# Recommend a time travel book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657 "2012-08-06T20:57:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dingbang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/1 "2012-08-06T20:57:14Z")
A while back I read and enjoyed Stephen King’s 11/22/63, which is all about time travelling back to stop the Kennedy assassination. It was pretty good and unlike most King stories, didn’t end with a giant spider. What I enjoyed most about it was the time travel and all the interesting questions and problems that arose. Can you recommend another novel that centers on time travel? (I read All Clear by Connie Willis, but didn’t particularly enjoy it. The time travel aspect seemed secondary to the rest of the story.) ---
**Author:** ![sliv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sliv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sliv)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/2 "2012-08-06T21:04:17Z")
I highly recommend “The Anubis Gates” by Tim Powers, which artfully blends magic & technology and has time travel back to the 19th Century. Excellent stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/3 "2012-08-06T21:04:55Z")
_The Man Who Folded Himself_ by David Gerrold pretty much covers it all. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/4 "2012-08-06T21:09:06Z")
Well there’s always \*\*The Time Machine \*\*by HG Wells. Really great and an easy read. \*\*Replay \*\*is an excellent book about a guy who can go back to a certain time - where he can try different approaches to modify the future. Sounds like Groundhog Day, the movie, but it is very different and very good. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/5 "2012-08-06T21:09:58Z")
Mists of Dawn. Written in 1952. I read this as a youngster and then again as an adult. I think it still holds up well. > **[Mists of Dawn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mists_of_Dawn)** > > Mists of Dawn is a juvenile science fiction novel by science fiction writer and anthropologist Chad Oliver first published in 1952 by John C. Winston, Co. as a part of the Winston Science Fiction series of juvenile novels. The story follows the adventures of adolescent Mark Nye when he is accidentally transported to the Stone Age by his uncle's time machine. It includes a factual foreword on the science of anthropology and how Oliver uses this science in the telling of his story. > Dr. Robert Nye,... ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/6 "2012-08-06T21:24:10Z")
Jack Finney’s _Time and Again_ and _From Time to Time_, he also has some short story collections that are mostly time travel themed. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/7 "2012-08-06T21:30:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _The Man Who Folded Himself_ by David Gerrold pretty much covers it all. +1 Prolly the single best time travel book I’ve read. The “updates” to the ebook really pissed me off, tho For movies, [Primer](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390384/) has no equal. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/8 "2012-08-06T21:33:49Z")
It’s not to historic times, but my favorite time travel novel is Clifford Simak’s Mastodonia. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/9 "2012-08-06T21:47:51Z")
[Replay](http://books.google.com/books?id=3S37vpzASg0C&lpg=PP1&ots=35zOs81Tr3&dq=Replay&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Replay&f=false) is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/10 "2012-08-06T21:52:00Z")
[Only Revolutions by Mark Z Danielewski](http://www.amazon.com/Only-Revolutions-Mark-Z-Danielewski/dp/B001M5UIVI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344289809&sr=8-1&keywords=only+revolutions+danielewski) Sam: They were with us before Romeo & Juliet. And long after too. Because they’re forever around. Or so both claim, carolling gleefully: We’re allways sixteen. Sam & Hailey, powered by an ever-rotating fleet of cars, from Model T to Lincoln Continental, career from the Civil War to the Cold War, barrelling down through the Appalachians, up the Mississippi River, across the Badlands, finally cutting a nation in half as they try to outrace History itself. By turns beguiling and gripping, finally worldwrecking, Only Revolutions is unlike anything ever published before, a remarkable feat of heart and intellect, moving us with the journey of two kids, perpetually of summer, perpetually sixteen, who give up everything except each other. Hailey: They were with us before Tristan & Isolde. And long after too. Because they’re forever around. Or so both claim, gleefully carolling: We’re allways sixteen. Hailey & Sam, powered by an ever-rotating fleet of cars, from Shelby Mustang to Sumover Linx, careen from the Civil Rights Movement to the Iraq War, tearing down to New Orleans, up the Mississippi River, across Montana, finally cutting a nation in half as they try to outrace History itself. By turns enticing and exhilarating, finally breathtaking, Only Revolutions is unlike anything ever conceived before, a remarkable feat of heart and intellect, moving us with the journey of two kids, perpetually of summer, perpetually sixteen, who give up everything except each other. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/11 "2012-08-06T22:03:03Z")
> [@standingwave](#): > > [Replay](http://books.google.com/books?id=3S37vpzASg0C&lpg=PP1&ots=35zOs81Tr3&dq=Replay&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=Replay&f=false) is awesome. I came in to recommend this. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/12 "2012-08-06T22:24:36Z")
Since you like details and implications, you might enjoy the Conrad Stargard series, about a 20th century engineer who finds himself in 13th century Poland, and begins modernizing that society. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/13 "2012-08-06T22:36:01Z")
_Up the Line_ by Robert Silverberg _Millennium_ by John Varley _The Empire of Time_ by Crawford Kilian _The Door Into Summer_ by Robert Heinlein ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/14 "2012-08-06T23:40:47Z")
I agree with **Replay** and **The Man Who Folded Himself**. Other good choices: **No Enemy But Time** by Michael Bishop **Kindred** by Octavia Butler **Fire Watch** by Connie Willis **Millennium** by John Varley ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/15 "2012-08-07T05:07:21Z")
A Wrinkle In Time. 🙂 To quote from Wikipedia: “A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy[1] novel by Madeleine L’Engle, first published in 1962.[2] The story revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.[3] It is the first in L’Engle’s series of books about the Murry and O’Keefe families.” ---
**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:** [August 7, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/16 "2012-08-07T12:03:59Z")
Highly recommended – **Lest Darkness Fall** by L. Sprague de Camp. Archaeologist finds himself in ancient Rome at the time of the Fall of the Empire. He learns to support himself first, then tries to prevent the Hall. de Camp also wrote other time travel short stories. _Aristotle and the Gun_ has a physicist from Brookhaven going back in time to try to convince Arisatotle to be more practical. _A Gun for Dinosaur_ was his response to Ray Bradbury’s _A Sound of Thunder_. He eventually wrote a whole series of time travel stories using the same characters, collcgted as **Rivers of Time** **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** by Mark Twain – the original time-travel novel, and still worthwhile. James Hogan’s **The Proteus Operation** takes that classic idea, time travellers trying to change the outcome of WWII, and does a deceny job of it. It’s also the only time travel novel I know of where the author got permission from surviving people depicted in bhis novel to use them as characters. For that matter, Harry Turtlefove’s **Guns of the South** is an excellent trying-to-chyange-the-outcome-of-the-Civil-War novel. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/17 "2012-08-07T12:14:35Z")
Another nod to **Replay** ; available for the kindle at $9.99. There is also one other book that I think you will like, but it doesn’t get published until 2019, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/18 "2012-08-07T12:30:45Z")
Another vote for _Replay_, as well. It’s the first book where, as soon as I read the last page, I immediately flipped back to the first page and started reading the book all over again. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/19 "2012-08-07T13:21:48Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > A Wrinkle In Time. 🙂 > To quote from Wikipedia: “A Wrinkle in Time is a science fantasy[1] novel by Madeleine L’Engle, first published in 1962.[2] The story revolves around a young girl whose father, a government scientist, has gone missing after working on a mysterious project called a tesseract. The book won a Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award, and Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.[3] It is the first in L’Engle’s series of books about the Murry and O’Keefe families.” It’s been awhile since I’ve read it, but if memory serves, _A Wrinkle In Time_ is not really a time-travel novel—although its later sequel, _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, is. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657/20 "2012-08-07T13:31:43Z")
I found [The Accidental Time Machine](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441014992?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links) by Joe Haldeman to be a lot of fun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-time-travel-book/630657.md?page=2)