# Time travel books that don't work out **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 26, 2025, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063 "2025-12-26T05:14:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2025, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/21 "2025-12-31T17:54:46Z")
There’s a very low budget movie called _Future '38_ which claims to be a recently rediscovered classic from 1938. Some scientists have recognized Hitler’s ambitions, and have invented a weapon which is so powerful that it it will dissuade him from launching any attacks. There’s one problem; the weapon relies on the rare Formica atom, which becomes more powerful over time, and will require 80 years to be potent enough. They lock the atom in a vault and sent intrepid hero Jack Essex 80 years into the future to unlock the vault, collect the atom, and return. If he fails, World War II will take place. He has 12 hours. Unfortunately, by 2018 the building with the vault has become the German consulate. Essex arrives on the same evening that Adolf’s son, Lamont Hitler is hosting a reception, and eager to stop Essex’s mission which led to decades of German weakness and humiliation. All of which is really just a backdrop for a fish-out-of-water comedy of how the past got some things right about the future, and some things hilariously wrong. It’s worth a watch. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/22 "2026-01-01T00:36:32Z")
Thanks for all the suggestions. I’ll be taking a look. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2026, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/23 "2026-01-01T02:51:52Z")
Newton’s Gift by Paul Nahin (who eventually wrote a non-fiction book about time travel) ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/24 "2026-01-01T08:00:04Z")
Was there a story, or did I dream it, about a time machine used as punishment like prison? A person gets sentenced to 5 years, then put in a time machine and they come out 5 years older seconds later. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/25 "2026-01-01T08:23:08Z")
Are you thinking of “The House of If” by Barry Longyear, or perhaps the Star Trek DS9 episode “Hard Time” S4 E19, in which O’Brien was sentenced to such a prison term? In both stories, the prison time was served in a mental simulation run at a high time compression factor rather than a time machine, but the effect was similar. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/26 "2026-01-01T08:53:01Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > Was there a story, or did I dream it, about a time machine used as punishment like prison? A person gets sentenced to 5 years, then put in a time machine and they come out 5 years older seconds later. Sounds a bit like (the opposite of) Stephen King’s “The Jaunt”, but this story is not about an intentional punishment but rather a terrible unintended side-effect of teleportation technology. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/27 "2026-01-01T10:20:50Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Adolf’s son, Lamont Hitler is hosting a reception, Lamont Hitler? Is he played by Demond Wilson? ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/28 "2026-01-01T10:40:26Z")
Sounds like _Black Mirror_ to me, except that was orders of magnitude longer. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/29 "2026-01-01T12:16:36Z")
Not a book, but the TV show _Travellers_ is about this, from the point of view of the time travellers trying to fix things. Thousands of travellers are sent back to try to prevent the complete global environmental collapse that has wiped out most of the biosphere, and despite mostly succeeding in their individual missions, things in the future just keep getting worse. They eventually trigger a full-scale nuclear war years earlier than was “supposed” to happen in their original timeline. One of the current-day people who knows what they’re doing actually calls them out on it, saying all they did was make thing worse. Eventually the entity in charge of it all executes a complete wipe of the program, with the implication that it will try again with a new strategy, setting up a possible reboot series. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/30 "2026-01-01T13:02:52Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > Sounds a bit like (the opposite of) Stephen King’s “The Jaunt”, but this story is not about an intentional punishment but rather a terrible unintended side-effect of teleportation technology. This story screwed me up as a child. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/31 "2026-01-01T13:24:40Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > Was there a story, or did I dream it, about a time machine used as punishment like prison? A person gets sentenced to 5 years, then put in a time machine and they come out 5 years older seconds later. Saw this in a Superman comic from the ‘70s! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/32 "2026-01-01T14:31:19Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Lamont Hitler? > > Is he played by Demond Wilson? No, but I did recognize the actor from an episode of _Law & Order_. As I said, very low budget, but there are a few familiar faces. Ethan Phillips and Sean Young have small roles, and there’s an intro by Neil deGrasse Tyson. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/33 "2026-01-01T14:40:02Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > No, but I did recognize the actor from an episode of _Law & Order_. As I said, very low budget, but there are a few familiar faces. Ethan Phillips and Sean Young have small roles, and there’s an intro by Neil deGrasse Tyson Betty Gilpin! ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/34 "2026-01-01T15:01:51Z")
Yes, although I haven’t seen her in anything else, but I’ve heard that she’s done other roles. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/35 "2026-01-01T15:20:35Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > No, but I did recognize the actor from an episode of _Law & Order_. “[He looks like a mama’s boy!](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0629339/quotes/?ref_=tttrv_sa_3)” (Can’t link to the specific quote) He’s a repeat offender, both mothership and CI. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/36 "2026-01-01T15:27:21Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > James P. Hogan wrote a short story where a time travelers goes back to kill Hitler, He also made a novel called The Proteus Operation that is about time travel and changing the past but they realize they are just going into alternate timelines and they can’t change anything. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/37 "2026-01-01T16:48:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > His [L. Sprague de Camp’s] classic novel **Lest Darkness Fall** is a case of the opposite result – his hero Martin Padway prevents the Fall of the Roman Empire. As I recall, Padway actually falls through a time warp (no time machine in that book) to a period somewhat after the fall of the West Roman Empire. The Ostrogoths are ruling Italy when he gets there, which is in the 6th century IIRC. So no saving the Roman Empire. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/38 "2026-01-01T17:09:38Z")
All these stories make me wonder. Which idea has been the subject of the **most** time travel stories? Killing Hitler Germans winning WW2 Saving JFK Saving Lincoln Something else entirely? ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/39 "2026-01-01T17:54:34Z")
A portion of _The Last Temptation of Christ_ has Jesus making choices that lead to him living an “ordinary” life, getting married and having sex and having children, and finally growing old. It’s not a time travel machine per se, but an alternate look at a different timeline. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2026, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/40 "2026-01-01T17:58:32Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > All these stories make me wonder. Which idea has been the subject of the **most** time travel stories? > > Killing Hitler > Germans winning WW2 > Saving JFK > Saving Lincoln > Something else entirely? “Germans winning WW2” I think. Saving JFK is niche, Lincoln almost as much and killing Hitler doesn’t have as much story potential as the Nazis winning does. Especially given the modern fetish for dystopias. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063.md?page=3)