# Looking For Time Travel Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 15, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939 "2016-08-15T18:38:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/21 "2016-08-16T23:01:09Z")
Stephen King’s 11/22/1963 is a book I would recommend to anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/22 "2016-08-16T23:04:45Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > TY all for the suggestions. > > To be a little more specific, I’m not into scifi per se. I’m also not looking for someone to be zipping around multiple time periods. More of going back to one particular time (voluntary or not) & how they relate to/deal with life in that era. Then I second the recommendations of _Time and Again_ (a classic, which also has mystery and romance elements) and _If I Never Get Back_ (provided you like baseball). ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2016, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/23 "2016-08-16T23:43:40Z")
_Lest Darkness Fall_, by L Sprague de Camp. > [@PastTense](#): > > Jack Finney. Time and Again > > [https://www.amazon.com/Time-Again-Jack-Finney/dp/0684801051/](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Again-Jack-Finney/dp/0684801051/) There’s a sequel: _From Time to Time_. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/24 "2016-08-17T20:27:09Z")
You might like H. Beam Piper’s _[Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen](https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Kalvan-Otherwhen-Beam-Piper/dp/0441490557)_ even though it’s technically not time travel. A Pennsylvania state trooper is accidentally picked up by a dimensional traveler, and dropped off on a parallel Earth that’s technologically still at a Renaissance level. His limited knowledge of science (in particular, the manufacture of gunpowder and firearms) makes him a very important man. Oh, and here’s another vote for Finney’s _Time and Again._ A friend of mine once described it as “science fiction for non-science fiction fans.” ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/25 "2016-08-18T01:10:43Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers > The Big Time, Fritz Leiber Seconding Anubis Gates. Not sci-fi, exactly. More of a steampunk fantasy but really, really good. Also recommending The Mummy, Or Ramsey The Damned by Ann Rice. In this, the mummy time travels to 1914 and must come to terms with that times, ah, times. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/26 "2016-08-18T01:20:19Z")
My wife likes “Time and Again”, and she hates SF. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/27 "2016-08-18T02:31:22Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Stephen King’s 11/22/1963 is a book I would recommend to anyone. Was a very good book. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/28 "2016-08-18T02:50:38Z")
Deborah Harkness’ \*All Souls Trilogy. \* The middle book especially fits the criteria of the OP exactly. Ignore the supernatural creature angle, it works in book and isn’t annoying. Jodi Taylor’s _Chronicles of St Mary’s_ fits the bill and the books are funny and a cracking good read all through. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/29 "2016-08-18T08:38:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Stephen King’s 11/22/1963 is a book I would recommend to anyone. Seconded. I couldn’t put it down. Although I believe it’s just called 11/22/63. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/30 "2016-08-18T12:15:26Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Stephen King’s 11/22/1963 is a book I would recommend to anyone. I agree. This was only my second King book, having only read Under the Dome previously (which wasn’t quite as stinky as the miniseries, but still boring). Still, I have to think I’d have found a better way to stop Oswald, such as calling the freaking Secret Service. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/31 "2016-08-18T13:08:05Z")
> [@Hocus\_Pocus](#): > > TY all for the suggestions. > > To be a little more specific, I’m not into scifi per se. I’m also not looking for someone to be zipping around multiple time periods. More of going back to one particular time (voluntary or not) & how they relate to/deal with life in that era. The best in that genre is probably the classic _Lest Darkness Fall_. [https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories/dp/161242015X/ref=sr\_1\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471525517&sr=1-1&keywords=lest+darkness+fall](https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories/dp/161242015X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471525517&sr=1-1&keywords=lest+darkness+fall) It is often cited as the inspiration for many, many modern authors. The set-up is very simple: a man who is an expert in Roman History gets zapped back to 5th century Rome, during the era of the invasion of Gothic Italy by the Byzantine general Belisarius … and attempts to actively change the course of history. It’s compulsive readable and sounds like exactly what you are looking for. Edit: the actual method of “zapping” isn’t explained. It just happens. So no science-fiction whatsoever (at least, not much). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/32 "2016-08-18T13:29:06Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > One of my favorite books is “If I Never Get Back” by Daryl Brock. A modern-day reporter travels back in time to hang out with one of the first professional baseball teams in 1869. It’s historical fiction as all the players are real. He also hangs out with Mark Twain. > > Erm…must love sports. A thousand times this. Not your standard time travel tale it’s great. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/33 "2016-08-18T13:36:40Z")
If you run across Leo Frankowski’s “The Cross Time Engineer”, keep on running. It is nothing but the most blatant masturbatory MarySue-ism ever put on paper. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/34 "2016-08-18T13:39:52Z")
Personally I think King’s _11/22/63_ became very long winded. The domestic problems of the Oswalds became tedious fairly quickly but it was still an enjoyable read. Years ago I really enjoyed Stanley Shapiro’s [A Time To Remember](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Remember-Stanley-Shapiro/dp/0394550315): David Russell, a Dallas schoolteacher is still in mourning for his older brother who was killed in Vietnam twenty years before. He meets eccentric physicist, Dr. Hendrik Koopman who has built a time machine. Russell convinces Dr. Koopman to send him back to November 22, 1963 so that he can stop Lee Harvey Oswald from killing Kennedy, certain that had JFK lived, there would have been no Vietnam War. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/35 "2016-08-18T15:20:47Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If you run across Leo Frankowski’s “The Cross Time Engineer”, keep on running. It is nothing but the most blatant masturbatory MarySue-ism ever put on paper. Aw, you’re just jealous because you couldn’t build a fleet of fighter planes in 13th-century Poland. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/36 "2016-08-18T16:30:15Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > The best in that genre is probably the classic _Lest Darkness Fall_. > > [https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories/dp/161242015X/ref=sr\_1\_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471525517&sr=1-1&keywords=lest+darkness+fall](https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories/dp/161242015X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471525517&sr=1-1&keywords=lest+darkness+fall) > > It is often cited as the inspiration for many, many modern authors. > > The set-up is very simple: a man who is an expert in Roman History gets zapped back to 5th century Rome, during the era of the invasion of Gothic Italy by the Byzantine general Belisarius … and attempts to actively change the course of history. > > It’s compulsive readable and sounds like exactly what you are looking for. > > Edit: the actual method of “zapping” isn’t explained. It just happens. So no science-fiction whatsoever (at least, not much). And it’s available in a nice collection with several stories that were inspired by it (including Pohl’s “The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass”) [https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories-ebook/dp/B004Q9U4S4#nav-subnav](https://www.amazon.com/Lest-Darkness-Fall-Related-Stories-ebook/dp/B004Q9U4S4#nav-subnav) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/37 "2016-08-18T16:39:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [To Say Nothing Of The Dog](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00309SCOE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) — oops, ninja’d! I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/38 "2016-08-18T17:07:13Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > Aw, you’re just jealous because > > you couldn’t build a fleet of fighter planes in 13th-century Poland. The Tiffany Aching stuff gets a bit Mary Sue-ish, but the only contender I know of for Frankowski’s title is the whole Mortal Instruments series, where the Mary Sue is named Claire and the author’s last name is CLARE. Move along, nothing to see here… ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/39 "2016-08-19T18:48:38Z")
If you don’t mind something that’s tongue-in-cheek and set a bit earlier than the range mentioned in the OP, there’s Harry Harrison’s _The Technicolor Time Machine_: a scientist gets funding for his time-travel experiments from a Hollywood producer whose goal is to shoot a drama about the Vikings’ discovery of Vinland (America)… on location, with real Vikings. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939/40 "2016-08-19T20:23:46Z")
**The Guns of the South** by Harry Turtledove, in which a group of people from the 1990’s go back to the American Civil War to help the South win. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-time-travel-books/762939.md?page=3)