The Accidental Time Machine

The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman tells the story of Matt Fuller. As a lab assistant at MIT, he accidentally discovers a time machine - thus the name of the book. The discovery takes him on a journey that spans thousands upon thousands of years, where he comes in contact with different civilizations in the future. But his one goal is to finally go home, or I should say, to his time period.The Good: If you are like me, and you like time travel stories, then you should enjoy this book very much. The approach to the time travel is simple, and the future outcomes are a fun affair. Unlike most books that focus on an eventual outcome for the human race, The Accidental Time Machine (by the way, I love that it is just one word away from being called The Time Machine), shows what happens to the human race in many different time periods in the future. It's a delightful romp into impossibility, and just the sort of thing that any time travel fan will enjoy.The Bad: The book runs at a good, fun pace at the outset. It's enjoyable to see what Matt Fuller does upon his discover of the machine. However, about forty percent of the way through the book, it does tend to drag a little bit. It doesn't start picking up again until you are nearly seventy percent of the way through. It felt like this part of the book could have easily been condensed, but I'd imagine the author was looking to not make the book too short.The Ugly: I was hard pressed to find anything about the book that was ugly. I thought maybe it was the religious/anti-religious angle the book took. But, like all great science fiction that tackles religion, the author leaves the belief or non-belief in God ambiguous being as careful as possible not to step on anyone's toes. But maybe just slightly towards those who do have a faith. Had it leaned too much in one direction, this would have been ugly. But I can easily say there was nothing about the book that made me feel this way.Overall, I really liked The Accidental Time Machine. It's a delightful adventure in time travel and made me wonder what I would do if I accidentally discovered a time machine. Then again, I always wonder that, even without this book.

I stumbled across this book as a recommendation from Amazon. I come back & reread it from time to time. I love time travel stories, and this is a good one. Highly recommended.

Re-reading this after a long time, there was a lot of material left unexplored, such as, who were the other individual time travelers/what happened to them/where did they go (aside from the obvious answer "the future"), and who the group of six beings who *are* a time machine. If the time machine Matt had was an aberration/one-off/can't be reproduced, then what were the other travelers using? The sexualization of Martha/the porn book was a bit cringe inducing by today's standards. At least two civilizations were barely touched upon (1st time in Australia and whomever was on the Moon). And humans beat feet to 61 Cygni? Was FTL travel solved?

Ok -- but disjointed

Wow! What a thought provoking book! In general, I really enjoy time travel books. This one was a little more technical than I typically like, but it was handled in such a way that it was thoroughly enjoyable. And, I was very happy with the ending. It actually gave me chills.Matt Fuller is a research assistant at MIT. He's been helping professor Marsh build a calibrator for a research project. One day, when Matt pushes the reset button, the calibrator disappears for a second. Upon pushing the reset button a second time, Matt discovers that it stays gone longer. Matt devises a test to record the time machine leaving and even sends along a turtle, Herman, to see how a living creature reacts to time travel. Upon Herman's return, it's evident that Herman appears to have only been gone a few minutes, while in real time, he's been gone for 3 days. At this, Matt decides to send himself into the future to further test the time machine. The only problem, it only goes into the future, and it goes 6 times farther each time the button is pushed. Which means, that Matt will first jump 40 days into the future, then 15 years, then perhaps centuries into the future. What will the world be like then? Will he ever be able to return to his own time?

I won't bother writing a summary of the story, as there are plenty of those to choose from. I'll just tell you what I liked about the book (and what I didn't), and let you decide whether or not you think it is worth reading (hint: IT IS!).The book was fast paced, easy to read, and a heck of a lot of fun. I didn't want to put it down (and indeed, finished it in 4 hours). The characters don't get a lot of treatment, but they are still given enough personality that you will find yourself rooting for certain outcomes as they move throughout the story (and time).This is not hard science fiction. You will not get a detailed description of how the time machine works (although, there is some discussion of temporal theory, paradoxes, multiverses, etc.). However, you will get an engaging story that makes you wish the book were at least twice as long. And you'll definitely find yourself wishing that you could travel with Matt Fuller (the protagonist) as he makes his jumps. Each time he presses the button (which makes him jump), you'll get excited.The author takes more than a few pokes at religion (Christianity in particular), and while I don't care for it, I've become rather used to it in Science Fiction novels. But there's nothing too offensive... and besides, he pokes fun at the scientific profession as well.Besides that, my only other complaints were that he left a lot of things unexplained (including a major, major loose end), and wrapped the book up far too quickly (puts many other dues ex machina endings to shame). The book could have gone on for another 200 pages easily (and maintained interest)...Overall, I would recommend this book for light reading. It's certainly not masterful, but it's very human. You'll like it, I promise!

This is the first book by this author and I was excited to get stuck into a time travel novel.It started off fairly well, although I was left more and more disappointed the further I got through. The author describes certain scenes in a small level of detail that I could get on board with. But other scenes there is very little description and moves at a pace that provides no idea of where they are or what they are witnessing. This is disappointing as that's part of the appeal of a time travel novel, to be transported with the characters.Overall it's OK, but i wouldnt recommend it.

Written with pace and a sense of humour. Not by any means a literary classic but worth the writing and, therefore, the reading. Good ideas reasonably explored and expressed. An interesting addition to the time travel genre, hence just about worthy of a 4 star rating. If in doubt, give it a go, most readers should enjoy this well written though not particularly memorable offering.

Solid read by Joe Haldeman. Pacing is fast and this book is a very quick read. Full of Haldeman's particular sense of humor and wit, the story is engrossing but there is not nearly as much depth to his characters or plot in this one as there is in his absolutely stellar "Forever War" which is one of the crowning jewels of SciFi. Initially I was a bit disappointed as I thought that I had purchased a different book of his "Camouflage", however that was my mistake. Once I had read the first pages the book however had me hooked and I read it in a single day. Only 4 stars as I would not rate it among my all time favorites or as a book I would read several times over. Nonetheless, definitely a good read even if somewhat formulaic and flat. Title of the review says it all.

A couple of months ago i start working my way though the SF Masterworks collection, and hence looking at Joe Haldemen.The Accidental Time Machine was a lovely book with so great concepts. It took me along for the ride, and while it is a linier story, is it still a good story. A very easy read asking some interesting questions.I wish maybe as the time travelling takes place there was a little more time to explore the various destinations ... but it keeps the writing crisp and well paced.I will be reading more of Joe's books

I would suggest that, to be successful, a time travel novel should take the present day as its starting point (so that the author can compare and contrast the present with the future or the past as the case may be). This book is set in the year 2050 so it is about someone in the fairly distant future travelling into the even more distant future. I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if the main character was a contemporary figure I could identify with.