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    The Time Machine
    The Time Machine
    The Time Machine
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Time Machine

    Written by H. G. Wells

    Narrated by Scott Brick

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    "I've had a most amazing time..."

    So begins the Time Traveler's astonishing firsthand account of his journey 800,000 years beyond his own era-and the story that launched H. G. Wells's successful career and earned him the reputation as the father of science fiction. With a speculative leap that still fires the imagination, Wells sends his brave explorer to face a future burdened with our greatest hopes...and our darkest fears. A pull of the Time Machine's lever propels him to the age of a slowly dying Earth. There he discovers two bizarre races-the ethereal Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks-who not only symbolize the duality of human nature but offer a terrifying portrait of the men of tomorrow as well.

    First published in 1895, this masterpiece of invention captivated readers on the threshold of a new century. Thanks to Wells's expert storytelling and provocative insight, The Time Machine will continue to enthrall readers for generations to come.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 27, 2008
    ISBN9781400179091
    Author

    H. G. Wells

    H. G. Wells (1866-1946) is best remembered for his science fiction novels, which are considered classics of the genre, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898). He was born in Bromley, Kent, and worked as a teacher, before studying biology under Thomas Huxley in London.

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    Reviews for The Time Machine

    4/5

    209 ratings169 reviews

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    • 4/5
      What took me so long to read this classic? Well worth the wait. I found it ambitious and interesting, eloquent and fascinating, but overwroughtly pessimistic. Was this truly Wells' view of the future? He predicted many other now-commonplace things with accuracy, so this was certainly his view. In other hands, it may have been more optimistic, but perhaps the quality would be lacking in the story itself. My appetite is now whetted for more Wells and more classics.
    • 4/5
      OMG, most unorganized time traveler ever! I nearly had a coronary when I got to the part where he casually mentions that he can't walk very fast because he's wearing an old pair of shoes that are falling apart, it didn't occur to him to put on a decent pair of shoes before setting off on an adventure in the future. Who DOES that?Aside from the time traveler's unfailing irresponsibility, I enjoyed this quick read and can see why it's so firmly ensconced in the foundation of science fiction.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      The Time Machine is a pretty short story but still very gripping. I thought it was thought provoking and an interesting lecture on class decadence. The Time Traveler invites some acquaintances over for dinner and drops a big surprise on them. He has discovered how to travel through time and tries to convince them with a model he makes disappear that it is possible. A few days later there is another dinner party and The Time Traveler shows up late to his own dinner and looks like he has been in a fight and begs leave to clean himself up. After which he eats and then tells them all a fantastic story.
    • 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.
    • 5/5
      The Time Machine begins with an unnamed narrator speaking of how he met the Time Traveler whose name is not given. He tells of how he and a group of other people came to hear about what the Time Traveler thinks of time travel and the fourth dimension. This is then followed by the Time Traveler showing a miniature version of the time machine and tells of how it disappears as well as telling them his plans. A week passes before the narrator tells of how the group came back and waited for the Time Traveler as he had specified. When the Time Traveler comes into the room they are waiting in, they find him a mess and, after eating, learn of where the man had been and what had happened. The story from then on is continuous dialogue, save for the end and some actions by the Time Traveler, as the Time Traveler tells his story. The Time Traveler tells of how the trip through time was and what the land he saw upon arrival was like. He told of the creatures that were our descendants and how they acted. The Time Traveler described how humanity had changed and how Earth had also changed. Later on the night he arrives, the Time Traveler find that his time machine had been stolen. The Time Traveler speaks of his panic and tells of how he had spent that first night in the future. The day after the Time Traveler arrives, he tries to talk to the people in an attempt to find the time machine. He talks about Weena, a girl with whom he becomes friends with after saving her from drowning. The Time Traveler and Weena gain a deep friendship. Later, the Time Traveler catches the first glimpse of the Morlocks, a race that has also descended from humanity and those that stole the Time Traveler’s time machine. Living underground with great eyesight in the dark, the Time Traveler decides one day to go down a deep hole to where he had seen one climb. He describes how terrible this was for him after they had started to poke and touch him. The Time Traveler had run and started to realize that the darkness in which the Morlocks lived in was what terrified the “Eloi”, the race that the Time Traveler had become familiar with. The Time Traveler, also afraid of the Morlocks by this time, decides to go to a place he had seen earlier to try to take shelter during the new moon. Going to what he dubs the Palace of Green Porcelain, the Time Traveler finds out that this place is actually a museum which has various things that the Time Traveler knew of from his time as well as some newer things. This gave the Time Traveler a chance to get a weapon and some more matches, something that he had used to ward the Morlocks off when they came too close. On the way back to where Weena lived, the Time Traveler and Weena were attacked by the Morlocks while they set up camp in a forest at night and, unfortunately, left the fire unattended long enough for it to go out. The Time Traveler ends up running out of the forest as well as setting fire to it, leaving Weena who, if she wasn’t eaten by the Morlocks, to burn. As the Time Traveler returns to where the Eloi had mostly been, he sees a door which had been previously locked open. He heads down, thinking that if the Morlocks are down there, he would use the matches to ward them off. This backfires when he is unable to light a match and, luckily, clambers onto the time machine and goes further into the future. This results in the Time Traveler seeing the sun become large and create a constant sunset. The Time Traveler is nearly attacked again by large crablike creatures before he decides to go back to his own time finally. The tale ends with him arriving the week after he had previously talked with the group. When the Time Traveler finishes his story, many of the people do not believe this account while the narrator is curious. The day after this, the narrator goes to the Time Traveler who has decided to go to the future and take pictures as proof. After this happens, the Time Traveler is never seen again.Reading a book such as the Time Machine was different. The way the Time Traveler remained nameless is certainly interesting. How many of the characters remained nameless was actually very interesting. I like how H. G. Wells wrote the book. It was somewhat confusing at first since I was unable to tell from what sort of view I was reading from. I liked the way that the story was told through the narrator’s point of view but also had the Time Traveler tell of what the experience was like for him. The description of the Eloi and the Morlocks was incredible. The way that the Time Traveler described the future made it seem like a believable account of time traveling. The story is definitely great and understandably a sort of classic.
    • 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.
    • 2/5
      Rather blah, really. I can imagine how, in its time, this was a remarkable book; however, it's not a very good story. I liked 'Island of Dr. Moreau' better.
    • 5/5
      Includes three chapters of The Map of Time/Felix J. Palma.One of my all time favorite science fiction titles. The type of book that you can reread.
    • 3/5
      A good book, one that is an epitome of early science fiction. I enjoyed the journey, but it was altogether short- but still plentiful of interesting happenings. It was heavily description based with the only dialogue returning when the Time traveller returns and recounts his story. Still, a worthwhile tale.
    • 2/5
      When reading a book, if you know how the book ends before you reach it, it is only the quality of the keeps you going. Unfortunately, if writing is, as Nabakov says, all in the quality of writing then this one seems rather thin. it is the idea, more than anything else, that caries it. And whilst the idea was brilliant when it came out, now it is worn and worn again. Getting to the end was something of an ordeal. Interesting note that no one mentions is Wells' socialistic view of how society divides into Morlocks and Elois.
    • 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.
    • 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
    • 4/5
      A scientist asks prominent men to gather so he may explain his invention of the time machine. Not long after the men are asked again to join the scientist for dinner and when the scientist shows up he is disheveled. He explains that he has been in the future and wishes to discuss his journey with the men. The scientist traveled into the distant future when the human race has split into two separate species; a gentle above ground being and a second underground potentially dangerous being. When the scientist’s time machine goes missing he must locate it in order to return to his own time.I picked up this book not knowing anything about it or H.G. Wells. I was really impressed with this novel. Wells’ dystopian world is unlike anything that I have read before. The devolution of the species echoes classism and segregation. This was a short read, but one that really got me thinking.
    • 5/5
      Characters: The Time Traveller The NarratorWeena Setting: In a fantasy land in the future. Theme: Little things in present times can change the future. Genre: fantasy, science fiction. Summary: This story is about a time traveller who creates a device that helps him travels into the future. In the land the he travels to, the land is a bit more barbaric and the species of beings has changed. He eventually makes friends with one of the beings and develops a relationship with her. The story continues with him interacting with the species. Audience: Young adults and people who are interested science fiction Curriculum ties: learning about different genres and writing styles. Personal response: Time travelling as always been an interesting concept for me. I remember when I watched “Back to the Future” and how it made me really think about going into the future. This book elaborates going into the future in a more different kind of way. For the book to be written that long ago and for them to write about how the human race changes into a different species really creates an analytical part to the book. The writing of the book is very detailed and concise. While reading it, the reader can really imagine how the future may possibly change to the way it was in the book.
    • 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.
    • 4/5
      I have enjoyed everything I have read from H. G. Wells both fiction and non-fiction and this was no exception. A quick little short story read about time travelling to the year 800,000 and what has become of civilization and the earth. The best part of these science fiction stories is how accurate Wells could be writing about the future in the 1800's. Definitely recommend.
    • 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.
    • 3/5
      Strange and striking. It seems more like, say, Gulliver's Travels than something that was written in the late 19th century.
    • 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?
    • 4/5
      Although this story was written in 1895 and one should Wells pay tribute about his vision of the future, the story do not grabbed me really. He described his landing in a country where there is only harmony and peace. At closer inspection there was still a shadow world. This should be the life of the rich and poor, which is not fully convinced me. He also flew in the distant future, where there were only giant crabs etc..It is probably due to me that this book is not really one for me.
    • 5/5
      I literally finished this book 20 minits ago (what i had to watch part of the colts game) and I was blown away by it. It had some of the most thought provocing topics i have even seen in a book. It brings up issues like time travle, the fate of man, government, perfect society all in an incredably exciteing science fiction format. It does have some high level reading words so have a dictioary by your side for this one. I highly reccomend it
    • 3/5
      Leuk om lezen, maar stilistisch duidelijk nog onvolkomen. Goede spanning opbouw.Onthutsend inzicht: het verhaal van de mens is eindig!
    • 2/5
      While The Time Machine’s plot is pretty quick moving and interesting, and the world that Wells creates is intriguing, the book as a whole suffers from the same problems that I think most H.G. Wells novels suffer from. The characters are anonymous to the point of being uninteresting. “The time traveler” himself doesn’t even get a name, let alone much of a backstory. The narrator of the frame story refers to other characters as “Mr. ____” or “the editor” and provides no other characterizations. There’s a mysterious character who appears the night that the time traveler returns and tells his tale, but it’s never revealed who he is or why he’s important. This is an attribute of a lot of science fiction, especially written in this era. But I find it very difficult to understand a character’s motivations when the author provides no information about how they have come to the world—what they’ve seen before and how they might interpret the situations before them. The author develops a robust environment, but crucial details of it get lost when the reader can’t understand the main character’s train of thought. Also, and again like Wells’s other works I’ve read, the characters have an intolerably English-white-male-centric view of the world. From the little I know about Wells as a person, I understand that he was quite progressive for his time. But his nameless, featureless characters who travel to exotic and fantastic worlds with entirely different species and culture can only interpret things from the most basic, stereotypical, privileged viewpoint imaginable. All that said, The Time Machine contains some really interesting ideas. Even if the time traveler’s motivations aren’t always decipherable, his actions are entertaining, his descriptions are vivid, and his fear feels real. The reader is drawn into the mystery of the futuristic world he encounters and saddened to realize the horrible truth behind it. But for my taste, unique concepts and plotlines aren’t enough to sustain a novel.
    • 3/5
      I feel as if the term 'Classic' for a book is banded about far too much. In my mind, a classic is a book that really has no equal, one that you feel compelled to read due to its enthralling nature. In all honesty, I fell that if The Time Machine was not written by H.G. Wells and was instead the work of a largely unknown Victorian author, save for the novelty of the subject, it would not be thought of in this terms. Whilst not a total bore to read, it is the very definition of a middling book. When it comes to fiction, there is obviously so much out there that it would be impossible for one to read it all. To that effect, one should seek out the true cream of fiction. The Time Machine to me is an average story, one that does not call out to be re-read in the future as say The Three Musketeers does. And so I wouldn't really recommend it unless you were a completest for Wells, as nothing really stands out as a reason to pick up this book.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed most of this story, but was a bit disappointed with the ending. I just expected more to happen at the end, so it was a bit of a let down for me. The traveler's trip through time was interesting and, fortunately, this took up most of the book. Wells had an interesting, but scary, concept about what would happen to the human race in the future. When the traveler (who I don't believe was ever given a name) first traveled into the future and found the earth to be a strange place with a strange race of humans, I could not help but to be reminded of Gulliver's Travels.
    • 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...
    • 5/5
      Wonderful and focused exposition, exploring humankind's possible futures with steely, horror-tinged realism. Not only an entertaining read, but visionary in scope. A science-fiction masterpiece.
    • 5/5
      The Time Machine is not really a novel, or even a novella. It’s more like a pamphlet, as a vehicle for exploring Wells’ views on the future of humankind. There are no real characters; only one, the red-headed Filby, is even named, and he only appears in the first chapter for the purpose of arguing against time travel being possible.Even if it is just a pamphlet, it is a beautifully written one, which is why I recommend reading it. The description of the process of time travel itself is wonderful, even if it disregards science altogether. I was captivated by the image of the time machine, with its levers and crystals, standing stationary in space while hurtling forward through time, so quickly that the sun rising and setting was a continuous streak in the sky.Wells takes his time traveler an unimaginable distance into the future: 800,000 years. The world he describes is lush and beautiful, but also melancholy, like an endless Sunday afternoon. The two descendants of mankind — the child-like, passive, above-ground Eloi and the animal-like, cannibalistic, below-ground Morlocks — are just a shade too literal, if we are to accept them as the natural (d)evolution resulting from the widening gap between the wealthy, idle elite and the working classes. But that is incidental to his dying, depleted Earth, which of course poses the question of what exactly the point of everything is, if this is how we end up.Wells takes us even further into the future, to Earth’s ultimate demise, where a bloated, red sun fills the sky over a lifeless beach. His descriptions are vivid enough to make the reader feel as if we have accompanied the Time Traveler to our planet’s inevitable end.
    • 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