# Recommend me some good SF involving time travel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361 "2005-09-06T16:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/1 "2005-09-06T16:51:21Z")
I have a fascination for all things time travel. I like my SF to be realistic, plausible, and based on hard science. Based on this, others have recommended Heinlein, but I read “Number of the Beast” and found it rather dull. Others have recommended Larry Niven - has he written any good TT books? As a genre, I prefer SF that is “reality-based”. i.e., not some weird, distant future that I can’t relate to. One of my favorite time travel movies was “Primer”, which is striking in how banal it is. Anyone have any favorites they’d recommend? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/2 "2005-09-06T17:13:10Z")
**Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus** by Orson Scott Card **Island in the Sea of Time** by SM Stirling **Replay** by Ken Grimwood Three very different types of time travel books, each quite good in its own way. Read up on them on [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) to find out more, as I don’t have the energy to give lengthier explanations right now. ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/3 "2005-09-06T17:26:51Z")
Heinlein’s “Door into summer” has a pretty well-done time travel plot halfway through it. Or through the whole book, if you count frozen hibernation as one-way time travel. Koontz’s “Lightning” is a pretty interesting one too. Basically, time travel only works when going into the future. The Nazis developed it in WWII, and tried using it to gather intel and supplies to win the war. It switches between the early 40’s and present day. I don’t think Niven has explicitly covered time travel, except for situations from dilation during near-lightspeed travel (which is one-way). ---
**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:** [September 6, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/4 "2005-09-06T17:34:57Z")
Niven wrote a series of fantasy short stories (under the umbrella category of “Svetz,” the name of his time traveller), all involving time travel. I’ll second **Replay** and also mention David Gerrold’s **The Man who Folded Himself** , Michael Bishop’s **No Enemy But Time** , John Varley’s **Millenneum** (don’t see the movie), and Tim Bishop’s **The Anubis Gates**. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/5 "2005-09-06T17:42:45Z")
Please don’t let Number of the Beast put you off Heinlein. If you can find the short stories “By His Bootstraps” and “–All You Zombies–”, they are superb time travel stories. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/6 "2005-09-06T17:45:27Z")
Varley’s _Mammoth_ just came out. It’s pretty good, and he also has the protaganist take a swipe at _Millenium_. Funny. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/7 "2005-09-06T17:48:36Z")
Jack Finney’s Time and Again and From Time to Time. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/8 "2005-09-06T17:52:04Z")
My favorite time travel stories are L. Sprague de Camp’s **Lest Darkness Fall** , the best “Modern Man Goes back in Time with modern technology” since Mark Twain’s **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court**. I also highly recommend Harry Turtledove’s **Guns of the South**. Robert Silverburg’s **Up the Line** is good, too. Robert L. Forward’s **timeMaster** was an attempt to write a modern time-travel story consistent with modern physics, by a research physicist. Worth looking into, but not one of my faves. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/9 "2005-09-06T17:54:07Z")
Oh, yeah – de Camp wrote **a Gun for Dinosaur** as a response to Bradbury’s **The Sound of Thunder** (just about to come out as a not-very-faithful movie). It sat on its own for many years, but deCamp finally wrote a series of sequels. They’ve all been collected as the book **Rivers of Time**. I also suggest James P. Hogan’s **The Proteus Project**. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/10 "2005-09-06T17:59:44Z")
[**The Anubis Gates**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0441004016/104-4495920-3387153?v=glance) is by Tim Powers, not Bishop. I haven’t read it but really liked Powers **The Drawing of the Dark** and **Expiration Date**. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/11 "2005-09-06T18:01:16Z")
BTW, neither **The Drawing of the Dark** nor **Expiration Date** involve time travel. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/12 "2005-09-06T18:02:21Z")
I enjoyed Michael Crichton’s **Timeline**. The movie version doesn’t do it justice. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/13 "2005-09-06T18:04:41Z")
Kage Baker’s series about the Company, starting with (and you should definitely start at the beginning) **In the Garden of Iden**. Pay no mind to the silly title. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/14 "2005-09-06T18:15:18Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think Niven has explicitly covered time travel, except for situations from dilation during near-lightspeed travel (which is one-way). _Dude_, you haven’t read near enough of his stuff. Not only did he write “The Theory and Practuice of Time Travel” and “Time Travel Using nfinite Rotating Cylinders” (or whatever the title is) , but all of the stories in **The Flight of the Horse** and **Rainbow Mars** (there’s a considerable overlap, I’ll grant, but the title story is the important one) are time travel stories. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/15 "2005-09-06T18:29:36Z")
> [@sciguy](#): > > Koontz’s “Lightning” is a pretty interesting one too. Basically, time travel only works when going into the future. The Nazis developed it in WWII, and tried using it to gather intel and supplies to win the war. It switches between the early 40’s and present day. Why recommend it when you completely spoiled the twist ending? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![sciguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/16 "2005-09-06T18:41:42Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > _Dude_, you haven’t read near enough of his stuff. > > Not only did he write “The Theory and Practuice of Time Travel” and “Time Travel Using nfinite Rotating Cylinders” (or whatever the title is) , but all of the stories in **The Flight of the Horse** and **Rainbow Mars** (there’s a considerable overlap, I’ll grant, but the title story is the important one) are time travel stories. Well, “Theory and Practice” and “Rotating Cylinders” were essays rather than stories, so I thought they wouldn’t qualify Although now that it’s been mentioned, the Svetz stories are registering a vague familiarity. > [@middleman](#): > > Why recommend it when you completely spoiled the twist ending? > > :smack: Ouch. I thought that was revealed pretty early in the book. My apologies. :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/17 "2005-09-06T18:48:25Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Jack Finney’s Time and Again and From Time to Time. Seconded. Jack Finney is the only time-travel writer I can stomach. Look for some of his early short stories, too. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/18 "2005-09-06T18:50:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, “Theory and Practice” and “Rotating Cylinders” were essays rather than stories, so I thought they wouldn’t qualify Although now that it’s been mentioned, the Svetz stories are registering a vague familiarity. Bzzzt! “Rotating Cylinders” was a story, not an essay. And I’ll let even essays slide by if they’re as entertaining as the two in Niven’s **All the Myriad Ways**. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/19 "2005-09-06T19:01:07Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Bzzzt! “Rotating Cylinders” was a story, not an essay. And I’ll let even essays slide by if they’re as entertaining as the two in Niven’s **All the Myriad Ways**. Not time travel related but worth a mention is “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” wherein Niven considers the effect of Superman’s supersonic, invulnerable ejaculate upon Lois Lane. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361/20 "2005-09-06T19:04:22Z")
> [@middleman](#): > > Why recommend it when you completely spoiled the twist ending? > > :smack: The Time Traveler’s Wife was a pretty good recent one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-sf-involving-time-travel/320361.md?page=2)