The Time Machine

By: H. G. Wells

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 3 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

"I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped the starting lever with both hands, and went off with a thud." The time traveler is on his way to a different world -- his world, but 800,000 years in the future. He returns and recounts his journey to his friends at a dinner party.

In the future, humans called the Eloi live in simple luxury. They have become beautiful but meek, living on their safe, comfortable planet. The generations that have passed without challenge or adversity have dulled their minds. Underground machinery, built millennia ago, feeds and clothes these innocent creatures, and still functions perfectly. But who runs the machinery, and why are the Eloi afraid of the night?

©2002 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

"H.G. Wells's novel The Time Machine is the greatest of all works of pure science fiction." (National Review)

Classic Sci Fi

Brilliant writing of course, plus great narration by Scott Brick. Strips away the hollywood version (which I also enjoy) with more imagination.

Great classic!

Great classic for all. The ending leaves you wanting more. I wish there was another book.

great but too short

Where does The Time Machine rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

high middle

What did you like best about this story?

I liked little Weena

Which scene was your favorite?

when Weena slept beside him all cozy

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

WHEN WEENA ...SPOILER ALERT

Any additional comments?

it was a very exciting story but could have gone so much further !

Good but strange.

Very good and short but strange and at times hard to follow. Worth the listen

Amazing read

I’ve heard this gentleman read before and he’s the best. Perfect! I’d recommend to everyone.

Eh.

This was my first Wells book... and I was a little disappointed. The narrator is excellent, but I found the story to be weaker than expected. The main character is flat and underdeveloped, and I felt very un-invested throughout. If you're looking for rich storytelling, vivid imagery and multi-dimensional characters from a classic novel, Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" or "Around the World in 80 Days" are (in my opinion) much more excellent books.

If you are a Wells fan, PLEASE don’t let me discourage you from reading this book! "The Time Machine" is an entertaining story and offers great commentary on what might be the result of man's continued pursuit of comfort and ease. However, if you want to experience this story without taking the time to read it, just rent the Guy Pearce movie. It’s not necessarily better, but at least it’s shorter.

Well-written Horror/ Sci-Fi (Spoilers)

I read this as a middle-schooler and a lot of it stuck with me, as it's quite well-dramatized and engaging (and short).

If you're interested in time travel fiction, this is less like Back to the Future (inconsistent story) and 12 Monkeys (consistent story) and more like A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. That is, the time travel aspect isn't there to explore time loops, paradoxes, branching timelines, butterfly effect, or whatever, and is more just the premise to set the fantasy in motion. The most we really get regarding the science of time travel itself is at the beginning, where there's some discussion of time as a fourth dimension with the three dimensions of space (and Wells is writing pre-Minkowski) which really engaged me as a kid-- and there's a bit on how one can occupy a place and travel through it in time without "hitting" anything that also tries to occupy that space (this discussion is muddled).

The story is about a man who travels into the future 800,000 years (so no changing the past here) with a time machine, and gets stuck, needing to recover the machine after some person (?) steals it. It reads to me more like a horror story than science fiction, and I was struck a bit by certain resemblances to Jordan Peele's Us. The exploitation of workers through unchecked captialism leads to an evolutionary forking of the human race into the Eloi, who speak a rudimentary language and are wholly unintellectual and un-inquisitive, who spend their days frolicking and f***ing above ground, and the Morlocks, a subterranean race of flesh-hungry monsters. It's full of horror tropes-- last match goes out as the door swings shut behind you, sealing you in darkness with malicious hands pawing about you-- that sort of thing-- as the time traveler barely escapes the Morlocks in several encounters, until he is ultimately able to escape and tell the tale.

Wells has a real talent for poetic-but-not-overstuffed prose, and the drama/ mystery/ horror keeps the short novella clicking along at a solid pace. The narrator of this particular audiobook is pretty good, but a bit over-dramatic in my opinion (the length of this guy's vowels adds like 15 minutes to the performance). If you're looking for sci-fi, this one is more like Alien (i.e. monsters in the dark) than Primer (i.e. complex time travel story), if that makes sense.

Thought provoking and creative

"Nature does not tax intelligence until instinct and habit are exhausted."

The first chapter proffers a simple explanation of time travel and a brilliant discussion between dinner guests to clarify all questions. From thence starts a thought provoking experience that is fact? Fantasy? Hallucination? Mr. Wells cleverly describes situation in detail (I love this aspect of Victorian fiction) but artfully leaves much up to the reader to ponder and muse. I recommend on a cozy afternoon with some tea.

liked it

I liked the story. narration was great. yet sadly the story is dated. some of which don't mind even liked but not all. but nothing can be done about that.

Classic Original Science Fiction

I had previously listened to, and reviewed another audiobook of this story. It was horribly done and performed with such a monotone narration that I had to play it at double speed just to make it tolerable to get through.

This, version on the other hand, was a joy to behold. Narration wonderfully done and it brought forth the wonderful and engaging writing that I, frankly, did not realize H. G. Wells was capable of.

This story is deservedly known as a classic of science fiction. This should be, in my estimation, required reading for any reader who loves adventure, action, time travel, or simply very good writing.

I highly recommend this book and more specifically this narrator, Scott Brick, to all.