The Time Machine

Herbert George WellsApr 2015

4.3

Word count: 36K words
Chapters: 14

Summary

Two classic science fiction novels in one handsome volume. Here are two masterpieces of irony and imaginative vision from the father of science fiction. The Time Machine propels the Time Traveller into a distant, dismal, Darwinian future. The Invisible Man tells of a brash young scientist who becomes invisible, then insane.

Editor's review

This omnibus pairs The Time Machine with The Invisible Man, neatly displaying the two faces of Wellsian science fiction: on one side a civilizational fable stretching into the distant future; on the other a close-range thriller about how scientific invention drives an individual into madness and isolation. The former compresses evolution, class, and the fate of civilization into an unsettling picture through what the Time Traveller sees and hears; the latter makes "invisibility" both a temptation to escape social constraints and a trap that destroys the self. Neither succeeds through technical detail but through irony, pacing, and thought experiment. Read one alone, and it may pass for an adventure story; read together, and Wells's repeated question comes clear: does growing knowledge necessarily bring a better society? Best read in long, quiet sittings—take the macro fable first, then enter the human experiment, and Wells's suspicion of "progress" becomes clearer still.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Newcomers to Wells's science fiction who want a systematic introduction, seeing two representative modes at once.
Readers drawn to classic motifs such as time travel and invisibility, and willing to probe their intellectual implications.
Social science enthusiasts interested in evolution, class, and scientific ethics.
Students needing short works for extended reading in science fiction history or literature courses.

Not a good fit for

Hard-SF readers expecting rigorous physical extrapolation and engineering detail.
Readers who prefer warm, healing stories with finely developed relationships.
Readers impatient with late-nineteenth-century narrative manner and slow buildup.

Reading tips

Read The Time Machine first, noting the social observations tied to each stop the Traveller makes.
At the Eloi and the Morlocks, pause to sort out the metaphors of evolution and class.
Then read The Invisible Man, comparing how scientific power turns back on its inventor.

版权信息
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EPILOGUE

FAQ

Why does the ending of The Time Machine feel pessimistic?

The Time Traveller reaches the distant future, sees civilization decay and life divided, and finally drives on toward a still more distant end. Wells questions the inevitability of progress through this prospect; the pessimism comes from speculation about the consequences of class and evolution, not from catastrophe scenes alone.

Is The Invisible Man just a crime story?

No. Invisibility frees the protagonist from the social gaze and also magnifies his conceit and violence; the novel is more concerned with how, once scientific power breaks free of ethical restraint, an individual is undone by his own power.

In what order should the two novels be read?

Read The Time Machine first to grasp Wells's broad suspicion of the civilizational process, then The Invisible Man to see how he contracts the same suspicion onto an individual.

Do the scientific premises still hold up today?

They are mostly thought experiments rather than strict physical predictions; there is no need to check them line by line against contemporary theory. Focus on how the premises force out social and human questions.

Comments

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About the author

Herbert George Wells Author · British · 1866–1946

Herbert George Wells (1866–1946) was a British novelist, journalist, sociologist and historian, and is regarded as the father of science fiction. Public information on the details of his early life and writing career is limited, yet the character of his work is clear: science fiction such as The Time Machine, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds uses scientific speculation to explore social and human questions, with bold imagination and calm narration, while history books such as A Short History of the World and The Outline of History set out the course of human civilization in an accessible style. His works foresaw the aeroplane, the tank and nuclear weapons, and have deeply influenced later science fiction. This site holds 29 of his works, spanning foreign literature, science fiction, world history and history reading.