Review

“The Time Machine” by H. G. Wells is a classic. It is clear, that this book has inspired generations of authors. The book takes a scientific starting point and builds on the idea of being able to travel along the 4th dimension of the universe; time. Now, travelling in time is an interesting tool to use in books, because it helps the author consider what will become of humanity. The approach is not focusing on the individual person, but society as a whole. The book draws heavily on the scientific ideas of Darwin, but also on the ideas of communism and the class divide, that is at the central core of the question of communism vs. capitalism. This is where the books becomes an inspiration.

The book itself is quite short, but eloquently provides a story to illustrate an idea for the future of mankind. The core of the book is not technological advancements, but to a higher degree sociological advancements. The genre can best be described as either utopian or dystopian. (It is hard to avoid an aura of dystopia, when considering the struggle between communism and capitalism.)

Now, comparing this book to others seems a bit of an unfair thing to do, as it probably was the inspiration of many of the books to which it could be compared. It has to my knowledge spawned a whole sub-genre of books in which science fiction is used as a tool to take a guess at the future of humanity. Thus, a number of books spring to mind, such as “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon, “1984” by Orson Welles, “Foundation” by Isaac Asimov and “Anthem” by Ayn Rand. Anyone, who would take a stab at prediction the future of humanity.

Score: 7/10

The originality of the book is magnificent and it is without a doubt a classic. Yet, as time moves further from the original text, it seems that other authors tend to built on top of each other, a bit like a scientific community, to further enhance the predictions. Thus, as we move further forward in time we either move further away from the vision of H. G. Wells or perhaps even closer towards it?

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