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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
3.5 stars ** A time-traveler's monologue regarding his travels into the future. An interesting idea about what the future of mankind may be like with interesting speculation as to why.
adventurous
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
OP broke the first rule of time traveling: don’t light everything on fire, 4 out of 5
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The Time Machine has been sitting abandoned in my bookshelf for years when I took it out last night for want of something to read - and it has been impossible to put down. What can I say about the book that is widely regarded to have brought with it the birth of modern science fiction? There is one word - disturbing. The book disturbed the heck out of me. While the dreary future that awaits mankind in The Time Machine could be easily glossed over during the daylight hours, in the dead of night (when I read the book) with only the nightly sounds and my thoughts to keep me company, the future appeared very bleak and hopeless indeed.
The division between the upper and the lower classes - the Capitalists and the Laborers - grows ever wider as man's ambition and intellect constantly increases. This rift, some 800 000 years into the future, is seen in the evolution of the human species into two distinct species. The Eloi, who must once have been the elite upper class, have grown so used to their comfort and privilege and security for centuries that they no longer have any need for intellect or creativity; the Morlocks, the working lower class, with their underground habitats and machinery (as it was in the late 1800's when the book was written, with industry moving ever beneath the surface), have evolved into a light-fearing race that preys on the Eloi, while still mechanically manufacturing the Eloi's necessities with their knowledge of machines.
H.G. Wells' Time Traveler takes us into this bleak world with his observations and explanations of the present. Could it be that mankind, with their ever insatiable desire to reach the highest echelons in society, with their comfort and needs secured, would indeed grow into a lazy and unremarkable race, their intellect and curiosity forever buried within their past, preyed upon by the mistakes their ancestors once made? A depressing look into the future, nevertheless with something of the truth within those pages.
The division between the upper and the lower classes - the Capitalists and the Laborers - grows ever wider as man's ambition and intellect constantly increases. This rift, some 800 000 years into the future, is seen in the evolution of the human species into two distinct species. The Eloi, who must once have been the elite upper class, have grown so used to their comfort and privilege and security for centuries that they no longer have any need for intellect or creativity; the Morlocks, the working lower class, with their underground habitats and machinery (as it was in the late 1800's when the book was written, with industry moving ever beneath the surface), have evolved into a light-fearing race that preys on the Eloi, while still mechanically manufacturing the Eloi's necessities with their knowledge of machines.
H.G. Wells' Time Traveler takes us into this bleak world with his observations and explanations of the present. Could it be that mankind, with their ever insatiable desire to reach the highest echelons in society, with their comfort and needs secured, would indeed grow into a lazy and unremarkable race, their intellect and curiosity forever buried within their past, preyed upon by the mistakes their ancestors once made? A depressing look into the future, nevertheless with something of the truth within those pages.
H. G. Wells somehow managed to introduce the most interesting concept in Science Fiction in the most boring way possible. My favorite part of the story was the scientific explanation of how the time machine worked. That chapter made me understand why time is considered to be the fourth dimension, a concept I thought I understood but actually didn't. I also found Wells' idea of what the future could be like for humanity very interesting and eerily accurate. The time traveler's adventures in the future were, however, told in a very tedious way, and I found myself wishing this short story was even shorter.