# Books about time travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556 "2010-12-09T18:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/1 "2010-12-09T18:17:38Z")
Gonna have some time on my hands this holiday. Looking for recommendations; Books where time-travel figures prominently. Any suggestions? I’ll start with [Replay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replay_(novel)) by Ken Grimwood. My favorite time-travel novel to date. Yours? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/2 "2010-12-09T18:20:18Z")
ROADMARKS, by Roger Zelazny - apparently after he wrote it, he shuffled half the chapters into a random order and inserted them between the other half THE ANUBIS GATES, by Tim Powers - one of the tightest closed-loop time-travel stories I’ve ever read, and great fun besides ALL OF AN INSTANT, by Richard Garfinkle ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/3 "2010-12-09T18:24:56Z")
An essential classic to my mind, _Time and Again_, by Jack Finney. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/4 "2010-12-09T18:26:43Z")
_[Thrice Upon A Time](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrice_Upon_a_Time)_ by James P. Hogan ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/5 "2010-12-09T18:37:39Z")
_The Accidental Time Machine_ is good. Not great, but a quick, fun read. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/6 "2010-12-09T18:37:58Z")
Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time.’ Still one of my favorite books, altho I never read another novel of hers. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/7 "2010-12-09T18:45:19Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > Madeleine L’Engle’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time.’ Still one of my favorite books, altho I never read another novel of hers. _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_ was my favorite book of that set, reading them as a kid, and the one most concerned with time travel. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/8 "2010-12-09T18:48:43Z")
_Lightning_, by Dean Koontz. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/9 "2010-12-09T18:52:47Z")
**Lest Darkness Fall** by L. Sprague de Camp. And, arguably, **The Glory That Was** \* by him also. his **Rivers of Time** is also good – it’s his original short story _A Gun for Dinosaur_ followed by lots of follow-up stories with the same cast. And several of his other short stories, including _Aristotle and the Gun_. Leo Frankowski’s \*Cross-Time Engineer \* series. At least the early ones. James Hogan’s **The Protreus Operation**. Heinlein’s stories _All You Zombies_ and _By His Bootstraps_ Robert L. Forward’s **TimeMaster** , the work of a physicist who doesn’t buy the “Grandfather Paradox”, and wanted to write an accurate Time Travel story. David Gerrold’s **The Man who Folded Himself** , which seems to be a determined effort to put every Time Travel idea and cliche into a single book. \*don’t spoil things for those who haven’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/10 "2010-12-09T18:52:56Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > _Lightning_, by Dean Koontz. ooh. good one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/11 "2010-12-09T18:54:04Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_ was my favorite book of that set, reading them as a kid, and the one most concerned with time travel. hmm. soon as i finish off the dresden files (2 books to go) i’ll check that out. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/12 "2010-12-09T19:46:44Z")
_The Time Traveler’s Wife_, although that may not be exactly what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/13 "2010-12-09T19:53:24Z")
_Millennium_ by John Varley. Bonus: all the chapter titles are titles of other time travel stories. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/14 "2010-12-09T19:57:30Z")
And the granddaddy of them all, _[The Time Machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine)_ by H. G. Wells ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/15 "2010-12-09T21:11:57Z")
Fritz Leiber’s _The Big Time_. Simon Hawke’s _Time Wars_ series is fun if not very deep. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/16 "2010-12-09T21:13:30Z")
**Guns of the South** by Harry Turtledove - time travel AND alternative history. A 2-for-1 combo plate. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/17 "2010-12-09T22:08:06Z")
_The End of Eternity_, by Isaac Asimov ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/18 "2010-12-09T22:20:24Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > THE ANUBIS GATES, by Tim Powers - one of the tightest closed-loop time-travel stories I’ve ever read, and great fun besides Another vote for this one. I love the part where the main character hears someone whistling “Yesterday”…in 1810. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/19 "2010-12-09T22:29:36Z")
My favorites are Connie Willis’s novels, all set in the same universe and featuring historians from the Oxford University of the future: _Doomsday Book_ - time travel to England during the Black Plague, very sad. _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ - time travel to Victorian England, very funny. \*Blackout \*and _All Clear_ (both published this year) - time travel to WWII England during the Blitz. There’s also a short story called _Fire Watch_ that is set during the Blitz at St. Paul’s Cathedral. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556/20 "2010-12-09T22:31:58Z")
_Einstein’s Bridge_, by John Cramer. _The Door Into Summer_, by Robert Heinlein _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_, by JK Rowling [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-about-time-travel/563556.md?page=2)