The time machine

by H. G. Wells

150 pages

English language

Published Nov. 19, 2004 by Pocket Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-7434-8773-3
OCLC Number:: 55981033

(12 reviews)

The Time Traveller, a dreamer obsessed with traveling through time, builds himself a time machine and, much to his surprise, travels over 800,000 years into the future. He lands in the year 802701: the world has been transformed by a society living in apparent harmony and bliss, but as the Traveler stays in the future he discovers a hidden barbaric and depraved subterranean class. Wells's transparent commentary on the capitalist society was an instant bestseller and launched the time-travel genre.

133 editions

Paul reviewed TIME MACHINE; ED. BY PATRICK PARRINDER. by H. G. Wells (PENGUIN CLASSICS)

Review of 'TIME MACHINE; ED. BY PATRICK PARRINDER.' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Like most of Wells' books, this hasn't aged well. Other than travelling forwards in time once - which is pretty much all the Time Machine does (the other trips are so fleeting as to be largely forgettable) - there isn't a great deal going on. There don't seem to be any female characters with agency, and the only one we really hear anything about spends the entire time clinging to a male character. Yes it's a product of its time, but that doesn't make it any less jarring. The end is unsatisfying - what happens to the Time Traveller?

Worth reading once to get a feel for how science fiction used to be, and how far the genre has come. Not one I'll be returning to anytime soon, unless I want to try it in another language (the low page count and less advanced vocabulary make it a reasonable choice …

crabbygirl reviewed The Time Machine: H.G. Wells' Groundbreaking Time Travel Tale, Classic Science Fiction by H. G. Wells

Review of "The Time Machine: H.G. Wells' Groundbreaking Time Travel Tale, Classic Science Fiction" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

this is supposedly the beginning of science fiction and - after you get used to the archaic language and his use of the main character postulating theories before the reader has a chance to formulate his own - it's actually quite a gripping story. i was on the edge of my seat at times.
i read this alongside ds as we did this novel as a literature study. there were many times that ds was supposed to create his own sci-fi situations, but his scenarios always seem to involve the rich gaining control of the army and moving to a deserted island. this may just be a reflection of how little sci-fi he's read in the past.