The Time Machine

Title: The Time Machine
Author: H. G. Wells
Publisher: Yale University Press (October 26, 2010)

ISBN-10: 0812505042
ISBN-13: 978-0812505047


A while back, I read a supposed classic of science fiction: Fahrenheit451 which I didn't care for...at all. Recently however, I read another classic of science fiction: The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells.  What a great book!

I'm kind of a physics enthusiast, so whenever I happen upon a book/movie/story that incorporates time travel, I will generally have a bit of a problem with how it stacks up to the idea of time travel in physics. I'm not saying that this one doesn't have its issues, but one of the things that I thought made the story easier to imerse myself into was the fact that H.G. Wells didn't go into the details of how the protagonist built the time machine. Instead, he pretty much just said that he built a time machine; didn't explain how he did it, didn't explain the science behind it, nope! Basically said: Insert time machine here.

As mentioned, this made for a much richer story as you could simply enjoy the characters and not worry about the minutia of how things could have gone.

As you might have gathered, The Time Machine is about a time traveler and his adventures travelling through time.

I should point out that before reading the book, I watched the 2002 movie with Guy Pearce. While I enjoyed the movie, they took some serious artistic license with the book. What? Hollywood doesn't stick to the original story? I'm so surprised!  <--That was sarcasm!

As I mentioned, the book is really quite impressive, and while it doesn't leave a nit-picker like me without things to rail against, it does make a great page turner.

4/5

Fahrenheit 451

Title: Fahrenheit 451
Author: Ray Bradbury
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN-10: 0345342968
ISBN-13: 978-0345342966

Review:
There comes a time when you feel that you should read some of the "classics" and be better off for doing so.  This isn't one of those times.

I am a big fan of science fiction, and I know that many people will disagree with this review, but I found that Ray Bradbury was writing two distinct kinds of books with Fahrenheit 451.  On one hand, he was trying to write a suspenseful, dramatic, yet bleak science fiction novel; almost the forbearer of cyberpunk.  On the other hand, he seemed to be trying to write a literary masterpiece.  This is where I was having the problem.  I found that his descriptions of scene and characters to be over the top poetic, while the story itself was quite simplistic.  I also found that he could have developed both plot and characters a lot better than he had.  For instance, Clarisse and Faber could have developed into wonderful characters that offered great insight into Montag, but instead, Clarisse was killed very early on, and Faber just kept whining about being a coward.

So in closing, let me be brief, unlike Bradbury.  "Hmmmmm....No sir, I didn't like it."