This was the first book I read by HG Wells, at the age of 12. (I saw the film first.) After taking a trip into the future, a Time Traveller returns to the 19th century and tells his colleagues what he saw.

In the distant future there is nothing, not a trace, of our world left. The Time Travller discovers a new society and finds that we have evolved into a puny, ineffectual race called Eloi. At night he discovers the other half of the society, the hideous, carniverous Morlocks. The Eloi live simple lives and play in the sun. They are food for the Morlocks, who live underground, operating machinery. The Time Traveller goes even further into the future, to a depressing world where the sun is dying and monstrous creatures roam the surface.

Getting away from the point for a moment, there was once a "Doctor Who" story called "Timelash". In that story the Doctor travels back in time and meets a young writer called Herbert, who accompanies the Doctor on a journey to the future on another planet. There are monsters called Morlox. At the end of the story the young writer gives the Doctor one of his cards, which has the name HG Wells. The story implied that HG Wells' novel was inspired by the Doctor! But in reality "The Time Machine" paved the way for "Doctor Who", one of my favourite childhood shows. So we owe a lot to Wells.

Time travel looks like a fun thing to do but sometimes it's best if the future is left unknown. Would you want to know your own future and find it's not what you hoped for?

HG Wells' Sci Fi classic, about a Victorian scientist's trip forward in Time, differs greatly from the movie version, so if you don't recognize the details of the story in this review, it's because I am referring the original. The tale is narrated at the beginng and very end by a good friend of the Time Traveler--whose name we never learn. Nor in fact are his skeptical dinner guests named, for the emphasis sis Not on the present. Ninety percent of the short novel, however, is a direct narration by the Time Traveler himself, of his incredible journey into the future. The year is hard to credit: 208,701!

Wells loses no opportunity to expound on his theories of Mankind's self-destructive and degenerative "progress." He launches into fervid warnings about the separation of diametrically opposed yet critically enmeshed aspects of human nature--both vital while openly at war--which result in the total Human Being. Yet he never considers what Right his hero has to go back the Future, in a vain, foolish and risky attempt to alter the bovine existence of the beautiful people called ELOI or to reduce the subterranean population of the hideous MORLOCKS who repel us with their bestial behavior? (No Prime Directives here about not meddling with the Past or the Future!) We can only guess at Weena's grim fate, but why did Wells include an eerie chapter with the TT contemplating the primoridal tide at the end of Time itself? Still spell-binding despite the intervening years, The Time Machine enthralls us with its daring concepts of futuristic invention and social speculation. Despite uneven literary pacing, these pages offer great Sci Fi reading for all ages!

OK, we've all seen at least one of the movie versions of H.G. Well's The Time Machine, but none of them truly compare with the oringinal Sci-Fi classic. The book tells the story of the Time Traveler's journey nearly a million years into the future and the very unexpected and disturbing society he finds there. The Time Traveler formulates various theories based on what he observes of the society, which each, in turn, prove to be oh, so wrong! [Warning: mild spoiler] In the end, his realization of the future is especially terrifying considering it is the result of our current social structure (or H.G. Well's, anyway).

I especially recommend this book for those of us with short attention spans - it's only 140 pages (and that's the large print version). But don't get the wrong idea, this book still has more depth and creativity than most 500 page books i've read and is a great read, even compared with today's science fiction standards.

This book has to be considered a classic considering it spawned a whole genre of time traveling books, movies, and tv shows whcih imitated it. Get a hold of a copy and read it today!

This is Dickens' book (and some would say lecture) on the theme of selfishness. Martin Chuzzlewit is structured around the three variations on this theme: personal selfishness in all its many manisfestations, institutional selfishness by way of an insurance scam, and national selfishness in the form of hypocrisy served up American-style.

To illustrate the theme of personal selfishness, Dickens' parades his usual circus of colorful characters before us, each representing some aspect of the theme. There is hypocrisy appearing in the persons of Pecksniff and Mrs Gamp, thoughtlessness dressed up as young Martin Chuzzlewit and Mercy Pecksniff, suspiciousness and distrust disguised as old Martin Chuzzlewit, greed and villainy personified by Jonas Chuzzlewit and Tigg Montague (or Montague Tigg), and so on. There are also the usual cast of good characters to set off the bad.

The American interlude takes young Martin and his sidekick, jolly Mark Tapley, to the U-nited States where they meet various members of the American establishment: media moguls, literary luminaries, the American aristocracy, multifarious military men. One and all, they extol the virtues of Democracy and Freedom, American style. Unfortunately, the young travellers' experiences don't quite live up to the advertising. Not to give the story away, but let's just say they find themselves going up a river without the proverbial paddle.

The insurance scam illustrates the idea selfishness when it grows in stature to encompass more than those in one's immediate environs. It's dreamt up by Tigg Montague, but quickly takes on a life of its own and swallows up the likes of Pecksniff and Jonas Chuzzlewit.

On the whole, these themes are convincingly illustrated. The problem with the book is not the structure, but the tone of the narrative, or how Dickens tells the tale. When dealing with personal selfishness, Dickens takes a caustic, condemnatory tone, frequently obtruding in the narrative to rain insults on his poor characters. Pecksniff, in particular, is the unhappy recipient of a lot of this authorial abuse. By contrast, when Dickens narrates the American episode, he takes a combative, indignant tone, and far from obtruding, he is happy to hold his pen and let his characters incriminate themselves.

It's this inconsistency in the narrative that mars this book, particularly Dickens' habit of interjecting his moral imprecations. Indeed, the narrative is sometimes so earnestly didactic that it feels like a lecture. A more artistic way to get your points across is to let your characters make them. After all, that's what they're for.

Not a bad book, especially the American episode, but clearly the work of a still maturing Dickens. If you are new to Dickens and are looking for a place to start, look elsewhere. Come back to MC when you've read two or three of his other books.

Besides "Bleak House", "Martin Chuzzlewit" is easily my favorite Dickens novel. Where else do you have an opening chapter (describing the past Chuzzlewit family history) that is so absolutely hilarious you find yourself rereading it several times before you begin chapter two? Where else do you have a character as funny as the greedy and transparent Mr. Pecksniff? People complain that the plot is paper-thin even for a Dickens novel and that the American sequence is an unneeded digression. Perhaps true, but I think the characters and comedy in this book overcome any of its shortcomings. While others point to better known novels like "David Copperfield" as the best to be found in Dickens, I think "Martin Chuzzlewit" tops everything except "Bleak House" (but then how could it, seeing that "Bleak House" is probably the greatest English novel of the 19th century). In closing, if you're new to Dickens, you would do well to start here--the book, although long, is fast-paced, funny, and, at the end, even macabre.

Martin Chuzzlewit gets its start much like any other Dickens novel--we are introduced to the rather blase main characters and the amusing minor characters, and Dickens slowly--and I mean slooowly--weaves the web of his drama. We meet the Chuzzlewit brothers, Mr Pecksniff and his daughters, and (among others) the lovable Tom Pinch, who is utterly devoted to Mr Pecksniff. "Another middle-period Victorian comedy of manners," we presume, and read a few pages at a time, until BAM! the novel kicks into high gear. I won't spoil the unforgettable final half of the novel for you, but suffice it to say that I read it ALL in one day, spellbound. Any would-be author of pageturners could learn a lot from the story of Jonas Chuzzlewit, masterfully spun by the greatest novelist in the Englsih language. Enjoy it, one and all!

90 Days with the Christian Classics is perfectly suited for once a day dosing! For each day there is a portion of the Bible connected to a passage from a Christian author of yesteryear. My only disappointment was some difficulty in identifying the sources cited for each authors. The lives of the authors cited spans over 1000 years, so these are words from history for our age! Pertinent biographical information on the authors is also included briefly. The editors have done well to anchor this work with substantial amounts of Bible excerts. The Bible, which is the best selling book of all time, is truly a treasured echo from history for our age! The hard padded book cover is magnificent and will serve well when readers bring it along on their travels.

PLEASE NOTE: micheal puryear is NOT martin puryear the famous sculptor! lets start with the shipping from the seller. took 3 weeks to receive the book. it was sent in a re-used enveloped. the book is a first graders primer of pictures and i woke up... then i brushed my teeth. as an adult book it is not even worth your time. as a childs book it offers no educational value. rating -20