99. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (Science Fiction) 85 p.

Sci-fi Classics Challenge

The Time Machine begins, as so many old-fashioned SFF novels seem to, with a framing story. The narrator is a guest of a man he introduces to us as the Time Traveller, a learned gentleman in the late Victorian style, when most experts in scientific fields seem to have been enthusiastic and experienced amateurs. During an after-dinner discussion at his home, the Time Traveller opens the subject of time, specifically time as a fourth dimension little different than the three dimensions of space with which his listeners are already familiar. He claims to be on the verge of completing a working time machine, and demonstrates his success with a functional model. The next week, at a similar dinner party, he staggers in late to the table, and recounts his tale of a journey into the far future, one which presented him with a very unexpected picture of humanity’s future evolution.

The Time Machine is actually only a novella, and the future humans, the Eloi and the Morlocks, are explored with a shallowness that would win instant censure in a modern-day SF novel. Still, the story was ground-breaking in its day, and it still has enough interesting ideas to be an important SF text, as well as a fairly enjoyable read. It isn’t a book that I would recommend to someone purely on its own merits, but for any fan of the genre as a whole, it’s essential reading.

Books read: 99/100 (99%) — just one more to go!
Pages read: 29,390/30,000 (98%)

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, H.G. Wells, Sci-Fi Classics Challenge