The Time Machine

By: H. G. Wells

Narrated by: Dick Hill

A Victorian scientist travels far into the future, and finds that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment, and peace. He meets the Eloi, a species descended from man, but realizes that these beautiful people are just remnants of a once-great culture; they are now weak and afraid of the dark.

The Eloi have reason to be afraid. In deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity: the sinister Morlocks.

Public Domain © and (P) Alpha DVD LLC

Critic reviews

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

wow ... just wow.

the audio is great, the reader's British cockney accent got on my nerves after a while, the story wasn't all too hard to keep up with. i had to replay a few times because i didn't catch the context.

i'm not a true fiction lover so a 3 is good for a piece of fiction for me.

can i just say - this story is WEIRD!? i am still mulling it over in my head. i keep trying to figure out what the Eloi really looked like. there is a lot of food for the imagination making this a satisfying piece of literature. my only qualm is sometimes it takes Wells, in my opinion, too much time to get to the point. there is a LOT of detail - but it's not always concise so it is easy to be like "uh huh, yes, uh huh, awesome. wait huh?!" (rewind!) and that can be frustrating.

it would be 4 stars if he would have 'come on with it' and focused on the plot line more.

the one thing i took away from the novel is an uncanny macro social analysis. Wells truly pegged the progression of society and fed it through the voice of the Time Traveler - basically to the point that it's applicable to today.

i would recommend this book with a caution on the tendency for the minor digressions on detail.

Fine story, odd narration

"The Time Machine" is at times slow-moving, and the Time Traveller's constant examination of his own state of mind can be annoying, but as one of the important ancestors of all modern science fiction it's a story that any SF fan must read at least once.

I bought this version on impulse as it was the least expensive on Audible, but was not thrilled with the performance; the narrator gives the Time Traveller an odd accent and manner of hesitating intonation that are meant to be distinctive but that I found distracting. On the positive side, it's an energetic reading.

For me it was a pleasant surprise.

When I bought this book on sale I had very low expectations for this book, I don't know why. . . but it could have been the remembrance from that bad movie. Anyway, the narration and the story came as a very good surprise, as both are to me very good.

The philosophical theories, the 19th century British atmosphere (my favourite), the unexpectedly deep characters (for this short a book), and many things more made me forget the whole world for 4 hours while I walked aimlessly about my town last evening.

I love this feeling that you get when you have low expectations for something but it turns out to be very good. . . it kind of makes the whole thing even better.

So. . . don't listen to me, hate the audio book with all your heart and then listen to it anyway.

You are then in for a pleasant surprise.

time machine

i read this book several times when i was young and mr hill brought it all back to life. mr hill has to be one of the best readers in your arsenal, he makes the book come alive with just the right quality of voice.

EVEN WITHOUT ENOUGH MATCHES

I got this because of Dick Hill. He has always been one of my favorite readers, but this book was not meant for him. The Traveler should have had an English accent, but instead he had one of Hill's usual voices. One reviewer said he had a Cockney accent, but I have heard Dick Hill enough to know that it was his his usual voice.

The story itself is a classic. It is a thought provoking story and seems to be a satire on easy living and on technological societies. If you don't like Hill, you should find another copy, audible has plenty.

Finally the True Story

I've seen movie after movie and all of them have the Morlocks explaining everything to the time traveler or a supercomputer to give him the information in the movies. Here we have the truth were he has to figure it would for himself.

This book should serve as a warning for the 'elites' of this world. Where they want everything and they don't want to see the 'people' that make it all. So, they hide it away in China where no one looks or cares. Remember what you don't monitor becomes a life unto itself.

Not so great

I didn't like the narrator, I love the story, but too dated.

Not that entertaining (to me)

Now, I was not expecting non-stop action like one finds in many of today's often 'over the top' science fiction works, but I was expecting a charming and exciting read comparable with the likes of Jules Verne or Daniel Defoe..... and The Time Machine let me down.

It simply was not very exciting, left many issues unresolved and unexplained (and not in a good way), and seemed like it was just quickly thrown together as a story. It might be taboo to say such things about such a classic and popular author, but thats how I felt about the story itself.

If you are interested in the story, I did find this audio production and narration very well done. The reader did a great job.