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    The Time Machine
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    The Time Machine
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    The Time Machine
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Time Machine

    Written by H. G. Wells

    Narrated by Michael Page

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    An English scientist, known only as the Time Traveler, constructs a machine that allows him to move back and forth through different periods of time. Testing this machine, the man travels forward to AD 802,701. Here he discovers a lazy, non disciplined group of people who do not seem interested in anything. Thinking he has seen all he needs for his research, he decides to travel back home. Upon returning to where he left his time machine, he discovers an intelligent, violent group of people called the Morlocks, have stolen it. Seeing that this futuristic society has more secrets than he realized, the Time Traveler must find his machine and travel back to his time before an untimely end at the hands of the Morlocks.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDreamscape Media Audio
    Release dateJul 14, 2016
    ISBN9781520015316
    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

    3.5/5

    4,137 ratings170 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is a novella about a time-traveller who firstly embarks to about 8270 AD (?) to the world of flesh eating Morlocks and peace-loving Eloi. I liked this book much better than The War of the Worlds as I think it has withstood the test of time a little better. I loved the vocabulary of Wells, much larger than today's writers and I even had to look up a few words to add to my word journal. Sci-fi is really not my genre at all (I usually despise it), but due to the writing and the short length of this book, it kept by rapt attention and I read it in one sitting. 88 pages
    • 4/5

      Regina Spektor was on NPR today speaking with Terry Gross. The NPR interviewer accomplished no favors. She asked woefully stupid questions about the Soviet Union and its relationship to WWII. this originated when Spektor noted that growing up in the USSR she always felt that the Great Patriotic War had happened recently, given its absorption into the collective consciousness. Emigrating to the Bronx, she was struck that such wasn't a universal condition. Such made me think of The Time Machine.

      As with most archetypes of speculative fiction, the premise had been closeted in my brainpan before opening the book, yet, this one succeeded, especially as a treatise on species within or over time. I'm curious what Spengler thought of this?
    • 5/5
      I think this must have been one of the first novels to warn that the future might not be a Utopia. I found convincing because the unhappy future wasn’t caused by the establishment of an evil dictatorship or the destruction from a catastrophe. No, it came about as the logical climax of certain social trends, trends that are continuing in our time.What I have learned listening to audio versions of Wells’ classic science fiction novels, which I read when I was young, is that he not only an idea man but also a good novelist, with much skill at scene setting, world building, sharp characterizations, and sheer story telling.Scott Brick portrays the Time Traveler as an upper-class adventurer with a sneer in his voice that his terrible experiences do nothing to remove.
    • 3/5
      A brilliant inventor creates the world’s first time machine. After explaining its inner-workings to guests of his weekly dinner parties, he arranges for a follow up meeting about a week later. When the group convenes, they find the scientist exhausted and weathered. After cleaning up and consuming a well deserved meal, he sits down to tell of his journey over 800,000 years into the future.

      Damn, this book is old. In fact, I’m certain it is the oldest novel I've yet to read clocking in at one hundred and twenty one years since initial publication. Wells seemingly went to great lengths to explain to the reader how a theoretical time machine would operate and I often wondered if Wells had built one himself based on how detailed his explanations and theories were. It would certainly explain the theory that the author himself is the main character.

      That isn't to say it’s too philosophical and technical, there is quite a bit of action and danger. The events in the future carried with it a constant sense of urgency. Whether the traveler is trying to understand his surroundings, avoid capture or trying to find his missing time machine, the action moved at a brisk pace. In fact, a memorable moment had the traveler racing forward in time, worrying that a pillar or some kind of concrete structure may now be erected in the spot he occupied when he initially began his journey. Would he become a part of the object when he slammed on the brakes or would his machine and body simply explode? The story would be a hell of a lot shorter if he ended up like Han Solo encased in carbonite.

      While I enjoyed the world building and the spectacle of time travel, I found myself re-reading passages over and over again as I struggled with Wells’ writing. I’m sure prose like this was probably commonplace back in the late 1800s but it was a major hurdle for me in 2013. However, you probably don’t need my endorsement or recommendation, this book is certainly a classic that inspired generations of sci-fi writers - it’s just not something I think I’ll find myself picking up again.

      Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing
    • 4/5
      The Time Machine proved to be a lovely, albeit short, read, even for someone who isn't that much of a science fiction enthusiast, but that's probably because I haven't read much of the genre. First published first in 1895, this powerful little book shattered literary ground with a single man, the anonymous Time Traveller, and his "squat, ugly, and askew" machine of "brass, ebony, ivory and translucent glimmering quartz" (110). The tale is told from the perspective of one of the man's acquaintances, who is invited to dinner to hear of his adventure upon his return. Naturally, the Time Traveller's account dominates most of the book, though I found that these two contrasting perspectives complemented each other nicely.The adventure of the Time Traveller consists more of him running around to recover his stolen time machine than anything else. The descriptions of the "post-human humans" he meets are, for this reason, limited, and so is the depth to which the landscape is explored. This read reminded me of two other works, both classics in their own right--Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. The former vaguely resembles this work in prose and descriptive style, while the latter, in its representation of the Eloi race. The Time Traveller describes the Eloi people, who we are the ancestors of, as innocent, pure, and child-like race, having degenerated into ignorance as a result of privilege and laziness. As the traveller reflects, "there is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change" and they serve as a wonderful representation of this (97). A dangerously similar description is found in Bartolomé de las Casas' anthropological account of the natives, which is recounted from the perspective of a European missionary. (The difference, however, is that de las Casas enthusiastically viewed them as perfect receptors of the Christian religion, while here such qualities ignite the total opposite reaction).Furthermore, as this is the first of Wells' works that I read, I'm not sure if this is his natural prose — it was elegant but a little too verbose for my taste. Nevertheless, it was acceptable because it suits the character of the Time Traveller rather perfectly. All in all, you do not have to be a sci-fi fan to appreciate this book, though I'm sure it would help.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to like this book but had to force myself to finish it out of a feeling of obligation. How can I consider myself a science fiction fan without having read Wells' The Time Machine?

      My biggest issue with the story is that the only moments that felt realistic were within the narrator's home, in which too much was spent trying to hype up the time adventure.

      Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more 15 years earlier in my own timeline.
    • 4/5
      I'm trying to read some of the books that have such an influential impact, and I figure this might be one of them. If you already have a vague idea of a book because pop culture has mentioned it so much, then yes, it's probably influential. Maybe it was the unique yet diverse ideas that Wells had for each of his early books that made them influential. Also, Wells as a scientist probably made these books important, influencing his ideas and giving him the motivation to write them. I liked 'The Time Machine' much better than I thought. I never knew there was more than the Morlocks in the plot before reading. I loved all of the time traveler's ruminations on what might have happened to the earth and human beings through time. I especially loved the visions while the time traveler is in the time machine. The book reminded me of 'At the Mountains of Madness' by Lovecraft. And it also seems like the yin to the yang of Journey to the Center of the Earth' by Jules Verne but I don't want to spoil the plots by saying why. I love all three of these books... they should all be on the shelf side by side.
    • 4/5
      The main man holds court in his parlour in late 1800s England with a story of his incredible travels through time. His chums are advised to listen carefully and to not interrupt. The story begins with conversation on the possibility of time travel itself, and continues with the event having happened. Time travel, in this case, means going forward a lot of centuries to an improbably futuristic year of 800,000 and something. Humans have evolved into two separate sub-species, one placid pleasant lot living above ground and a light-hating flesh-ripping lot who dwell in subterranean darkness. The time machine itself goes AWOL and our man is understandably in a panic about getting it, and himself, back. A rollicking and gripping story which surprised and delighted me.
    • 5/5
      I thought a re-read of this seminal science fiction work was long overdue, as I hadn't read it for nearly 20 years. It deserves all the accolades it has received. It is a taut and crisp narrative of only a little over 100 pages, but within it contains many of the basic science fiction and time travel ideas that have formed a huge part of subsequent literature, film and ŧelevision; plus reflective parallels on class divisions and hostility in contemporary late Victorian Britain. A novel of ideas par excellence; it is of no importance that we never find out the Time Traveller's name.
    • 3/5
      A little thick with the social allegory, but an entertaining read
    • 3/5
      This classic sci-fi tale, was interesting, but I really didn't enjoy the writing style, or the delivery of the story told. The whole, time travelling to the end of the world was really cool, and I enjoyed the philosophical ideas discussed, but I just really didn't enjoy the whole telling aspect as opposed to showing. In some books, when a narrator starts telling you a story, it starts out as a telling, but then you become immersed in the tale as if you were there and it was happening right then and there - this wasn't the case in this book - it was just like sitting around and someone telling you about the time they time travelled. Which is all well and good - but not what I enjoy when I read a book.

      I appreciate what this story is and did for modern science fiction, but in present day - it just wasn't very great.
    • 4/5
      This very short novel is the classic birth of science fiction writing. The backdrop of time travel is used to discuss the ideas of how mankind and different economic classes of people will develop and play off of one another. The Time Traveler guesses that over time, the aristocrats or Eloi had become so used to living off the hard work of the working class Morlocks that they became complacent and lazy. In the end, they lost all drive and purpose and were fearful of the Morlocks who could only come out in the dark and would kidnap the Eloi to eat then. I found the story to be fascinating and I could not put it down until I finished. Wells was way ahead of his 19th century world and I really cannot wait to read another of his stories.
    • 4/5
      Listened to the Alien Voices production of this work which made the tale come alive. Love those guys. RIP Leonard.
    • 3/5
      Leuk om lezen, maar stilistisch duidelijk nog onvolkomen. Goede spanning opbouw.Onthutsend inzicht: het verhaal van de mens is eindig!
    • 4/5
      I read this one as a teen, but it's different, and, in some ways, better than I remember it. "The Time Machine" is, in some ways, an efficiently composed manly-man adventure story that comes complete with monsters, cool machines, and a beautiful, playfully sexual female companion. But in other ways you its a profoundly Modernist text that ably reflects the intellectual currents of its time. Both Darwin and Marx loom large here. Wells's take on human intelligence and endeavor seem directly drawn from the more muscular, violent interpretations of Darwinism: his deceptively peaceful future seems to contain a lesson about the necessity of struggle and suffering in human lives. Meanwhile, the future that the time traveler glimpses might also be described one of the possible fates that might, in the very long run, await a class-stratified society. I don't know too much about the author's politics -- though his character seems to have a low opinion of communism -- so it's hard for me to tell if this aspect of "The Time Machine" has more to do with socialist critique or the author's Englishness. Perhaps it's the latter: there's something about the Eloi, for all their tropical fruits and brightly colored robes, also reminded me of the sort of gently pastoral little folk you sometimes meet in British fantasy literature. After that, the book gets really wild, as the time traveler rockets billions of years into a far future where Earth has become both uninhabitable and almost unrecognizable. The images that Wells presents here are both memorably bizarre and desolate, and it's here that the book really earns its place in the cannon of dystopian science fiction. Indeed, for all the future's beautiful novelty, loneliness seems to be the emotional chord struck most often here. From being the only man with any need of his wits among the Eloi to being the human left to witness an earth taken over by strange, monstrous creatures, to being the only man at his dinner party who really believes that he has traveled in time, the time traveler is very much by himself at almost every stage of this book. Recommended as both a well-written story and an artifact of sorts from another intellectual age. Be careful what you wish for, Wells seems to be telling his readers: human progress doesn't always come as advertised.
    • 4/5
      Another classic that I took too long to read...

      I enjoyed this, but am glad (I think) that I read it after seeing the movie. The movie was nothing like this, and I could read the book and be pleasantly surprised at the differences, rather than watching the movie after knowing the book and being incredibly disappointed.

      It is a product of its era, however, and does read in the literary fashion that is common in other classics. If you like that style - as I do, when I'm in the mood for it - then this is a good book to read.
    • 5/5
      'The Time Machine' is a classic science fiction from well over 100 years ago, in which a man is stuck travelling into the future after having invented a time travelling machine. In H.G. Wells's story we get a peek at what the could look like at several stages, including into the far future. In this story Wells helps establish the classic science-based speculative fiction nature of sci-fi. 'The Time Machine' is a must read classic for anyone interested in science fiction. Numerous works since have paid homage and hark back to 'The Time Machine'. The story is entertaining and captivating, and I recommend reading it.
    • 4/5
      One should always read the original classics and not assume that the bastardised versions of stories we see in popular culture contain a glimpse of the true theme of the original. This I have always known but it still strikes me how arrogant one must be to think that the original is too boring to present it as it was intended!
    • 3/5
      Leuk om lezen, maar stilistisch duidelijk nog onvolkomen. Goede spanning opbouw.Onthutsend inzicht: het verhaal van de mens is eindig!
    • 4/5
      Obviously, The Time Machine is a well-known classic. And from the 4 (of 5) star review, it's clear that I enjoyed it. So I'll skip that and go to some random thoughts...

      I could not believe how short of a story it was. Calling it a novella is, in my opinion, a stretch. Having seen two movie versions, I thought myself familiar with the ins and outs of the story and couldn't believe how much of both movies is made up for the screenplays. I understand that an 80-page short story would need to be fleshed-out to be made into full-length movie, but WOW so much of the movies was changed and molded by the filmmakers. For starters, none of the Eloi or Morlocks speak. To be honest, I still have no idea how the time traveling main character learned their names. And the relationship between the female Eloi (Weena, the only named character) is more of a parent/child or babysitter/child than a love affair and seen in several adaptions, like the Guy Pearce movie.

      Overall, it is definitely a fantastic novel. And one can easily see how it shaped and changed science fiction forever. I think everyone should forget the story of The Time Machine that they know from TV and movies and read this novella. A game changer.
    • 3/5
      A strong three stars. Man travels in time to the year 802,701 and comes back with a thinly veiled warning to a rich and indolent society. A society that has perhaps succeeded in "ameliorating the conditions of life to a climax."

      "There is no intelligence where there is no change and no need of change. Only those animals partake of intelligence that have to meet a huge variety of needs and dangers."

      A short but enjoyable tale. My main criticism was the lack of vividness when describing the physical world of 802,701. The imagination could have done with a few more pointers to properly picture it. The chapter near the end where he goes even further into the future and finds himself on a desolate beach in front of the dying, red sun was brilliant.
    • 5/5
      Classic. An unnamed time traveler tells his tale. His listeners don't believe him of course. He skips from his time to the distant future. No stops in-between like the movie.
    • 5/5
      H.G. Wells's groundbreaking 1895 novel The Time Machine remains a highly captivating story of time travel to the distant year 802,701 and the de-evolution of mankind. The narrative style in which the Time Traveller recounts his adventure to his astonished friends works well, particularly as the pieces together the elements he encounters in that strange world of the future; with the gathering of new clues his thoughts and theories evolve until he ultimately realizes he horrifying truth of the Eloi and the Morlocks (although early on Wells does casually drop in a sly morsel of wry foreshadowing). One of the first and still one of the best of the science fiction genre. Wollheim's introduction in the Airmont Classics paperback edition provides fascinating insights into the Wells's earlier iterations of the story.
    • 3/5
      I wonder if vegans object to the Morlocks' diet?

      In what is now a classic of the Science Fiction genre, an un-named narrator has local dignitaries over to his place once a week to tell tall tales and show off his latest inventions to. On one of these evenings he limps in the worse for wear, in desperate need of a steak, and discusses his pocket flower collection.

      When I was a kid I read a lot of the classic science fiction stories from the likes of HG Wells and Jules Verne. It has been so long since I've read them that I thought it was time to revisit these classics. While I can still fondly remember the 1960 movie - let us not speak of the 2002 adaptation ever - the book felt unfamiliar and akin to virgin reading material.

      Whilst The Time Machine does deserve its place in history for influencing/creating Science Fiction as we know it (fantastical ideas explored, social issues analogised), as a novel it is lacking. One example of this is the lack of tension in scenes that are literally life or death struggles. Instead of fearing for the narrator's life and wondering how he'll survive, we are treated to a recounting of the events that could have instead been describing someone having a cup of tea while watching the rain out of the dining room window. A wondrous adventure told as though it was just another day at the office.
    • 5/5
      Second time reading it, and I think I enjoyed it even more this time around. I'm a big Wells fan and thoroughly enjoyed this story. It's short, but there's a great adventure within its pages with some commentary on man, as well. I wouldn't be opposed to reading it some time in the future, again.
    • 5/5
      Though over a 120 years old now, this has aged very well for science fiction (which I don't usually like), particularly the central idea of time travel. Aside from this, the other main scientific concept explored - human evolution and speciation, is handled less convincingly in some of its details (speaking as a biologist), though the general idea works quite well. Further aspects of the plot revolve around the basis of society, class, and being human, and these work together with the scientific ideas to provide more for both the protagonist and reader to contemplate. Together this short novel is really very rich in its use of concepts, and these emerge naturally out of the events so that it can be appreciated on more than one level by either educated adults or younger readers.As a story it is told with a particular humour that I appreciated, and with an atmosphere that draws you right into the moment. There could have been slightly more action and edge-of-the-seat events, and a bit less predictability, but there was sufficient pace to maintain interest most of the time. As this is a relatively short novel at 102 pages, it would be difficult not to recommend this to most readers. It may alter how you see society and the world and the human condition, as well the historical and cosmic context of our time on earth.
    • 3/5
      I wasn't a huge fan of this, not because of the story but the narrative style. It was very stiff for me, with all description. Probably my least favorite of all my classical reads so far. I am glad however that I read it, and I really like my edition so I'll definitely keep this one
    • 2/5
      A group of Englishmen sit around theorizing about the (im)possibility of a fourth dimension and time travel. One of them claims he has built a time machine. They all meet again another day, with the time traveler entering the room looking disheveled before embarking on a long story about his adventures travelling into the future.So I was very much looking forward to reading this book, as I had never read anything by H.G. Wells before and this book is considered a science fiction classic (perhaps even arguably the science fiction classic). Unfortunately, I found myself rather disappointed with it. For starters, I just didn't find it that interesting; it didn't really hold my attention. It took an embarrassingly long time for me to get through this slim book because I couldn't focus on it for long. Mostly I couldn't get past how it was VERY much a "tell" rather than a "show" book, with 90 percent of the story being one long narrative from the time traveler. I prefer books that paint a picture rather than simply being talked at by one rather bland character with little personality. Also, maybe because I've read a decent amount of more recent science fiction, this one didn't have the usual appeal of using a speculative idea to talk about the very real issues of today. I think that Wells was trying for that, but I struggled with the transition from "arcane class system" to "thousands of years in the future, cannibalism!" The logical leap just wasn't there. Although I was trying to appreciate its place in science fiction history, this book fell flat for me. I wish I had better things to say about it, but I'd much, much, much rather read anything by Margaret Atwood or Ursula Le Guin for something compelling and thought-provoking -- and would recommend those authors' books over this one.
    • 5/5
      This is a book you can ruminate on for hours! The book makes interesting comparisons between the creatures we may become, versus the creatures we are. H.G. Wells, as a character in the book, ultimately 'conquers' time by no longer being ruled by it. An engaging and thought-provoking story for any age, in my opinion.
    • 4/5
      I picked this up because it is mentioned quite a bit in the last book I read, "It" by Stephen King. And it is cool to see how the two books are related, especially the goings on underground! This book is a pretty good read, though the first chapter was tough to get through. The Time Traveller travels to the future and finds a community of vegetarian, communist, sexless seeming humanoids that seem to just hang out. These are the Eloi, or the Haves. They live above ground. Under ground, are the Have-nots, the Morlocks, and they are definitely not vegetarian! The Time Traveller runs about, theorizes on this future world and its peoples, and then returns to tell his tale. All-in-all, a pretty good adventure!