# Which time travel book should I read next? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2003, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756 "2003-05-07T20:49:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/21 "2003-05-08T04:25:54Z")
No one has yet mentioned Orson Scott Card’s _Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus_, which I greatly enjoyed. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/22 "2003-05-08T04:51:32Z")
_The Shield of Time_ by Poul Anderson is not too bad; a little melodramatic, I suppose, and it reads like a Heinlein juvenile, but it can make for a diverting afternoon. Just beware of some endlessly redundant exposition. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/23 "2003-05-08T05:17:07Z")
I’ll second the nominations of Stirling’s Nantucket trilogy and Silverberg’s _Up the Line_. _Empire of Time_ by Crawford Killian is an entertaining time travel book that hasn’t been mentioned yet. You’ll have to find it in a used bookstore though; it’s been out of print for several years. Vernor Vinge’s _Marooned in Realtime_ is an excellent novel about a sort of time travel. Also out of print, but it’s included in an omnibus edition called _Across Realtime_. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/24 "2003-05-08T05:28:01Z")
I am not a big fan of Dean Koontz, but I did enjoy his _Lightning_, an action/thriller dealing with time travel. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/25 "2003-05-08T05:29:30Z")
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Yeah, there’s romance, but the time travel aspect is very well done. I would say that’s a nifty historical drama with some time travel and romance thrown in. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/26 "2003-05-08T05:38:24Z")
Add two votes for _Doomsday Book_ and _Pastwatch_ (me and **genie** ). ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/27 "2003-05-08T05:39:34Z")
_The Dancers at the End of Time_ by Michael Moorcock isn’t really _about_ time travel, but it is relevant. There’s a brief review [here](http://www.sfsite.com/09b/dan41.htm). I’ll also put in a word for the Connie Willis books mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/28 "2003-05-08T05:46:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Opus1 \* > \*\*No one has yet mentioned Orson Scott Card’s _Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus_, which I greatly enjoyed. \*\* I was going to, if someone else hadn’t. Since you did, I’ll just agree. It’s my favorite Card book after _Ender’s Game_. I also quite liked _Doomsday Book_. ---
**Author:** ![Grousser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Grousser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grousser)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/29 "2003-05-08T06:21:21Z")
**The End of Eternity** , by Isaac Asimov. The good doctor used to write mostly about robots, but this one is a trepidant -and sometimes creepy- hell of a time travel and time fixing novel. At certain points, it made me shiver to the bone. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/30 "2003-05-08T07:41:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*Everyone, please tell me if you enjoyed that series. I’m not usually a reader of fiction, let alone time-travel fiction, but I was intrigued because of my love of history. \*\* **Lissa** was speaking of 1632 and 1633, the continuing story of a West Virginia town that is transported to Germany during the Thirty Years War. Yes, I liked them both very much. There’s a lot of the “what if” ideas, because the people of Grantville have foreknowledge of a sorts about events to come. Of course, as soon as they start interacting with the world at large those events may or may not happen. Just think, if Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, was not killed in battle when _our_ history says he was, how would that have changed history? And sure, the people of Grantville have cars and electricity and rifled firearms, and that will give them an edge, but they are well aware that when the _lightbulbs_ won’t last forever. And imagine the frustration of a 21st century doctor that has run out of antibiotics. All in all, try the books. I am looking forward to 1634: The Baltic War. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/31 "2003-05-08T12:26:34Z")
I wish you’d read [Elleander Morning](http://members.aol.com/leahj/elleand.htm#2000) by Jerry Yulsman. I’ve mentioned it before in Time Travel threads, but haven’t had any feedback on it. I think you’d like it. It is _not_ hard science fiction. Yulsman doesn’t sweat paradoxes or concentrate at all on the mechanics of time travel. It’s a fascinating book – especially in its glimpses of a present in which WWII never took place. It’s out of print, but you ought to be able to find it at your library, or through a library loan. Or there are several cheap (less than $10 for HC, or $5 for paperback) copies at [abebooks](http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookSearch?ph=2&an=yulsman&tn=elleander). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Harrison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5ac83/32.png) [@John\_Harrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Harrison)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/32 "2003-05-08T13:45:10Z")
The Proteus Operation and Thrice Upon a Time by James Hogan ---
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/33 "2003-05-08T14:00:25Z")
I’d add another vote for both 1632/1633 and S.M Stirling’s Island on the Sea of Time series. Both S.M. Stirling and Eric Flint have done some serious research to get the historical settings “as right as possible.” Both series also capture more of the military/political sweep of the time period better than most simple time travel stories. You can actually read an eBook of 1632 for free [here](http://www.baen.com/library/). ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/34 "2003-05-08T14:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NameAlreadyTaken \* > \*\*You can actually read an eBook of 1632 for free [here](http://www.baen.com/library/). \*\* Thanks for that! I’m always looking for new eBooks. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/35 "2003-05-08T14:30:23Z")
**The Technicolor Time Machine** by Harry Harrison One of my all-time favorites. Harrison at his colorful (technicolorful?) best. Also there’s a whole series: **The Time Patrol** by Poul Anderson Good stuff, much (?) of it based in the Norse legends that Anderson loves so well. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Ketch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@Jack\_Ketch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Ketch)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/36 "2003-05-08T14:57:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*Everyone, please tell me if you enjoyed that series. I’m not usually a reader of fiction, let alone time-travel fiction, but I was intrigued because of my love of history. \*\* About 1632 , I enjoyed the book a great deal. It’s an easy read, really. My only complaint is that the class warfare is a little overplayed. The protagonist is the head of a local union. Still, it was a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/37 "2003-05-08T16:28:16Z")
Let me second the nomination for _The Man Who Folded Himself_ and add John Varley’s _Millennium_, which is one of my favorite novels of all times, time travel or not. Just don’t watch the horrible movie made from it starring Kris Kristopherson (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/38 "2003-05-08T17:43:20Z")
Rats, **vibrotronica** beat me to _Millenium_. Varley is awesome. I don’t think I’ve seen _Timescape_ by Gregory Benford mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/39 "2003-05-08T17:59:33Z")
A third vote here for Silverberg’s “Up the Line” one of the finest time travel stories you will read. The probability of existence is a great theme. “Millenium”, the book, is good and funny. Does anyone remember a story called “Replay?” Can’t remember author. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756/40 "2003-05-08T18:00:57Z")
Of course the OP mentions “Replay” “Doink” (sound of hand smacking forehead) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-time-travel-book-should-i-read-next/173756.md?page=3)