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    The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics
    The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics
    The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics
    Audiobook40 minutes

    The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics

    Written by H. G. Wells

    Narrated by Saddleback Educational Publishing

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    What would it be like to travel thousands of years into the future? How would Earth have changed? Would people have changed too? Step aboard The Time Machine and journey to the year 802,701. Learn how humankind has evolved into two-races one simple and child-like and the other strange and terrifying. Then join the Time Traveler as he travels still further, revealing the final secrets of Earth's future.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSaddleback Educational Publishing
    Release dateJan 1, 2006
    ISBN9781612474601
    The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio): Illustrated Classics
    Author

    H. G. Wells

    H.G. Wells is considered by many to be the father of science fiction. He was the author of numerous classics such as The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds, and many more. 

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    Reviews for The Time Machine (A Graphic Novel Audio)

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    • 4/5
      The Time Machine 4/5I really really liked this book, it was short and sweet and i loved it. It keeps you gripped and reading despite it being so short. I flew through it enjoyed every moment but didn't have that disappointment when i released id come to the end (it looks longer because of the notes at the back) as i found it was rounded off nicely (as i also found with The Isldand of Dr. Moreau) Defiantly will be reading more Wells this year!
    • 3/5
      This is the story of the Time Traveler, primarily in the year 802,701 A.D. as he learns how humans have evolved into two separate, struggling "classes".A very quick classic read. While the style of writing is quite different from modern fiction, it is easy to follow and the story is interesting enough that I didn't mind the style.What I found most intriguing about this book was the expression of Wells's views at the end of the Nineteenth Century. Looking at the book in it's context shows some of the angst over industrialization and fear of where society might be headed.
    • 4/5
      This book was originally published in 1895, and, pardon the pun, it stands the test of time. Although the writing style is one you will recognize if you have read anything by say, Henry Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first person narration of the story still is adequate enough to pull you in and gives it the feel of an adventure being told to you orally. The first two chapters set up the story that is to be told by the Time Traveler, a scientist who has built a time machine capable of traveling into the future and back again. By chapter three, the Time Traveler is relating his tale of traveling a great distance into the future and finding that humanity has become two distinct species - one, the Eloi dwell above ground and are happy if not overly intelligent beings. The other species, the Morlocks, dwells below ground and represent a sinister working class. Excited by his success in time travel, the Traveler leaves behind his time machine to explore the new world before him only to find upon his return that his machine is nowhere in sight. Suspecting foul play, the Traveler realizes that it is very likely that he will have to venture into the underground world in order to retrieve his invention and travel back home.This story is cleverly told, but fell just a bit flat for me. I loved the vision that Wells shared in his futuristic tale, but wanted the Time Traveler to be smarter. Still, often people who are gifted in one area are lacking in another. I wanted a man who was intelligent enough to build a machine capable of traveling into the future to also be capable of forward thinking. He should realize that if he intends to travel into the future, he should pack provisions and think through some contingency plans before actually taking off. However, I could also see the mad scientist type who got caught up in the linear thought progression of time travel without stopping to think about practical matters. I think this book was perhaps supposed to be more of a study in societal development than a sci-fi tale, but it provides both and is worth the time it takes to explore it. I loved the museums that the Time Traveler encounters and was impressed by Wells ability to tell a story that can still stand up today, more than a century after he wrote it. "And you cannot move at all in Time, you cannot get away from the present moment.""My dear sir, that is just where you are wrong. That is just where the whole world has gone wrong. We are always getting away from the present moment. Our mental existences, which are immaterial and have no dimensions, are passing along the Time-Dimension with a uniform velocity from the cradle to the grave. Just as we should travel down if we began our existence fifty miles above the earth's surface."
    • 3/5
      After settling in with The Time Machine, I soon realized I didn’t really remember much about this book. Or, at least my memories were fuzzy. I decided about half way through that I had a very big dislike of the Time Traveller. He was arrogant, uncaring, and prejudice. I get the arrogance, he wouldn’t have invented time travel without it, but the rest I could have done without.We begin with a lecture of sorts where the Time Traveller shows his guests a small device that he claims can travel in time. He also claims to have built a larger functioning device that he plans to use to travel in time. Which he apparently does, meeting with two vastly different groups of humans --- the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are a group of people so simple that he can’t believe this is what has become of the human race. In this same time, he also comes in contact with the Morlocks; a species that lives underground in dark tunnels. He does his best to categorize the humans he’s met but is disgusted when he figures out the relationship between the Eloi and Morlocks. When he’s able to escape and travels to his own place in time, he regales his contemporaries with stories of his travels.There are so many fascinating aspects to this story. Time travel! But, Wells drove me crazy with his ideas of the human race. The pervasive idea that the Time Traveller was so much smarter, better shall we say, than the people he encountered was repulsive. It ruined this book for me. I can dislike a character and still enjoy a book but not in this case. I tried to become fascinated by the time travel but I was too far gone to get any enjoyment out of it.
    • 3/5
      The book itself is obviously very well written. Because it was written so long ago (It was written in 1895 so that's well over a century ago!) there were, of course some disturbingly weird words that nobody has ever heard of anymore (even smart people)Agreed I'm not a science fiction fan, but I found the book disturbing & pointless.
    • 3/5
      Quite different in many respects from the movie versions made by Yvette Mimieux or Samantha Mumba. Interesting in a lot of different ways from what one might expect from having seen either movie first, like I did.
    • 4/5
      Like the other H.G. Wells novels I have reread recently, this one surprised me by being darker and less romantic than I remembered. Much filmed, "The Time Machine" has no love story, in fact. Nor much action. What it has is an expansive, if dark, vision of the future.
    • 5/5
      The best science fiction novel that Wells wrote, still worth reading after all these years. It does what sf is supposed to do: open up the world and show the reader something grander beyond both hope and fear.
    • 4/5
      Summary: His Victorian colleagues don't believe he's constructed a time machine, but the Time Traveller returns with a tale to tell, of his journey to the year 802,701. There (Then?) he found that humankind had evolved into two distinct races: the childlike Eloi, who live a life of leisure, free of worry, sickness, or care; and the Morlocks, who are more mechanically inclined but dwell exclusively underground. The Morlocks steal his time machine immediately after he arrives, and in his attempts to get it back, he discovers that the life of the Eloi is not as idyllic as it might seem.Review: As much as I love the genre of science fiction as a whole, The Time Machine is one of my first forays into its origins. I was already fairly well-versed in its plot from having read the fantastic The Map of Time earlier this summer, but I was surprised to find that the main point of the book was not the technology or its consequences, but rather a statement of Wells's beliefs about the effects of class division on the human condition. Of course, the social politics are wrapped up in a fantastical adventure story, but they're not buried particularly deep. I also didn't find the message to be particularly complex, or even particularly plausible.But, setting aside the underlying theme, Wells certainly manages to tell a good story. His vision of the Eloi's world is fascinating, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how things got from here to there. (I particularly loved the scene in the ruined museum.) Once the protagonist leaves the time of the Eloi, he goes even farther into the future, and Wells's vision of a desolate Earth under a dying sun is nightmarishly vivid. It's a very short book - barely long enough to qualify as a novella, really - and part of me wishes it were longer, with a more complex plot. The prose, while not as dense as I was expecting, did take some getting used to, but overall it was definitely worth the read. 3.5 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: It probably should be read by every sci-fi fan, particularly those interested in time travel stories, as a basis of where the genre started; it's quick enough and with an interesting enough story to win over even the more ardent avoiders of the classics.
    • 4/5
      Der ZeitreisendeDie Erzählung beginnt zum Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts, wo es dem Protagonisten des Buches gelingt eine Maschine zu bauen, die ihn durch die vierte Dimension tragen soll: Die Zeit.Und das soll sein einziger Name werden: Der Zeitreisende. Von Euphorie erfüllt berichtet einer Versammlung ungläubiger Freunde und Bekannter von seiner Erfindung. Doch niemand nimmt sein Gerede wirklich ernst. Zeitreisen?Ihre Meinung soll sich jedoch ändern, als er eines Tages völlig zerkratzt und verschmutzt auftaucht. Noch aufgeregt berichtet er von seinem Abenteuer:Die Zeitmaschine brachte ihn ins Jahr 802.701. Kaum hatte er sich vom Schreck und von den Unannehmlichkeiten der Reise erholt, kam es auch schon zum Erstkontakt mit den Bewohnern. Was ihm berichtet wird, fasziniert ihn vollkommen. Die Erde wird von lediglich zwei Schichten bevölkert wird: Den Eloi und den Mordocks.Die Eloi bevölkern die Erdoberfläche. Sie scheinen glückliche und zufriedene Wesen zu sein, die ihrem Alltag fröhlich und naiv entgegensehen. Ihnen scheint es an nichts zu mangeln, sie müssen sich keine Sorgen machen. Nur die Angst vor der Dunkelheit lässt sie des Nachts nicht ruhig schlafen.Denn unterirdisch leben die Morlocks. Sie kommen nur in der Dunkelheit an die Oberfläche. Sie verbreiten Angst und Schrecken. Dort, wo sie herkommen gibt es keine Nahrung und oft verschleppen sie die unschuldigen Elois. Sie sind bösartig und grausam. So glaubt der Zeitreisende.Science Fiction als GesellschaftskritikWells´ Roman gilt als Pionierroman der Science Fiction insbesondere im Gebiet des Zeitreisens. Diesen Roman ordnet er selbst zu seinen „scientific romances“, die die ersten drei Romane seines Schaffens umfassen und heute in das Genre der Science Fiction eingeordnet werden können.In seinem Roman versucht Wells eine zukünftige Welt zu beschreiben, die zunächst als eine Art Utopie erscheint. Doch so oberflächlich der Zeitreisende im Roman zunächst das Jahr 802.701 betrachtet, muss auch er später feststellen, dass seine Vermutungen und die Schilderungen der Eloi nur wenig Wahrheit beinhalten.Denn geht man tiefer und nähert sich der eigentlichen Wahrheit, muss man feststellen, dass die Welt, die der Zeitreisende dort betreten hat, einem Schlachthaus ähnelt. Was früher Menschen waren, sind heute nur noch verschrumpelte Wesen. Die zu Zeiten des Zeitreisenden noch viel gelobte Technik und die ausgefeilte Sprache als Mittel zur Kommunikation sind verkümmert. All das entstand aus der immer größer werdenden Schere zwischen Arm und Reich. Die einen schwingen sich Herrschern über die anderen auf. Damit kritisiert der Autor auch zu seine Lebzeiten gesellschaftlichen britischen Verhältnisse.Jedoch hat seine Mahnung auch heute nicht viel an seiner Aktualität verloren.Ein zeitloser RomanDie Zeitmaschine ist ein durchaus zeitloser Roman.Wells wählte für seine Erzählung ein weit entferntes Jahr. Er verzichtet auf Beschreibungen von möglicher technischer Geräte in der Zukunft, die einen Roman oft unglaubwürdig machen – spätestens wenn seine Jahreszahl für die Menschen zur Wirklichkeit geworden ist.So schafft er es – nicht letztendlich auch durch eine großartige Sprache – die Glaubwürdigkeit des Romans auch über Jahrzehnte und Jahrhunderte aufrecht zu erhalten. Die Geschichte passt in jede Zeit, kann von jeder neuen Generation mit dem größten Vergnügen verschlungen werden und verliert nichts von seinem Charme und seiner Aktualität.So kann der Autor sich auf das konzentrieren, was wirklich im Vordergrund stehen soll: Der gesellschaftliche Wandel und die Probleme die damit einhergehen können. Und dadurch, dass der Autor nicht mit seiner Kritik spart und immer wieder Menschen zum Nachdenken anregen kann, gibt es vielleicht ein kleines Fünkchen Hoffnung auf eine bessere und verantwortungsvollere Zukunft. Aber nur vielleicht.
    • 3/5
      I liked The Time Machine. I think it is a perfect classic sci-fi read, especially for those new to the genre, or those who want to know how the genre began. The existentialist themes in the book were probably very important during the time the book was written, but it does leave a desire for more description of the new world and the technology. However, the read is short, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to fly through some sci-fi.
    • 3/5
      I know this is supposed to be the first work of science fiction.It is a short book and quick to finish but I just couldn't get really interested in the characters. The future I this world is not very appealing as it is a life of leisure for the Upper world inhabitants and a life of survival for the Under worlders. He make some interesting comments about society as a whole, I'm glad to get caught up on the classics that have neglected.
    • 4/5
      Not much to say other than this is one of the classic early science fiction stories. I read it before watching the modern Hollywood movie and was glad I did (since the movie sucked). It's quite an easy read and is fast-paced. When reading this while keeping the perspective of when this was written I found the story very clever and enjoyable.
    • 4/5
      The Time Machine is more than cool, classic sci-fi. It's more than just THE original story to include a scientific rationale to time travel. It's a story that delves into the differences and injustices of class relations. It's a story that considers a burgeoning scientific revolution. And it's a story that explores evolution and the fate of mankind (at the same time as the World is still grapples with Darwin's theory).The story is quite simple. The Time Traveller (TTT - no name is given) creates a machine that's able to travel through time. TTT demonstrates, in miniature, how the machine works and then travels himself, in full scale, 800,000 years into the future. The narration is handled by The Writer (also no name is given) who witnesses the miniature demonstration and is present when TTT returns from his trip to the future.TTT finds himself in a future inhabitated by the child-like Eloi living a vegetarian and almost Luddite existence. The Eloi are innocent, fun-loving, sympathetic simpletons. When his time machine disappears, TTT explores this future land and ultimately discovers the Eloi's underground-dwelling symbiotic cousins - the Morlocks. Symbollically, the Eloi serve the role of aristocracy, patrician, or white collar; while the Morlocks serve the role as commonor, plebian, proletariat or blue collar. The Morlocks are carnivores (you can guess where they get their meat), and industrial, who can only see in the dark and are afraid of fire and the light.After battle the Morlocks and losing his one Eloi friend, Weena, TTT recovers his Time Machine and launches himself further into the future.The image of a desolate, grim far-future inhabited only by large crab-like creatures is as haunting and memorable to me as an adult as it was when I first read it 20+ years ago. The Signet edition of The Time Machine includes one additional future vignette that was edited out of the definitive edition of the story. This additional scene precedes TTT's visit to the crab-beach. He finds what he believes to be the last vestiges of humanity having taken the shape of large grey formless rabbits who are hunted by enormous caterpillars. These few additional pages evoke the same creepiness as the beach crabs and are a nice complement to the original story.TTT relates his journey at a dinner party at his home. We view his adventure and discourse through The Writer's detailed account of TTT's return. English society is represented at the dinner party and, naturally, nobody quite believes the tale.Modern scifi stalwart Greg Bear writes an introduction to the Signet addition and provides informative context to the story, it's place in writing history, and background on H.G. Wells as well as his place in the authorial pantheon.If you've never read The Time Machine before, I strongly recommend you jump into this turn of the 19th Century classic. It's a little soft by modern comparison, but it's the original upon which so much contemporary scifi is based.
    • 4/5
      The Invisible Man was an amazing book, its wide range of vocabulary and continuous amounts of action kept me interested the whole way through. Also the stories multiple names for the “Invisible Man” were great and also helped me get a better image of what people see when they interact with the “Invisible Man”. However what I didn’t like so much about this story is how the “Invisible Man” didn’t travel very far to spread his rage or to escape from being chased after from the town’s people. This story’s first couple of chapters were quite slow but yet very interesting, this allowed me to automatically know I was going to really take pleasure in reading this book. The beginning of this book caused me to change my thoughts of what this book was really about. At first I believed it was about an “Invisible Man”, meaning he could not be seen by anyone. Then, after reading the first and second chapter, my thoughts changed to make me think this book was about a man who no one would ever know, meaning he was unable to be understood by others. Around half way through the story, it’s revealed that he was in fact invisible, meaning he was not able to be seen by anyone. After finding that out, I kind of got lost in wondering what was going to happen next since he has been revealed and people know about him. This story foreshadows, allowing it to bring great interest and understanding about the future of the “Invisible Man” and the books beginning half to the readers.This story was a terrific story for me to read because if I were to have a super power, invisibility would be my first choice. I enjoyed being able to read what someone would do if they were invisible and what they would have to go through to get through their lifetime. An example I thought of from the beginning of this book was how does the “Invisible Man’s” family and him get along when they can’t see him? I found that out towards the end of the book which was great. The author, H.G Wells did a marvelous job describing the “Invisible Man’s” past allowing the readers to get a perfect image.The book’s worst part, that could have been changed, was the ending. The story had great excitement and energy leading into the ending which was where it all just stopped. The ending which was the chase of the “Invisible Man” was just too short and made the capture of him look extremely easy. Also the ending didn’t make too much sense to me. Griffin, the “Invisible Man”, was trapped on the ground being held down by Mr. Kemp who was surrounded by the town’s people. As they were calming down Griffin, his ability to become invisible was coming to an end, once he was able to be seen by everyone, they took him to the Jolly Cricketers which then ended the story. H.G Wells ended this great story with a horrible cliff hanger which would now lead you to know my reaction to this book, which is I would recommend this book but be warned it does not end the way I believe it should.
    • 2/5
      The Time Traveler just invented the first time machine and accidently transports himself into year 802,701 A.D. In this very distant future he meets two different kinds of people: The Eloi who are friendly, peaceful, and have everything. And then there are the Morlocks who are live below ground and vicious. Along the way, The Time Traveler saves a small female Eloi from drowning named Weena and together they travel underground so he can meet the Morlocks without knowing their true nature.I didn’t enjoy this book at all. There wasn’t anything that excited me, and it just made me feel like I wasted a bunch of time. And none of it seemed very realistic. Usually science fiction has a hint of realism in it, but it’s so far into the future, I don’t see any of those events happening. Besides that, the plot wasn't too great, I didn't care abou the characters, and for such a short book, so underwelming. By I will give Wells credit that he explained how the time machine works very, very well.Rating: One and a Half Stars *1/2
    • 3/5
      a good fictional novel i have read many years ago......
      human race has evolved into two species, the leisured classes and the working class ...
    • 5/5
      So, what sort of story is The Time Machine. It's most often called a Science Fiction story. That's generally where it's kept in the library as well (unless it's in the Classics section, or the library interfiles everything and it's just in Fiction). But I Think that calling it just a Science Fiction novel is way too limiting for what's actually a grand novella.The plot is that there is a 'Time Traveler' who has a group of other men that sit and talk together once a week, probably on the grand themes of the time, which I guess they did back then. So, one week the Time Traveler tells the group that he's built a Time Machine. The next (and this takes up most of the novel) thing he does is tell them the story of his adventure 800,000 years plus in the future.That's all very Sci Fi, what isn't is that in the future there's a bit of a romance subplot, as well as a whole ton and a half of philosophical ideas and conversation in it as well.It did take me a bit of reading before I got used to the cadence of the story, got used to HG's voice, but then that faded into the background and the story came alive like only a few authors these days can do.All in all I would call the piece of classic literature worthy of the title 'Classic' and much, much, more than just a great Sci Fi story, but an amazing story period.
    • 4/5
      2/20 (a shorter book) Surprisingly, given that I am an avid science fiction fan, I've never read Wells; and all I can say for having read him for the first time: I want to read more. Wells' technique is quite brilliant; his imagination is vivid; and you can see his ideas on humanity leaking out from the pages. I love the unnamed narrator, and the unnamed patrons of the Time Travelers dinner party; it's quite an interesting touch. The descriptions of the future - particularly as The Time Traveler heads away from the Eloi and the Morlocks to the very end of time - are evokative and haunting. It's a book that is to be experienced. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Although H G Well was not the first novelist to explore the paradox of time travel (Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court had been published nine years earlier) it was the among the first to be centred on the mechanics of time travel and the invention of a time machine. It was certainly the most popular of the time travel books and has been seen as launching a new sub genre of Science fiction, not bad for an author, who had published War of the Worlds in the same year. The Time Machine does not have the same emotional impact as War of the Worlds, its canvas is smaller in both form and subject matter. It is more of a short story or novella and the only person in mortal danger is the Time Traveller himself. Well’s Time traveller goes into the future and so there is an immediate suspense and expectation as to what he will find. This is a deep vein of fiction writing that is still being mined today and Wells does not let his readers down with the world that he creates. 802,701.is the year the time machine first lands and an initially idyllic land is soon shown to be a world that is rapidly plunging into decay:The Time traveller meets the Eloi a small race of people who seem not to have a care in the world as the land supplies all their needs, but they soon prove to be vacuous in the extreme and when the Time travellers Time machined is captured by the Morlocks who live underground a battle for survival begins. Wells’s adventure story is colourful and fast paced as he lays a template for many such stories that will follow his into publication, however there is more to this novel than a straight forward adventure story. Wells ruminates on how the two races had come into being and what pointers there were in Victorian England as why this should be so:“Again, the exclusive tendency of richer people - due no doubt to the increasing refinement of their education and the widening gulf between them and the rude violence of the poor - …So in the end above ground you must have the Haves and below ground the Have-nots, the workers getting continually adapted to the conditions of their labour…“So, as I see it, the Upper-world man had drifted towards his feeble prettiness and the Underworld to mere mechanical industry”As in War of the Worlds, Wells’s depiction of Victorian England is beautifully done. At the start of the story we are introduced to the Time Traveller: a gentleman scientist and his dinner guests: professional gentlemen and journalists who will need to be convinced of the efficacy of the Time Machine. Wells brings these scenes to life and the experiment holds our attention, until the real story kicks off.There is much to enjoy here and although the bare bones of this story have served to fuel so many novels since it was published in1898, this one still holds up. Wells’s writing is very good, the novella is nicely balanced and so I would rate it as a 4 star read.
    • 3/5
      I didn't much care for this book. It was a bit too boring for me.
    • 3/5
      The Time Machine by H. G. Wells is a fascinating story of one man's excursion into the distant future. Called only "the Time Traveller" by our unnamed narrator, this man witnesses the seeming paradise which our Earth has become. Rich, lush, and without the natural evils we grapple with, nevertheless this Edenic world has a dark side. The human race has evolved into two distinct groups, the Eloi and the Morlocks. The Eloi are surface-dwellers, diminutive, beautiful, and weak — victims of their own ingenuity, which removed all need for invention and intelligence. The Morlocks, dwelling underground, are much more sinister, and eventually the Time Traveller discovers the truth. They are cannibals, preying upon the Eloi when darkness falls. It is fascinating to see how Wells explores the problems of capitalism and labor, the upper classes and the worker toiling for the ease of others. The divide is brought into the physical realm, with the Eloi on top and the Morlocks being banished to the subterranean regions, where society tends to put its less ornamental, more utilitarian functions. Indeed, the Time Traveller even calls the Eloi and Morlocks the Haves and the Have-nots. The warning is clear: if they continue to live in indolence and ease, the upper classes will become weak and helpless, a prey for the lower classes who are strengthened (though also made brutish) by the work imposed upon them. I didn't know quite what to think of this book. Wells refers to Darwin with respect, but he takes a grimmer view of man's evolutionary "progress," seeing the seeds of self-destruction in our very struggle to tame the natural world. If we have nothing left to strive and work for, will not our natural abilities atrophy and eventually abandon us completely? In Wells' vision of the future, our old problems of societal inequities have not been solved, though we have solved the physical ills of our world. We have become either helpless of brutish. It seems that despite his evolutionary leanings, Wells held an accurate view of human nature. So this is The Time Machine, the pioneering work in the genre of time-travel fiction. An interesting read, but not a comfortable one, and thankfully rather short. At least I finally understand why jokes about time travel often reference crystals.
    • 4/5
      I read this just after reading The War of the Worlds and I was not as impressed with this work. It seemed short. The explanation of the origins of the Morlocks and the Eloi (is Eloi plural?) was done in just a few pages in a sudden flash of insight from the time traveler. There is no other proof or insight put forth in the rest of the book however. Nevertheless I think this book is very much worth reading.
    • 4/5
      My actual rating would be a 3.5, and since I like rounding up rather than down, 4 it is.
      Don't get me wrong. I firmly believe H.G. Wells to be one of the founding fathers of science fiction. His ingenuity is unquestionable, and I can easily say that he was a man ahead of his time. It's just that this book didn't wow me. Maybe it was because I didn't read it in one sitting (though you could) or perhaps it was simply because I had misguided expectations.
      The Time Machine is good solid writing, very thought provoking, and honestly frightened me at times as if it were a murder mystery. It raises a lot of questions about the future of human evolutions as well as the future of planet Earth, all the while returning it to a nice Victorian setting.
      It is a must read for all who hold science fiction near and dear to their hearts. My only serious critical critique is that I feel like he could have done more with the story plot-wise. It is, however, an extraordinary read and shouldn't be found missing in your bookshelf.
    • 3/5
      A surprisingly short novel by modern standards. Well's strength lies in description, also in the fact that although the Time Traveller has his views as to how the future arose, he does not state his speculations to be definitive.The novel is slow-paced, which works in some ways - in allowing us to see the patterns of the sun in the sky as he accelerates through time, but fails in others. This is a novel in which the protagonist is more of an observer than anything else, and that feels curiously uninvolving.
    • 4/5
      We never learn much of the identity of the time traveller (op cit, it does have two 'L's in the book, is that a British spelling?), the beginning of the book refers to him as the time traveller. The story is told in a first-person narration. He is British, and he is male, probably in his prime. It is the classic story, a bit different from the movie versions. We meet the Morlocks, and Weena, strange creatures we encounter only briefly, and learn of man's fate. The story is well told and moves quickly. He doesn't pause to build suspense, we can feel the urgency of the time traveller's actions. H. G. Wells suggests man is his own demise, one has to wonder if he was making a political statement, but doesn't stress it as we would expect authors to do today. The book is around 260ish pages, but felt shorter as it reads pretty easily. It is in the public domain and available for free from Project Gutenberg.
    • 4/5
      Loved the story; quite different from the usual scifi stories with all sorts of fancy machinery and space travel and stuff, the future in this story is not so advanced at all.Do wonder where the time-traveller went though...
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved Wells descriptions of the future people and lands, and the discoveries the time traveler makes while in the future.
    • 5/5
      I think this is very good book. It was really interesting when the time traveller planned out that he was going on a trip to the future. It really intense when the author explained about how the time traveller had to fight with the Morlocks in order to get his time machine back, and go back to his time. The idea in the story that I didn't like was when the characters were unnamed, I find it a bit annoying, on the another hand it also makes the reader wants to continue reading the book. Everything written down in this book is so detailed and I can picture it in my head, which was like watching a movie. Based on this story, the later in the future probably feels like in the very very past in the history, because there were no technology and living with the nature. When he went to the future he met an elloi called Weena who helped him through his journey, but sadly she died the night before the time traveller was leaving, he also met the morlocks who lived underground and are always mean and aggressive. You can look at this story in different perspectives and you can understand it in different ways.This story was very interesting, there are many twists in the story and I couldn't really guest what is coming up next, so I kept reading...I would like to recommend this book to people who likes reading science fiction books!:)
    • 3/5
      This is the first book I read all the way through on a Kindle, and watched my progress in "locations" instead of pages. Do all time travel books become about the history of technology and man's relationship to it? The narrator is a Victorian gentleman who reports on his trip to the future non stop, with no pauses, and no dialogue. It is hard to believe that a group of men, the other characters from his time period, no matter how stalwart, would listen to such a long story without interrupting once and questioning some of the details. But still, since I am reading time travel books (When You Reach Me, A Wrinkle in Time) I wanted to try the granddaddy of them all.