The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds: Two Novels in One Volume (Fawcett Premier Book)

H G Wells has awakened the world with his art of tale through the travel of time. He is the inspiration of every time travel writer in existence today, with no exception, myself included. Along with great classics like Twenty-thousand Leagues Under the Sea, I remember the first time reading these classics. I was in awe. Though time travel, a genre given life by H G Wells is the ultimate epic sci-fi adventure. The very idea of time travel has opened the eyes of every imagination in my soul. The ramifications are endless. H G Well's Time Machine is my favorite, all time story. Even when you think of how the future looked as grim as it did thousands of years from the story line's origination, one only needs to remember that this tale is merely one possiblity of billions that could be changed with a simple act of maybe a push of a button or even less. I believe THAT was the message Wells was revealing to us all. This is a very well written story that I highly recommend to anyone of any age or time. This very book was my biggest inspiration since I was first able to read.

The Time Machine is a great novel. This book took Sci-fi to a whole new level. The Time Machine is about a man only known as the "Time Traveler", who invents a time machine in the 1800's and travels through time, obviously, and comes across an Earth where human civilization has fallen to evolution. And when the Time Traveler goes back to his time machine it isn't there, it just disappeared he then finds that Earth is inhabited by little people that speak a completely different language than English, an that the buildings were taken back by mother nature. The Time Traveler eventually learns there weird language and befriends a female "native", but there is a dark side to all of this, there are the Morlocks; a nocturnal peoples that somewhat harvest these other little people and eat them. These Morlocks live in caverns underground, and are thought to be the "Working Class", that moved underground to work in factories. As time went on they just lived there and broke away from the "Upper Class" aka the little people, and thus the Morlocks where created, but when food ran out the Morlocks turned to cannibalism and started to catch and eat the little people. The Time Traveler eventually figures out the Morlocks have taken his time machine which he gets back after fighting off a horde of Morlocks and he goes back in time to tell his tale to few friends. He then goes back into the future and is never seen again. This is a great read for anyone, and I highly recommend it.

The Commuter Library produces a wonderful set of stories that are true to the original books, and H. G. Wells's "The Time Machine" is no exception. As it is unabridged, it makes an ideal first exposure to this tale. The highlight of the edition is Ralph Cosham's crisp delivery. His accent and changes of inflection are well-suited to the events and emotions of the story. His rendering seems appropriate especially when reading the portions of the novel where Wells expounds his theories of social evolution regarding the Morlocks and Eloi. Expository passages like that by any author can be dangerous for any reciter, but not so with Mr. Cosham's delivery and Mr. Wells's prose. Often at the top of many people's lists of great science fiction novels, "The Time Machine" strikes an excellent balance between the science and the narrative. Critiques of science fiction by such persons as author Brian Aldiss frequently bring up the fact that good science fiction is not merely about gadgets, but are best when they reflect or portray some aspect of the human condition. This novel provides ample proof of that. Throughout the reader is gripped not only by the anonymous Time Traveller's trials in the future, but by his intellectual approach to discovering the fate of mankind. Well's depiction of the very distant future in the final chapters is one of the most terrifying and breathtaking literary landscapes in any literature. For the person on the go, this audiobook rendition can amply substitute for the novel itself.

This is the first (and only) H.G. Wells book I read. And I must say, it's great! It has an interesting look into the future. Everyone thought he (can't remember the main character's name because it's been so long) crazy when they saw his time machine model. He turned out to be anything but crazy. He went off into a strange future where literary masterpieces are long forgotten. And there are creatures that fear fire. This is a book that you'll read over and over!

These two tales are a MUST for anyone who loves Wells's work. Its far-sightedness, its intuitive feel for "things to come," the sparkling lucidity of his prose, his dry wit...not to be missed. And if anything, both tales, dealing as they do with future alternatives we wouldn't wish on ourselves, remain dangerously relevant as warnings of what will happen if we don't manage the present with greater thoughtfulness and foresightedness.