Marty McFly and Doc Brown owe thanks to H. G. Wells. It was he who invented the concept of time travel in a vehicle and with controlled trajectory. We will see in other works that before that time travel was accidental and inexplicable.

Pieter Harting imagines a journey to 200 years after his time. The Londinia of 2071 is close to the reality we have today: mega-cities, air conditioning, electric vehicles, etc. Harting work makes us reflect on the predictive ability of futurologists, as well as their influence on the creation of reality.

The comedy of Mark Twain presents an interesting method of trip to the past: a blow to the head. The traveler will stop in medieval England and know King Arthur himself. The book is a satire of romanticized ideas of chivalry, and of the idealization of the Middle Ages.

This is one of many books in the series 3 Books To Know. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the topics.

Authors

BORN IN ENGLAND IN 1866, H.G. Wells's parents were shopkeepers in Kent, England. His first novel, The Time Machine was an instant success and Wells produced a series of science fiction novels which pioneered our ideas of the future. His later work focused on satire and social criticism. Wells laid out his socialist views of human history in his Outline of History. He died in 1946.

Pieter Harting (1812 – 1885) was a Dutch biologist and naturalist, born in Rotterdam. He made contributions in a number of scientific disciplines, and is remembered for his work in the fields of microscopy, hydrology, botany, and biostratigraphy. Writing under the pen name 'Dr. Dioscorides', Harting takes the reader on a journey through Londinia and beyond in the year AD 2071, detailing scientific progress, technological advancements, and a changed moral and political landscape.

Samuel L. Clemens wrote under the pen name Mark Twain and went on to author several novels, including two major classics of American literature: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Writing grand tales about Sawyer, Finn and the mighty Mississippi River, Mark Twain explored the American soul with wit, buoyancy, and a sharp eye for truth. He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor.

Time Machine

BY HG WELLS

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I – Introduction

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THE TIME TRAVELLER (for so it will be convenient to speak of him) was expounding a recondite matter to us. His pale grey eyes shone and twinkled, and his usually pale face was flushed and animated. The fire burnt brightly, and the soft radiance of the incandescent lights in the lilies of silver caught the bubbles that flashed and passed in our glasses. Our chairs, being his patents, embraced and caressed us rather than submitted to be sat upon, and there was that luxurious after-dinner atmosphere, when thought runs gracefully free of the trammels of precision. And he put it to us in this way—marking the points with a lean forefinger—as we sat and lazily admired his earnestness over this new paradox (as we thought it) and his fecundity.

“You must follow me carefully. I shall have to controvert one or two ideas that are almost universally accepted. The geometry, for instance, they taught you at school is founded on a misconception.”

“Is not that rather a large thing to expect us to begin upon?” said Filby, an argumentative person with red hair.

“I do not mean to ask you to accept anything without reasonable ground for it. You will soon admit as much as I need from you. You know of course that a mathematical line, a line of thickness nil, has no real existence. They taught you that? Neither has a mathematical plane. These things are mere abstractions.”

“That is all right,” said the Psychologist.

“Nor, having only length,

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Authors

Time Machine

I – Introduction