Rating: 
Summary: excellent book to curl up with
Review: I first read this book in the early 70s.It had such an impact on me that 25 years later I still talk about and reflect on its excellence.
Rating:
Summary: A definitive little sleeper
Review: I found this book at a little magical used bookstore in Carmel. I'd never heard of it, but had read other works by Gerrold. That night, I read the entire thing, front to back. Simply amazing work, Gerrold, as a rather young man, sat down and thought out how time travel would (or could) work. Not the quantum mechanics, but what we would all do (at first) if someone gave us one of these things. Think about it: You'd immediately go out and make a bunch of money. Bored with that, you'd examine history, looking over the shoulder of Oswald and Booth. Then you'd be tempted to CHANGE history... but might not like the results. You'd go back and watch the Crucifixtion, but unless you spoke ancient Aramaic, you'd have a hard time understanding what happened. Well, pick up this book and you get to do all these things, along with our endlessly naive narrator Dan.Gerrold also gets points for creating a character who... how shall we say it... does something that a lot of us have suggested that others do, but was generally considered anatomically impossible. Read it, you'll see what I mean...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing...
Review: I had heard so many things about this book, i was really looking forward to reading it. What a let down. So many ideas, places and times to be explored. Too short, he had so much to work with. For example, How do you catch a time traveller?
We never find out. i don't give away and plot points, but there are so many different areas and themes that could have been developed.
Rating:
Summary: The best time-travel fiction I've ever read
Review: I just finished reading this book for the third time, and I loved it even more than before. Gerrold's handling of classic time-travel problems such as paradoxes by using the quantum bifurcation theory is brilliant, and the book actually reminded me a little of William Sleator's _Strange Attractors_. However, it is much better written, more grim, more wide-spanning, and, most strikingly, less innocent. It also has traces of Robert Heinlein's short story _All You Zombies_, but it much more fully fleshed out. Some passages I found incredibly moving, such as the narrator's description of when he has been ("I have seen Creation. I have seen Entropy"), and the ever-increasing age gap between himself and his female counterpart, Diane. The book depressed me to no end, and that's why I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: THE MAN WHO LOVED HIMSELF JUST A LITTLE TOO MUCH...
Review: I love books that have a time travel theme and looked forward to reading this book, as it had come highly recommended. This book is more like a long short story or a very brief novella, which is a mercy, considering how disappointed I was by it. It was merely ok. In fact, there was very little about it that I found to be engaging, though I do not affirmatively dislike the book.
The book is about a young man, Daniel Eakins, who inherits a belt that allows him to travel in time. The book itself is like a diary that the main character keeps of his journeys in time. He writes mostly about meeting other versions of himself, both male and female, and making love to those versions. His presence at some of the greatest moments in history, which he does go to see, consist of nothing more than a laundry list to indicate that he had been there. There are also journal entries by some of his other various incarnations, which is a moderately interesting contrivance.
Still, there is little substance to the book in terms of plot, as well as little character development. The time spent in other eras are glossed over quickly, as if too much time would be wasted in doing otherwise. Daniel does try to change some historic moments, with some interesting consequences, but that, too, is glossed over. The book almost reads as if it were a stream of consciousness narration, which is, perhaps, congruent with keeping a diary or journal. The exploration of sexuality in which the author engages is certainly novel, though slightly creepy.
This book, which feels more as if it were an outline for a book, would probably be of interest only to die hard, time travel fans. If you are not such an individual, deduct one star from my rating and avoid this book. As is its central character, the book is in a state of arrested development.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment.
Review: I love time-travel books, but this one was very disappointing. I never felt that if I had received a time-belt I would do any of the things that Daniel did. Instead of exploring history, he was more interested in exploring other versions of himself. I didn't like the sexual parts and I didn't like Daniel at all.
Rating:
Summary: Best Time Travel Book Ever
Review: I read this book as a kid, and thought at the time it
was the best time travel book I had ever read. It
must have been in the early '70s, around when the book
The Forever War came out (Joe Haldeman).
I was about 10-12 years old at the time.
I sought out the book and re read it as an adult. The
homosexuality stuff was a bit uncomfortable to read, but
it was an interesting concept. I still think this book
is a must read fo anyone who enjoys time travel type stories.
This book seems to be based on the theory that visiting the
past creates an alternate time line, splitting the universe
and making it such that you can't return to your original
starting universe.
It is in my top 10 SCI FI reads due to its impact during
and after reading on your psyche!
Rating:
Summary: PHONEY ADVERTISING
Review: I really don't understand why this book is given so many excellent reveiws. I completely agree with another reviewer who felt the book took a minor point on the dangers of time travel and spun it out to beyond tedium. The book sounds as though it was written by an angst ridden adolescent exploring his sexuality. Gag.
Rating:
Summary: A FAST, SATISFYING READ
Review: I really loved this book! In fact, I read it in just a few hours--couldn't put it down. The prose flowed along without a lot of technical jargon. The time machine itself might seem a little hokey, but the emphasis on the story is not on the device itself, but the man behind the device. This is really a story of how time travel would affect a human being both physically and psychologically with the emphasis on the psychological. One thing I really found satisfying were the questions that David Gerrold raised concerning the paradoxes of time travel, questions that the average person would ask. Gerrold then proceeds to answer them the best he--or his character, I should say--can. If you're looking for a lot of technobabble, physics theories, and the like, then you might be disappointed. The technical aspects of the machine are never discussed in detail. As I said earlier, it's the human part of the story that is so captivating, and that is where the emphasis lies. After reading the glowing reviews of this book here on Amazon.com, I managed to obtain a used copy of this out-of-print title. The little extra effort I went to to get this book was well worth it.
Rating: 
Summary: A journal through time
Review: I think narcissism and time travel go hand in hand. Dan/Don/Danny/Diane et al is not much different than Dave Lister. I enjoyed the book quite a bit, though I have to wonder if the author retconned some of Dan's early stock picks. The original book was published in 1973, so unless the author has a time belt of his own or is psychic, he wouldn't have known about Apple and Sony. I'd love to get a first edition and compare those passages... The time travel plot and "twists" are fairly standard, the ending didn't suprise me but I did enjoy this telling of the story. The journal entries from the various incarnations allowed for a character growth that doesn't usually happen in this genre of book. I also liked the rather frank exploration of the main character's sexuality.
|
