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Contemporary reviews of THE TIME MACHINE

H G Wells

The Time Machine

'The Time machine' is Wells' first published science fiction story. It's a short book - Well's commented 36 years later that this was due to the hurry to get it published and he would like to have written a longer work. However I prefer to read somewhat 'naive' early works of sci-fi writers before they have learnt to write 'proper' literature.

Reading this book gives and insight into what Well's wanted to write - we see that from the beginning he was more interested in possible futures for society than high tech gizmos. It's also worth reading if you've only seen the film version and want to know more about Wells' work.

Of course this book isn't really a story about time travel, which would involve visiting the past and either creating a paradox or making sure things happen the way they should. No, the Eloi and the Morlocks could just as well be living on a different planet. For instance [SPOILER - but you all know the story anyway] at one point in the story Weena disappears and is presumed either burned to death or eaten. Or did the time-traveller return in his time machine to a point just after she disappeared and save her from her fate? No, he didn't seem to think of that. Also the story has a bleak future for humanity, but if it's so far in the future that we seemingly can do nothing to prevent it then so what? If on the other hand knowledge of the future meant something could be done to prevent it, well the time-traveller didn't seem to think of that either.

Amazon.com info
Mass Market Paperback 144 pages ISBN: 0812505042 Salesrank: 331615 Weight:0.18 lbs
Published: 1992 Tor (Tom Doherty)
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Paperback 128 pages ISBN: 0141439971 Salesrank: 3410 Weight:0.18 lbs
Published: 2005 Penguin Classics
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Amazon.ca info
Mass Market Paperback 144 pages ISBN: 0812505042 Salesrank: 96773 Weight:0.18 lbs
Published: 1992 Tor Books
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Product Description

Tor Classics are affordably-priced editions designed to attract the young reader. Original dynamic cover art enthusiastically represents the excitement of each story. Appropriate "reader friendly" type sizes have been chosen for each title—offering clear, accurate, and readable text. All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords.

This edition of The Time Machine includes an Introduction, Biographical Note, and Afterword by James Gunn.

The time? 802,701 A.D.

The place? An Earth stranger than you can imagine.

The people? A pretty, childlike race, the Eloi-and their distant cousins, the Morlocks: disgusting, hairy creatures who live in caves and feed on the flesh of-what?

Enter the Time Traveller, who has hurtled almost a million years into the future. After the Morlocks steal his machine he may be trapped there...and at their mercy.

Teen View *****

I think that The Time Machine is a great novel by H.G. Wells that everyone can understand. The book consists of action, like when the time traveler entered the underground caves for the first time, or romance, as in the relationship between Weena and the time traveler, and most importantly, mystery, like how humanity had come from the great marvels it once was to the current predicament that the time traveler had entered into. The novel also has a great use of vocabulary with ingenious words used perfectly with each other to form the story.

I think that H.G. Wells is a great author who really knows how to write a story and the way that he wrote The Time Machine is incredible. He used a touch of science-fiction, a hint of fantasy, and a prediction of the future to come. All of these ingredients come together to create a unique combination of words, that help you get lost in the fantasy of traveling through time. It is an easy book to lose yourself in and spend hours curled up by the fireplace reading. Unfortunately, there are those that might not appreciate what H.G. Wells wrote about, but I do, and am glad I had the chance to read the book for a high school project.

I'm glad that I got to read this great novel, and am proud to say that I enjoyed it fully. I hope that other people will be able to experience the full beauty of what H.G. Wells wrote and can relate it to their own life. I think that this book was a masterpiece that everyone should read, young or old. It was a great piece of literature that stands out from all the others because it has quality and different viewpoints to what the future might hold in store for all of the world and humanity.

A Timeless Classic *****

When I was in high school I often avoided delving into the classics opting for efficiency resulting in free time in lieu of poring over pages of prose. But as an adult (with too much time on planes and trains) I have had the opportunity to revisit the classics and so far (and by far) The Time Machine is my favorite book.

There are three areas in which this book excels that I feel are worthwhile:

1. Style. I often found myself reading and re-reading the same pages over and over again to take in what Wells was saying. The words on the page come alive in a way that many others fail to accomplish. The book isn't the easiest to get through at times but whizzes by in other sections.

2. The Story. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. While Wells does not develop the characters deeply you instantly feel like you know them, understand their motivations, and want them to find happiness. For such a short tale with little backstory the characters really come alive.

3. The birth of sci-fi. Wells may not have been the very first author of science fiction but the concept of time travel as epitomized with this book has become legend of itself. Wells did not have endless Hollywood fare or other literature to draw upon but found a creative way to express such a compelling concept. Kudos to Wells.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. It may not be for everyone because Wells has a unique style so if you're looking for a quick read to kill time this may not be for you. But if you want a book that provides an experience and takes you to another place this is a great read.

a great book!!!! *****

At first, when I saw this book, I thought it would be boring and incomprehensible. I was very wrong and it turned out to be a very interesting and dramatic book with a dark view of what the world was turning into. The Time Traveler goes into thousands of years into the future and meets 2 races, the eloi and the morlocks. The book wasn't very hard to read, contrary to what some people said, and I'm only 12. The ending was kind of sad and bleak, but other than that this book is fantastic! I would recommend it for more older kids though.

Excellent!! ****

As I stated in my other reviews, I normally don't enjoy science fiction novels; this book I had to read for school. As I read what I expected to be a boring and unentertaining novel, my opinion changed, and I became more open to enjoying the story. I found that it was an enchanting novel that no one should pass up. H. G. Wells made the story come alive and he made the setting, set in the future, somewhere you feel could possibly exist as his descriptions are so vivid and his wording fanominal. Read this story and your beliefs on time travel and the way earth will turn out in the future will change. H.G. Wells gives you somthing to ponder while you enjoy the sentences that flow together like the river he describes. H.G. Wells makes an unknown world seem familiar and is an expert in his proffesion. I guaranty this book will send powerful astonishment and awe up and through your mind.

A classic exploration of Time Travel. *****

The time machine had me gripped from beggining to end! From two perspectives 'the time machine' is incredible from its scientific beggining, through to its dramatic cliff-hanger ending.

The characters, such as the un-named time traveller, are brilliant and so is the story. At only 90 pages long its quite short, but dont be fooled, its a great story and is worth buying!

I highly reccomend 'The Time Machine' for anyone, regardless of whether you're a fan of the genre or not.

Its a classic novella that aall people should read in their lifetime,

Thanks for reading my review :)

Brilliant short SF but not too keen on the edition... *****

Wells ever the socialist and philosopher always had a purpose that reflected these interests when writing and `The Time Machine' is no different. The short novel is not only incredibly important considering that Wells broke from the tradition of using the supernatural to explain such wonders as time travel but in so many other things like the heartfelt social commentary, the earnest and powerful characters and the manner in which he mixes (and establishes) realistic writing and chilling fantastical elements.

The result is a wonderfully engaging and I felt moving story that follows `the time traveller', an unnamed scientist that one night announces to a group of his peers that he has created a time machine and he can prove it. He demonstrates his ideas with a miniature model, although he is faced with disbelief and incredulity he is smug in his assertion that it will work, so he sets out to prove his theories and disappears into the future on the finished larger model. Later when he returns he recounts his story to his bemused guests of his strange time in the future and the people and...creatures he meets in his struggle to return home.

I did find Wells writing terribly moving in many places not only because of his intensely hopeless conclusions concerning humanities future, what will we be when we have achieved all that we hoped to? It is not only human nature he explores but ideas surrounding the survival of species and the progression and deterioration of the world in both natural and unnatural ways. The ending chapters in particular are brilliant and Wells is very good at evoking the sublime in realistic writing, this skill makes his works kind of beautiful and a little poetic. I also love the Time Traveller himself, he takes on the horrors of the future - the chilling Morlocks - with a box of safety matches! He's a hero to challenge the greatest.

I tend to shy away from penguin editions because I just want to enjoy whatever I'm reading without being lectured on how to experience it! Foolish person that I am I read the extensive biography and introduction by Marina Warner before I read the novel and between them both they tell the entire story. I just wish that they had put these behind the story and put Wells preface which is printed at the back at the front. He knows what he's about; his original introduction would have been a much nicer opening. The problem with penguin is that they're so damn smug, any notes that they include should be provided as extras to heighten our experience not a way for intellectuals to show off their knowledge. Wow this really bothers me! This will undoubtedly not annoy that many people and both the notes on Wells life and Warner's short piece are interesting. Anyway rant aside this is a great work and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend and it really, it is all to do with your own preferences whether you take my advice and read the first two segments after you read the story. I would also say that if you trying to decide which of Wells books to start with then maybe go with `The War of the Worlds' as that is a gripping introduction to a brilliant writer.

Wells explores where our tendencies will take us ****

Gulliver travels to different worlds through which Swift shows various possibilities, draws out certain tendencies, or caricatures certain characteristics of humanity.

Wells' Time Traveller only travels to one 'world' - the year 802,701 AD (he does also, briefly, travel to other times, but these are like a minor addendum to the main story) - but the Traveller's restless mind constantly strives to make sense of what he sees and encounters. Each of his theories, eroded and invalidated as the story progresses, shares with Gullver's different worlds the Swiftian purpose of explaining certain possibilities, tendencies and characteristics of humanity, this time enhanced with a new Darwinian (The Time Machine was published in 1895) scientific bent.

Wells continuously impreses me. This enourmously influential novella can be read in a single day. Part allegory, part dystopean treatsy, part adventure story, it is utterly compulsive.

Fantastic *****

What an exquisite short story.

The novel is fast moving and dark: at times short sentences drive the story forward, add pace and fuel the unease, fear and terror that the Morlocks bring.

There are many influences here, Wells was clearly influenced by the theories of Darwin; the development of species, and natural selection leading to the evolution of the Morlocks and the Eloi as separate races. Wells looks forward to man controlling the natural environment, with biological and pest control and perhaps genetic engineering and cloning; all members of the Eloi race being identical.

There are strong linkages here with Brave New World, with one class or race, providing for another. There are links also to War of the Worlds; the Artilleryman's wish to live underground to escape the Martians; perhaps Well's developed one from another, the link does seem inescapable.

The Morlock - Eloi symbiotic relationship drives the novel, when this ends chapter 11 feels out of place and does not perhaps add anything to the story; I finished this chapter thinking was this required? That apart, The Time Machine is a wonderful short novel

Short and sweet *****

The Time Machine is a deceptively small book; although only 90 pages long, it contains material for discussion that could help fill volumes. The further evolutionary development of our species, the ultimate fate of present attempts at social development, the possibility of breaching the space-time continuum, the appearance of the surface of the earth in countless millennia from now - these are all subjects explicitly tackled in the short space of this book.

One of the qualities I most like about Wells is his educated pessimism about the future. Whereas many authors think of the present as the necessary precondition for building a better future - and so unquestioningly accept the way things are now as a priori the way they need to be for a later better society - Wells criticises the established and the traditional, and sees in them the seeds of potential calamity. This is amply and unambiguously demonstrated in the degenerate races of The Time Machine: the Eloi and Morlocks function as logical evolutionary descendants of the upper- and working classes of Wells's time. Somewhat paradoxically therefore, the book also has the effect of investing human beings as we now are with great value: compared with the practically useless Eloi and the morally and culturally bankrupt Morlocks, we fare quite well.

Wells also has a tendency to go against plausible common-sense notions, and does it in such a way that he makes his alternatives equally plausible. It seems obvious that if we are more progressed now (at least technologically) than we were in the past, that we will be even more so in the distant future; but the Time Traveller has nothing to learn from the future - humans are far less intelligent than they were and their society is on the brink of total collapse. Wells's take on things is refreshing and cautionary.

My only beef with the book is that it ends a little abruptly and the later sections seems rushed. Other than that, it is a thoroughly enjoyable read that provides an unusual but respectable perspective on some 'big' issues.

My First Encounter with H.G. Wells *****

"The Time Machine" was my very first encounter of H.G. Wells, and maybe that makes me slightly biased towards it in giving 5 stars. However, the details of the future Earth and it's inhabitants are perfectly written, leaving enough for the reader to use their imagination. The idea that humans could evolve even further into two beings, with one becoming prey and the other predator is disturbing, especially when we are trying to work towards being a united species. The Time Traveller's main adventures are in 802000 AD, but it should not be forgotten that to escape the Morlocks he goes on even further in time to see that the Earth is now inhabited by giant crabby things and the Sun is obviously on it's way out.
It was only at the end when I realised that I still didn't know the Time Traveller's name...

There is no fourth dimension, only emptiness *****

In this short novel, this novella in fact, H.G. Wells enters frightening lands that are still quite up to date more than a century later. If God is dead and we do not have His guidance in life, what happens ? If Science is true and we only have It to guide us, what happens ? If Darwin has seen truth, and if we only have His Theory to guide us, what happens ? No more Providence, only evolution. The working class will develop into a subterranean race that will have the absolute power of providing everyone with what they need to survive including their clean air, and, what’s more, that will provide the upper race with all it needs to enjoy life and do nothing at all. The upper classes will evolve into a new type of cattle since they do nothing, they live in a decaying surface world that has lost all knowledge and scientific guidance. They will regress to a child’s consciousness that wil ; only know one adult fact, sex, and they will enjoy the pleasures of inactivity all day long, and the fear of being caught by the subterranean race on moonless nights to become their daily meat. So when God’s Providence disappears from our consciousness there is only a dramatic evolution that will lead to the absolute regression of humanity into animality and the ultimate destruction of humanity and its diasappearance with maybe the hope of a new emergence starting from scratch, that is to say, from the sea and sea-creatures that may evolve again into a new human race in some billion years. But the final morality of this scientific tale of science fiction is that the first victim will be the scientist himself, (1) because he won’t be believed, and (2) because he will be swallowed up by his own invention and will disappear into the thin air of time traveling. A mind raking and mind boggling book that should give you some nightmares, if you read it with a mind to its predictive value.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Masterful *****

A dinner party is set in an uproar, when the host, a brilliant inventor, unveils his latest invention, a time machine. The next week’s party is even more upset when the inventor stumbles in, dirty and damaged, telling the story of a trip some 800,800 years into the future. There he met a world inhabited by two degenerated races of human beings: the Eloi, beautiful and childlike in intelligence, and the Morlocks, vicious and bestial.

Having seen the movie, I had thought that I knew this story, and that there would be no surprises. I was very wrong! This book is masterfully written, and fascinating to read. The political satire of this work is somewhat out of date, but does not damage the story. Overall, I did enjoy this story, and recommend it to everyone!

Classic science fiction ****
Remarkably ahead of it's time.

the Most overrated writer of science fiction!! *

Granted Wells was far, far ahead of his time, but really, his writing stinks. There's no character formation (bland unlikeable protagonists) and no passion for the art of storytelling. If he had a writing partner who could of helped him with these shortcomings, his very original ideas and his true vision of what he was trying to write might have come through better. I'm glad he was there to get the ball rolling for science fiction, but I forced myself to read all his books on the hopes and say-so that these were classics. I'd rather have read Verne, Bester, Miller and Huxley.

The Time Machine ****

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells depeicts the story of a man known as the time traveler who travels into the distant future with a time machine that he creates.

I enjoyed this book pretty well, it is quite short and a quick read. The story is told through the voice of a man who is visiting the time travalers house at one of his many dinner parties. The entire book is written in first person. All and all a good book and an interesting view on what future lies ahead as told in the late 19th century.

Moon *****
I'm only on page 70, but this book seems to be a great one!!!

Fascinating! ****

This is the story of an inventor that travels to the distant future in hopes of seeing how advanced humankind has become.

Instead, he finds humanity divided into two separate but interdependent species. There are the peaceful, beautiful, indolent, and fairly stupid Eloi who live a life of ease in a surface garden where they await being summoned by the Morlocks who are ugly, brutish, and cannibalistic. The Morlocks live underground where they run machines and just about everything else as well.

Ignorant of the Morlocks, the inventor make the acquaintance of an Eloi woman named Weena and, typical of the 19th-century male, finds her lack of actual intelligence rather endearing and falls in love with her. She shows him through the ruins of all that remains of his ancient world. There seems to have been a nuclear war, which is interesting, since this book was written in the 19th, NOT the 20th century.

When the Morlocks introduce themselves to the inventor by stealing his time machine, he must set about to rescue both himself and the Eloi....

The only reason I give this old favorite of mine 4 stars instead of 5 is for the often old-fashioned language that, though fast-paced for a Victorian novel, is still sometimes rather heavy in places. Yet the wonderful story more than redeems itself.

Still a Great Adventure *****

H.G. Wells, in The Time Machine, spins a classic tale full of adventure, vivid landscapes, sci-fi speculation and even a bit of veiled socialist politics.

An eccentric scientist, known only as the Time Traveller to us, invents a machine that can travel along the fourth dimension, which he has discovered to be time. He flings himself into the far future. Is there high civilization? No. Is there high technology? No. What he finds in the future is far more curious...

Personally, I couldn't put it down. I was reading it on a train trip, and I was so involved, I almost missed my station! Well's style really drew me in. It was like being told the story by an old friend. His descriptions are simple and effective, and you can almost feel the curiousity of the Time Traveller. Like him, you will want to know what happens next, from the speculations at the beginning, to the question filled ending.

Though much of it has been imitated and repeated in time travelling stories since, I thought the "scientific" parts of the book were still fresh today, particularly the reasons Wells gives for why we can't naturally go back in time, and why you will never see a person in the process of travelling back in time. Very clever.

In some ways, the "future" part of the book is a cautionary tale, in some ways it's a social commentary. Either way, the general message I got is that the actions of the past will have consequences in the future, even if we might not see them. Extensions of this concept have been very well used in science fiction since.

If you're looking for a well written adventure to capture you're imagination for a few hours, the Time Machine is a book worth checking out. Exciting and thought provoking all the way.

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