About this title: From the winner of the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel comes this provocative story of a man who stumbles upon the discovery of a lifetime. After a laboratory calibrator turns into a time machine, lab assistant Matt Fuller has nothing to lose by taking the trip himself--or so he thinks.
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Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: New. Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas. GREAT BUY. Brand New From US Distributor. WE ARE A 5 STAR SELLER with OVER 3, 500, 000 BOOKS SOLD. read more
Description: Very Good. 0441016162 Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ace Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780441014996ISBN:0441014992
Description: As New in As New jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Pages are clean and unmarked. Cover corners and edges are unmarred. Binding is tight. 278pp. read more
Edition: 2nd Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ace Books, New York
Date Published: 2007
Description: Fine in Fine jacket. 6.5 x 9.5 hard cover book. Tan lettering on the red dust jacket spine with a color illustrated cover. A provocative novel of a man who stumbles upon the discovery of a lifetime-or many lifetimes. 278 pages. 2nd printing. Clean with tight binding in Fine/Fine condition. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Ace Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780441014996ISBN:0441014992
Description: Fine in Very Good jacket. Printers line 10 through 1. This book is in fine condition. The binding is tight and pages are clean. It appears to have not had use. The dust jacket is in very good condition with minor bumps and scuffs. read more
Description: Good. Used Condition-GOOD can be a well cared for Book that is in great condition to a Book that may show some signs of wear. GOOD Books sometimes are permanently marked; have some spine or page creases; exibit signs of aging or an ExLibrary copy. ** Sometimes grease pencil or permanent marking on cover. May contain limited notes and or highlighting. 100% Satisfaction guaranteed on all purchases. ** SHIPS FROM USA-Domestic Delivery takes 5-14 days ** read more
Description: Very Good. Previously read with moderate shelf wear. No underlining or margin notes present. We are the Twin Cities' largest independent book store. read more
Edition: Reprint
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: ACE CHARTER
Date Published: 2008
ISBN-13:9780441016167ISBN:0441016162
Description: New. From the winner of the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel comes this provocative story of a man who stumbles upon the discovery of a lifetime. After a laboratory calibrator turns into a time machine, lab assistant Matt Fuller has nothing to lose by tak... read more
"After reading another time travel book by Joe Haldeman, 'The Forever War' and absolutely loving it, I figured I'd give 'The Accidental Time Machine' a shot. Although not as entertaining or as illuminating his classic, it was fun trip through space and time. The story follows a young graduate student as he accidentally invents a time machine and begins to jump into the future. However, he soon discovers that it can't do the one thing he wants, return to the past. And the further he gets into the future, the stranger the world becomes. But likewise, unfortunately, the story becomes duller the deeper the reader journeys into these bizarre worlds.
My major beef with the book was how entertaining it was in the beginning. The first half of this book was truly amazing, great characters, terrific build up, and extremely well written. Then, it fell flat. Instead of being a sophisticated three (or four) dimensional sci-fi story, it became clichéd and childlike (especially the tedious sex/religion discussions). It was a huge change in tone, for what had been so great up to that point. Likewise, there were some plotting elements which were never resolved and the relationship between the two protagonists was dull and forced. And the ending left much to be desired. It was as though two authors had written this story, the marvelous first half and the tepid second. Although I don't want to give the impression that the story was horrible, instead it just didn't live up to the terrific beginning. It was a fun read, although disappointing in the end."
"I liked this book from the beginning, when Matt accidentally discovered his time machine, and tested it to see how it behaved, and learned to predict its behavior. He has no control over it, other than pressing a button and seeing when (and where) it goes.
However, The Accidental Time Machine doesn't really come together until Matt starts to travel forward in time.
The strength of this book is in the future worlds in creates. They aren't like anything I imagined, but I found them entirely plausible, and very interesting to consider.
The characters were interesting enough. Personal growth wasn't the emphasis of the novel, and they filled their roles adequately. Neither was this a book about detailed plot or spectacular writing. I have no complaints in any of these areas.
All in all, I found this an interesting, well-executed book."
"It's 2057 and Matt Fuller is a postgrad student in chronophysics at MIT. He's essentially given up on his thesis and works as an assistant to Professor Marsh, and his girlfriend Kara has just dumped him. Having constructed a calibrating machine for the professor's work, Matt hits the "reset" button and watches it blink out of existence, only to return before anyone but him notices. The second time he presses it, it disappears for ten seconds. Kidnapping the machine, he takes it home and pursues some experiments, figuring out that the machine time travels - first it was one second, then 10, then 170 and then 2073 seconds.
By the time he gets up to three days, he's attached a turtle and a camera to it and tries again. This time the metal machine has shifted off its wooden base, as well. The camera shows nothing but some grey static for a short time, and the turtle hasn't been gone long enough, in its own time reference, to need water, food or sleep. The clock he had attached shows it was gone for only a minute.
Matt calculates that the next time jump will be for 39 days and a bigger distance, and decides to go with it. He needs a metal cage, and borrows an old Ford from his drug-dealer friend Denny. Reappearing a minute later, in his own time, to create a traffic accident, Matt's arrested for the murder of Denny, who died when he saw the car vanish in front of his drug-addled eyes.
When his million-dollar bail is paid by someone who looks like him and who sends him a message, Get in the car and go!, Matt jumps forward in time over 170 years, only to find that the world is a very different place and he's no closer to finding a civilisation that can help him go back in time to bail himself out of jail. The only thing he can do is keep moving forward in time.
This book has plenty of promise, but is disappointingly flat. Matt is a non-entity - in fact, none of the characters are fleshed out much and simply function as plot devices, vehicles through which to move the story forward. Which is ironic, since the story is the characters and can't exist without them.
I couldn't even tell you what they looked like. Not a big deal, but a good writer will create a fully realised and very real character through their personality, their dialogue, their choices, and so you get a very real sense of them without details like what colour hair they have etc. Sadly, Matt doesn't have much of a personality, or charisma, or attributes that make you care one way or the other.
The other disappointing aspect of the novel is the time travelling itself. While there is a bit of a creepy, almost scary atmosphere - jumping forward so far that humans don't even exist anymore tends to make me feel pretty melancholy and blah - it's wasn't terribly imaginative, and lacks realism because it presupposes certain things, such as a very stable environment, for which there is every indication we have royally screwed up.
While there is one neat little twist at the very end, to do with genealogy, the big glaring "who paid Matt's bail and how?" question was never fully resolved. Oh, there's a trite explanation, but I was left feeling way more confused than before.
By the end of the novel, I was feeling quite apathetic towards the whole story. What was the point? What message did it convey? I'd say there are a few "messages" concerning the human condition and the fundamental laws of physics etc., but I really didn't care enough to bother thinking about them. I could tell that they were there, but unlike some other books with similar themes, or potent "messages", I couldn't help but think that I could spend oh so many minutes thinking about it, and deduce nothing original from it.
I didn't mind the book while I was reading it, though it took longer than it should have, being short and simply enough written. Now that I'm writing this review and all the negatives are coming out, I'm going to have to revise my rating of 3 and give it a 2: it was okay, just okay."
"This book had a fast start and was a quick read, but the story plateaued about mid-way and faded at the end. What I thought was going to be a good book turned out to be a disappointment.
Haldeman's writing style is fluid and moves at a fast pace. He provides a great hook at the opening and the reader is drawn into the story.
He touches on many interesting themes -- religion, science, relationships, environment, etc. -- yet none become fully developed. The same with the civilizations in the various time periods that are visited. We get a glimpse of the cultures, but none of the "whys" and no in-depth exploration of the issues.
Matt, the protagonist, just kind of drifts through the story. I don't see his motivation or his growth to overcome conflict. I'm not certain what the conflict was, anyway. The only tension that existed was about how were he and Martha going to be able to travel backward in time to return home -- and you knew very early on that traveling backward in time was possible because it had already been done.
I believe there is a major paradox unresolved, that of the person who bailed Matt out of jail. If Matt had not been bailed by himself from the future, how would he have been able to travel to the future in the first place?
Nor could I buy in to the rather simple method of time travel that resulted from a chance fabricating error in the manufacture of a calibrator. A machine that only Matt could activate.
The relationship between Matt and Martha didn't really develop until the very end when much of the story was completed in narrative form.
Oh well, it was a pleasant read, but not a pivotal book."
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