The Accidental Time Machine

A Grad Student assembles a piece of equipment for an experiment and inadvertently produces a time machine. Which only moves forward. Eventually, he starts moving forward with it. This produces some glimpses of possible futures. Along the way he picks up companions. At the end ... well, that would be telling. An enjoyable read, if not an innovative one.

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 a book I couldn't put down, and when I finished it, I had to start reading it again. This is only my second Joe Haldeman book, I have read the covers off of my original copy of The Forever War, The Accidental Time Machine is in the same class, funny, witty, scientifically accurate and compelling. The characters are even more real and likeable than William and Marygay in TFW. Joe's take on the future of mankind is believeable, this is no Eloi vs Morlock future. It's interestingly located mostly around Boston, so if you know the city, you'll find yourself saying - "Oh yeah, I know where that is". It's nice to have a familiar (or at least stationary) backdrop when careening through time. A great read, you'll wish it were longer, but just re-read it, you'll enjoy it as much the second time.

I'm embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I've read Joe Haldeman, but based on the praise he receives I sincerely hope this is his worst novel. That's not to say it's a bad novel, but you'd expect a professor of writing at MIT not to fall into a few of the basic traps that he has in this story. Time travel stories are notorious for falling victim to the deus ex machina. The problem is that if you have a time machine, it's difficult to make anything that happens in the story matter, because you can always just go back in time and fix it. Haldeman tries to avoid this problem by making his time machine one which moves in only one direction, and he succeeds to some extent. Thankfully, he never does reverse a plot point out of existence. Unfortunately, there's also little plot to speak of. In fact, Haldeman's characters repeatedly run away from the plot. Any time things start to get bad, they just hop back into the time machine. The characters don't solve anything, they just observe, and run. Towards the end, it starts to look like maybe the characters will have to fight there way out of a difficult situation, but instead somebody just steps in and solves the problem for them. Haldeman is clearly a skilled writer. There is plenty of political allegory, humor, and suspense here. The characters are likable, if lacking in depth, and stylistically it is compact, fluid, and transparent. It certainly kept me reading and I always wanted to know what would happen next. I was always amazed out how quickly he could explain a scientific phenomenon; where other hard sci-fi writers might have spent pages he spent paragraphs, and without losing any information. But somewhere in there he forgot to write a story, and that left me feeling unsatisfied when I finished. If it weren't for the humor and the unpretentious tone this would have received a much lower score.

Magnifico libro de Joe Haldeman. Deseando poder leerlo, aun no estando en mi lengua materna. Una apuesta segura, con libros de Joe Haldeman

Joe Haldemann hatte seinerzeit mit seinem Buch "Forever War" (dt.: "Der ewige Krieg") eines der besten SF-Bücher aller Zeiten geschrieben. Nicht nur, dass es einen enormen Lesesog hatte, es hatte auch ein perfektes Plot und eine klare Botschaft. Spannend war es sowieso. Das hatte ihm bei mir eine Menge Kredit für all seine anderen Bücher verschafft. Aber bisher wurde ich jedes Mal enttäuscht. Sicher, gut lesbar waren sie alle, aber so richtig plausibel erschien mir die Handlung nie. Jetzt ist es Haldemann nach Jahrzehnten endlich wieder gelungen, ein rundherum gutes Buch zu schreiben. Matt Fuller ist ein Techno-Nerd mit mäßig bezahltem Job am MIT-Forschungsinstitut im Boston des Jahres 2050. Diese Zukunft ist nicht viel anders als unsere. Durch Zufall baut er eine Zeitmaschine. Eigentlich sollte es ein Messgerät werden, aber jeder Druck auf den Reset-Knopf lässt das Gerät ein Stück in die Zukunft springen, wobei die Abstände von Mal zu Mal größer werden. Schließlich reist Matt selbst mit der Maschine einige Wochen in die Zukunft und muss gleich weiter fliehen, weil er nach seinem Auftauchen eines Verbrechens verdächtigt wird. Weiter und weiter treibt es ihn in fort von seiner eigenen Zeit, immer in der Hoffnung, nach dem nächsten Zeitsprung auf eine Technologie zu stoßen, die ihn wieder zurück in die Vergangenheit bringen kann. Aber die Geschichte verläuft nicht linear. Er passiert düstere Zeiten, in denen ein neuer christlicher Fundamentalismus grassiert, und auch später wird es nicht wirklich besser. Außerdem wird es immer schwieriger, sich mit den Menschen der Zukunft zu verständigen. Immerhin gewinnt er auch neue Freunde und Verbündete auf der Reise. Auflösung und Schluss der Geschichte sind überraschend, aber plausibel. Eine Frage bleibt ungeklärt, aber dadurch wirkt die Story eher noch stärker wie eine Begebenheit aus dem "wirklichen" Leben - jedenfalls sofern das angesichts der Grundidee möglich ist. Damit kein Missverständnis aufkommt: Es handelt sich hier keineswegs um en Logikloch, sondern lediglich um eine offene Frage, die einfach ungeklärt stehen bleibt. Joe Haldemann bezeichnet technische Fragen selber als "mambo jambo", der eben der Plausibilität halber in einem SF-Roman sein müsse. Daher handelt er ihn nur ganz kurz ab und konzentriert sich lieber auf die handelnden Personen. Das macht die Qualität seiner Bücher aus. Dennoch ist sein "mambo jambo" häufig zutreffender als ausführliches und gähnend langweiliges Technikgeschwafel, wie man es beispielsweise von Stephen Baxter oder Peter Watts geliefert bekommt. Fünf Punkte ohne Wenn und Aber. Wer "Forever War" mochte, der wird auch hier voll auf seine Kosten kommen.

A quick and fun weekend read for lovers of time travel. It takes you all over the place! Give it a go.

The second Joe Haldeman book I've read and just as enjoyable as the Forever War. Qualities of Philip K Dick in the sense of ordinary lives against an extraordinary backdrop.

One of the best time travel Epix since Robert a Heinlein The Grandmaster himself was writing.