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The Time Machine
The Time Machine
Dec 1, 2025 5:00 AM

Author:H G Wells,Brian Cox

The Time Machine

Penguin Classics presents H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, adapted for audio and now available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by the actor Brian Cox.

'Great shapes like big machines rose out of the dimness, and cast grotesque black shadows, in which dim spectral Morlocks sheltered from the glare'

Chilling, prophetic and hugely influential, The Time Machine sees a Victorian scientist propel himself into the year 802,701 AD, where he is delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty and contentment in the form of the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man. But he soon realises that they are simply remnants of a once-great culture - now weak and living in terror of the sinister Morlocks lurking in the deep tunnels, who threaten his very return home.

H. G. Wells defined much of modern science fiction with this 1895 tale of time travel, which questions humanity, society, and our place on Earth.

Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.

Reviews

Maybe our generation has found its Don Delillo

—— Bret Easton Ellis

This is a wild ride of a novel

—— Booklist

A clever, comical pell-mell through gender politics and stereotyped expectations, to explore the extremes of will-power, and of living as one wishes

—— John Lloyd , thebookbag.co.uk

Readers can either disregard the author and read it in the conventional way or follow his instructions and jump to the chapter you are told. The thrill of defiance in the former almost matches the same show-like excitement of the latter – both are exhilarating and rewarding options

—— Antonia Charlesworth , Big Issue

Twelve years on, Palahniuk revisits this work – mashing up its linear narrative to recreate the pre-Internet thrill of flicking through Vogue or the Sears catalogue

—— Emma Hagestadt , Independent

With its nonlinear format and instructions to jump from one chapter to another, this book might appear to be style over substance, but that’s the point: if you don’t want to look beyond the style, whether its ugly or beautiful, you’ll never find out what’s beneath

—— Claire Looby , Irish Times
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