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Summary: Classic science fiction
Review: This book along with others by Wells and Jules Verne were the pioneers of the science fiction genre. At the time this book was written, many of the common place ideas used in today's science fiction couldn't even be thought of by the author. And yet, this book is not and will never be out of date. It is a great tale of a man that travels far far into the future of mankind and horrifies you by what mankind has become. In this age of "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer," the book makes only more sense. We must strive to become more average and avoid an oligarchy.
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Summary: After the three-millionth reading, it is still good!
Review: AN ODE TO ONE OF MY "BEST BOOKS"H. G. Wells "Time Machine" Pictures man in future scheme. Arcadia! An idyll land! Of future man in the sand! But looking low, below the ground We here a hungry mechanic sound. The Morlorck claw, an iron fist Dark cannibals dark in the mist. Our traveler quick, across the years Frees the Eloi from Morlock tears. But still our sailor quickens on To see times sky fade to bronze. The message sure for every day To give us hope, not to dismay. The power sure is in our arms We have the power to stop the harm! He sees our culture's fracture line Breaking to the end of time: Society spilt across the class; The Eloi rich and those Morlocks last. The people split, the workers down in the darkness of the ground. It is our cause to stop the sink To pull our brothers from the klink. World brother-hood! Since all are men Don't keep the poor locked in a pen. Keep them close, within our sound Don't keep the Morlocks underground!
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: For a more comprehensive review, read darkgenius's. I enjoyed this book immensely. I loved the way the story begins where we do not know any names of the characters but the plot grips us early. We are given great descriptions of all aspects of time travel and the natural reactions of people in such a situation. The adventure itself felt more as a trip through a museum rather than being 800,000 years in the future. Wells touched just enough of the science fiction area to intrigue us and then zooms back into the story. The book is not too long which is another plus.
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Summary: Not just a sci-fi classic.
Review: This is the classic story you know, but it's not just science fiction. If you haven't read the original, give it a try. It's about courage, it's about social order, science, ecology. The descriptions are very visual. To my disappointment, he doesn't talk at all about the theories or physics of time travel. This is one of the Dover thrift editions -- they are wonderfully convenient and amazingly low-priced.
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Summary: A Timeless Classic
Review: It goes without saying that this book is a science fiction classic in every sense of the word and that H.G. Wells was a founding father of the genre. This book proves that science fiction does not necessarily need to be heavily technical but does need to deal with grand themes such as the nature of society; man's hopes, dreams, and fears; and the very humanity of man. Wells does not go to great lengths in describing the time machine nor how it works. He lays the foundation of the story in science and then proceeds with his somewhat moralistic and certainly socially conscious story. This makes his writing much more enjoyable than that of a Jules Verne, who liked to fill up pages with scientific and highly technical nomenclature. One of the more striking aspects of the novel is Wells' treatment of the actual experience of time travel--moving in time is not like opening and walking through a door. There are physical and emotional aspects of the time travel process--in fact, some of the most descriptive passages in the book are those describing what the Time Traveler experiences and sees during his time shifts. Basically, Wells is posing the question of What will man be like in the distant future? His answer is quite unlike any kind of scenario that modern readers, schooled on Star Wars, Star Trek, and the like, would come up with. He gives birth to a simple and tragic society made up of the Eloi and the Morlocks. In contrasting these two groups, he offers a critique of sorts of men in his own time. Clearly, he is worried about the gap between the rich and the poor widening in his own world and is warning his readers of the dangers posed by such a growing rift. It is most interesting to see how the Time Traveler's views of the future change over the course of his stay there. At first, he basically thinks that the Morlocks, stuck underground, have been forced to do all the work of man while the Eloi on the surface play and dance around in perpetual leisure. Later, he realizes that the truth is more complicated than that. The whole book seems to be a warning against scientific omniscience and communal living. The future human society that the Time Traveler finds is supposedly ideal--free of disease, wars, discrimination, intensive labor, poverty, etc. However, the great works of man have been lost--architectural, scientific, philosophical, literary, etc.--and human beings have basically become children, each one dressing, looking, and acting the same. The time traveler opines that the loss of conflict and change that came in the wake of society's elimination of health, political, and social issues served to stagnate mankind. Without conflict, there is no achievement, and mankind atrophies both mentally and physically. This basic message of the novel is more than applicable today. While it is paramount that we continue to research and discover new scientific facts about ourselves and the world, we must not come to view science as a religion that can ultimately recreate the earth as an immense garden of Eden. Knowledge itself is far less important than the healthy pursuit of that knowledge. Man's greatness lies in his ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances. Speaking only for myself, I think this novel points out the dangerousness of Communism and points to the importance of individualism--if you engineer a society in which every person is "the same" and "equal," then you have doomed that society.
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Summary: Good Book
Review: It's a great book! Can't find it in book stores!
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Summary: Wonders and nightmares
Review: This is one one those works that prove the validity of science fiction as serious literature, not simply escapist genre adventures. H.G. Wells provides us with a warning tale about our decay as a society and our very possible decay as a species, working with the theory of evolution since the process does not have to mean progressively better species, but may also mean regression. The science in this classic is wrong, something I usually complain about regarding science fiction, but Wells is far more interested in the social aspects of his novella than in the purely scientific ones. Important points: the humans that the Time Traveller encounters in the adventure he describes to his friends are just a part of the human branch, smaller than most humans of the Time Traveller's day, childlike (as in carefree and irresponsible), indolent, sexually active, lazy, and non-productive: they are parasites who do not contribute anything to their own existence. They still have the essentially weak bodies that humans are supposed to have traded long ago in exchange for a bigger brain and dexterity, so they could use their intelligence and their hands to become the dominant species on the planet. The Eloi that the Time Traveller describes are just useless, and they represent one half of our descent into a new species of primate. The other half are the Morlocks, ugly, soft, underground dwellers who keep the Eloi alive and feed on them. It would be very difficult to explain this biological division, both Eloi and Morlocks sprouting from the human branch, and Wells does not succeed with his explanation: the Eloi are still very similar to us, whereas the Morlocks are clearly different. Eloi and Morlock should be biologically closer to each other than to a 19th century man, but the Time Traveller is sexually compatible with the Eloi girl he saves: this is rather problematic, since the narrator clearly believes that Eloi and Morlocks are what is left of us. Another problem is the Morlock's fear of fire in spite of their knowledge of machinery and metal works. Without fire, there are no metal works. Wells theory of our social and evolutionary decay is the basis of this novella and, in spite of the problem with science, the argument works very well if one applies suspension of disbelief, which is essential anyway for any work of science fiction. Regarding the possibility of humanity -or a part of it- going underground and eventually staying there, I also recommend the book by Gabriel de Tarde "Underground Man." A very positive aspect of "The Time Machine" is that the Eloi that our Traveller describes do not speak English: after evolving into something other than totally human, after hundreds of thousands of years, the Eloi cannot know English, and even though it is obvious to point it out, one of the worst problems with science fiction -especially in film and TV- is that all aliens speak English and plenty of them know Shakespeare pretty well. The author does not fall into that ridiculous trap: neither the Eloi, nor the Morlocks, know what English is, much less can communicate in it. "The Time Machine" is short, engaging, and thought-provoking. Once the technical problems are shrugged off, this is science fiction at its best: a warning of possible wonders and nightmares to come. This review is of the Dover Edition.
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Summary: Food for thought!
Review: As a person who finds most "great classics" utterly boring, I have to say this book was a big surprise, and is now one of my all-time favorites, perhaps. It really does a superlative job of reminding me of the "big picture," and of the insignificance of the world and times we live in. One day all of it, and all of us, will be gone. The End. Sounds terribly depressing but at the same time it is a very liberating thought.
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Summary: The Time Machine
Review: This is a great book, H.G. Wells' idea of what the future will be like is very interesting. This is one of those books that you think will be boring because it's a classic but isn't. Anyone who likes sci fi should read this book.
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Summary: My Review Of The Time Machine
Review: I liked The Time Machine because it takes the concept of time traveling and mankes it a reality. Wells didn't just make up a phony way of going through time, he actually made a scientific explaination for doing something of that feat. Wells also made a good twist on the future world. Most people see the future as flying cars, people with odd looking clothes, and life forms far more advanced than any of us could ever dream of. But Wells did just the opposite. He made the future world a place of fear and stupidness. The way the people of the future acted completely shocked me. The Eloi with their fasination of fire and fear of the Morlocks. And the Morlocks themselves with a taste for meat and flesh, but as fragile as an egg. Then there was the Time Traveller himself, whom I thought would be an older man in his 60's or so but in fact was in his early 40's. I found the way Wells played this character was very well done. Once again Wells has taken a stereotype and flipped around. I waould say for anyone who likes time traveles or science fiction, The Time Macjine is a very excellent choice to read.
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