel, and history.
Fun and fascinating. This book answers the question, "what does a spinner of compelling yarns do with an advanced degree in History from the late Roman era?" Poul Anderson mixes in a dollop of time travel, generous helpings of human tragedy and triumph, and a dash of romance to produce a book whose chapters read like independent novellas (and, in fact, most if not all were previously published). Good stuff. Though less ambitious than Orson Scott Card's "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher C...more
Among the best Time Travel / Time Police type stories are these by Anderson - see also Time Patrolman
Enjoyed reading this on a visit to my sister, who like the author, finds time expired here on Earth...
I'm a history buff and a sucker for time travel stories. I loved this one.
8
Good book...it was a lot of shorter stories about adventures of Unattached Agent Manse Everard as he defends the history of all mankind! Fun stories, with some interesting ideas.
Brilliant.... a unique look at various epochs otherwise ignored
As with any body of work spanning nearly 50 years, Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stories start with some sense of feeling dated, but grow deeper and deeper with each reading. This is my fourth or fifth reading of some of the stories, and I still like them as much as ever!
1 like · like · see review
This was assigned reading in my Philosophy of Space and Time class in college, and I expected it to be much better than it was. I'm not even sure I ever finished it, even though I love the subject matter.
It is written in an "episode" style that is interesting. It is a book that motivates quite a bit of thought and gives me an interesting perspective on the shaping of society over time.
Excellent, in the vein of The Time Machine.
read 04.01.98
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous a...more
More about Poul Anderson...
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous a...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
