# 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:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**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, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/41 "2026-01-01T18:30:51Z")
The Western Empire has fallen but the culture and learning hasn’t been destroyed yet by the attempts of the Eastern Empire to reclaim Italy, and that’s what Padway wants to prevent ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/42 "2026-01-01T19:17:42Z")
Vienna, Austria. 1. 4 for 1? > **[Vienna 1913 - Home of the Dictators who Shaped the 20th Century | The Vintage...](https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/29/vienna-1913/)** > > Vienna has been one of the world's great cities for centuries. It was an early outpost of Western Christianity in the Middle Ages and became the capital ---
**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:** [January 1, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/43 "2026-01-01T22:20:41Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > 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. Padway thought he was saving the Roman Empire (and the people there still thought of it as Rome). Otherwise the title doesn’t really make any sense. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063/44 "2026-01-01T22:21:41Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > 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. One thing I love about _The Proteus Operation_ is that Hogan approached all the people still alive that appear in his book (like Isaac Asimov) and got their permission to use them as characters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-books-that-dont-work-out/1026063.md?page=2)