This was just meh. It was too short to really get into anything of interest. I didn't care for the mode of storytelling, either - Wells has the Time Traveler telling of his travels in his own words as one big monologue. This book felt... shallow? With too much telling, not enough showing, maybe? I'm not really sure how to articulate it, but I just didn't care for it.

There were a couple of quotes that I liked:

"... my interpretation was something in this way. (Afterwards I found I had got only a half-truth - or only a glimpse of one facet of the truth.)" (p 28)

"Very simple was my explanation, and plausible enough - as most wrong theories are!" (p 41) ( )

I wanted to like this a hell of a lot more than I did. The story is a lot more politically polemical than most adaptations everyone's already seen make it out to be. The two tiered society it tries to paint is just not very engaging, and incredibly dated to the views of the society he was part of more than a century ago. ( )

It’s been over a decade since I read The Time Machine, and I picked it up again - curious if my thoughts on it have evolved as I’ve grown and changed. Turns out - nope! I still consider it a good time travel novella but I’m no better for having reread it. ( )

I can't recall what happened in Wells' book, but I do remember reading it with zest. ( )

This was the first book I ever read by Wells and I immediately became a fan, both of his writing style (minus his “tumultuous" Achilles heel) and of his wide range of original science fiction concepts.

I recently lent this book to a friend and so, after receiving it back, decided to give it a 2nd read.
It is laid out in a most curious manner, the book being from the point of view of a guest at the Time Traveller's home who is invited over (along with several others) to see a demonstration of the theory of time travel. The book soon changes perspectives as the time traveler tells the story of his wonderings to a very distant date in the future.
It is a curious vision in which Wells explores the concept of a lesser humanity, a downgrade from society at the time.
The future scene suggests the gradual dividing of the human race into two very different species whose physical and mental being are brought about by the natural habits of their class. The more upper class society (Eloi) have lessened in intelligence, living a fairly simple and oblivious life of ecstasy among the ruins of the former world while the evolved working class (Morlocks) have become the more threatening species, allowing for the survival of the Eloi but also using them as a means of food and all the while keeping to the shadows and maintaining various pieces of machinery under the earth.

The book is only 90 pages but makes an interesting read and is one of the first books to explore the concept of time travel using a machine/device.
I have very little issue with this book and was very tempted to give it a 5; though since I think it could have been a bit longer and allowed for more detail I have settled on a 4.5. ( )