The Winds of Time

by Chad Oliver

Classic science fiction novel, first published by Doubleday in 1957; this is a trade paperback edition. A unique plot element sets the story in 15000 years ago, a small group of space-traveling aliens crash on Earth; their ship hopelessly damaged. They place themselves in suspended animation, expecting to awaken in the future when Earth has developed its own technology for spaceflight. But they awaken 200 years too early...

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Time Travel

153 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1957

About the author

Symmes Chadwick Oliver (30 March 1928–9 August 1993) was an award winning science fiction and Western writer and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin. He was also one of the founders of the Turkey City Writer's Workshop.

Reviews

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Ветровете на времето“ е страхотна и мъдра научнофантастична история, която силно ми въздейства!

Преди хиляди години на Земята са пристигнали хора от далечната планета Лортас, които търсят и изучават други човешки цивилизации. Според техните познания, навсякъде във Вселената, където възникват човешки общества, те се самоунищоват след достигането високо технологично развитие... като единствено на Лортас това не се е случило. Петимата извънземни хора са дошли на твърде ранен етап на земното развитие и космическият им кораб вече не може да ги върне обратно, затова те се вкарват в някакъв изкуствен сън, предвиждайки да се събудят във време, когато земните са се развили достатъчно, за да изучават Космоса и пътуват в него. След събуждането си, Арвън и останалите срещат земния лекар Уес Чейс, докато той е на риболов, и му разказват своята история. Уес първоначално се страхува, но впоследствие се сприятелява с тях, както и търси начин да им помогне...

[Светослав Александров · Rating 4 out of 5]

28 ноември 2019 г. 19:00 ч.
Светослав Александров. "Ветровете на времето" от Чад Оливър е класически научно-фантастичен роман, издаден в България от иконичната Библиотека "Галактика" и поради това е добре познат на българските читатели. Кратко описание (анонс): Уес Чейс, сравнително преуспяващ лекар и страстен риболовец, се отправя към планините на Колорадо да лови пъстърва. Неочаквано той попада в една пещера и е пленен от петима души, които се оказват представители на хуманоидна раса, идваща от планета на име Лортас. Космическият им кораб е катастрофирал и не съществува възможност да се върнат на Лортас. Арвън, един от петимата, разкрива на пленения Уес ужасяваща история за човечеството. Навсякъде във Вселената, където има обитаеми планети, еволюцията е довела до възникването на хора. Но от хиляди изучени планети, лортасианците са открили, че има само три типа човеци: 1. Първобитни номади без никакви технологии, 2. Технологични цивилизации, но все още непритежаващи космически технологии и ядрена енергетика, които са погълнати от войни. 3. Свръхтехнологични цивилизации, вече открили ядрената енергетика, които скоро след това напълно са се самоунищожили. Няма нито една цивилизация, която е високотехнологична, владееща космическите полети и не се е унищожила - никоя друга освен Лортас. Ще се превърне ли Земята в такава?

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[Federico · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romanzo fantascientifico breve di fine anni '50 edito per la collana Urania in Italia.
Essendo Chad Oliver egli stesso antropologo, la storia ha come linea guida l'antropologia, che si interseca agli studi sull'ibernazione dell'uomo e il paradosso di Fermi.
La trama risente molto della II guerra mondiale del decennio precedente e della minaccia nucleare.

Questi temi potranno risultare al lettore contemporaneo trattati spesso con ingenuità, oppure alcuni concetti antropologici potrebbero risultare già acquisiti e ridondanti.
Se ne può ugualmente fruire contestualizzando il racconto nel periodo in cui è stato scritto.

La traduzione italiana risulta in più occasioni vetusta e la sintassi non è sempre precisa, nulla comunque che ostacoli troppo la lettura, dando anzi un tocco vintage che può essere apprezzato da alcuni lettori delle collane di Urania.

Ottimo per una lettura estiva spedita e leggera.

[Jörg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I read by Oliver. He was an anthropologist and accordingly all his books are about mankind's contact with alien races. I liked this one. Reading it felt like watching one of the Battlestar Galactica episodes. The ones from the 70's, specifically the one where they end up in Los Angeles. This is exactly what happens to the aliens in this book. The resemblance redeems an otherwise unremarkable SF story.

[Snakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as The Shores of Another Sea. But still very entertaining and there was certainly a twist I wasn’t expecting. Sort of an E.T. type epic where aliens are stranded on the Earth and are trying to get home. I still think Oliver is a hidden gem of an author.

[Razael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Приятна ретро фантастика.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 2 out of 5]

2½. Undeniably entertaining and compelling but the prose is simple enough for a kindergartener and the ending is beyond facile, leaving a stain on all the preceded it.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book on one shelf or another most of my life. I haven't read it in quite a long time, but in my early teens I probably read it half a dozen times. The goodreads synopsis is not very accurate, per my memory, and the dismissive responses others have left are disappointing. I would say, without taking time to refresh my memory, that the book is obviously a product of the era in which it was written but holds up as a pretty decent sci-fi tale nonetheless.

UPDATE: Well, having just reread another old favorite with a similar title, The Corridors of Time , I decided to take another look at this one as well.

The book was published in 1957, and to some extent that shows. However, it doesn't feel nearly as dated as I'd expected. Some details are less than plausible, and the key thing that makes a happy ending possible was obvious and predictable to me, even when reading this as a kid. And the narrator does tend to go off on some tediously self-important asides. The author may even be referring to that weakness at one point, when Wes, the main character, thinks to himself:

One day historians might say that the destiny of the human race rode with them in this old car, and it could very well be true. If they ever made a movie of it, Wes was certain that he and Nlesine and Arvon would speak grandiloquent lines about Man and Civilization and Stars.

But this reader at least still feels inclined to live with the imperfections, simply because it's a great story, and a great example of mid-century sci-fi.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The covers for this are bad, especially the early edition mm pb that I read. Well, it was 1959 after all. Pulp, BEGs, Cold War terror, smogging up of L.A... lots of hallmarks of that era there. It takes place in 1959, too, apparently.

Anyway, I normally love Oliver's work. He writes beautifully, lucidly, directly. And he has some damn'd interesting ideas. And his career as an anthropologist shows (in most ways). So, I guess I can forgive him for the sexism... the women, seen only as distractions from manliness, were few and recognizable more as plot devices than any statement of misogyny. I also have to suspend disbelief that aliens would be virtually human. I can't quite recommend this, though, and will have to find his other works again to remind me just which book or story of his I do think still worth reading.

[Pavel Antov · Rating 4 out of 5]

" You are already one of us." made my eyes wet. Recommend!

[Benjamin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the old-school pulp sci-fi I've been reading this summer. In general, it can be difficult to distinguish if the pacing is off because it's serial writing where the author doesn't know where it's going to end up, unpolished writing where the author hasn't found their voice, or experimental writing where the author is breaking rules on purpose. Whatever was going on in Oliver's head when he wrote this, Winds of Time kept landing in the good bin.

Spoilers follow.

This is the second book in this summer reading where aliens are effectively human. Oliver shamelessly leans into it though: of course intelligent life would evolve to produce something like humans, your premise otherwise is the outlandish one that needs to be justified. The resulting exploration of the Fermi paradox is original and engaging: the universe is littered with human civilizations born out of convergent evolution, but they all keep killing themselves before they can discover each other.

It's simultaneous grating and refreshing how unlikable Wes Chase is. His casual, lazy sexism is a character flaw, not the natural state of things. Still, the middle chapters that fill you in on the Lortan backstory was far more engaging than listening to Chase's internal monologue.

Locking Chase in the cave or months on end was the most striking of the weird pacing things referenced above.

Right up until the end, I wasn't sure if the book was going to end positively or negatively.

My biggest complaint is how much the book's cover spoils about the plot.

my favorite quote: "He didn't bother pinching himself; he was sore enough without that."

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chad Oliver was an anthropologist and his passion for understanding history and civilization was well reflected in his writing. The Winds of Time is a borderline classic of sf; it would probably be classified as a y.a. novel today. This novel was first published in the late 1950s and has some of the same sexist attitudes that were prevalent in the society of the time, but is a superior example of the beginning broadening of the field. Oliver, like Clifford Simak, was a great pastoralist, and his appreciation of nature is quite apparent here. He's a writer that deserves to be remembered.

[Rocket to Mars · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing story of the human species evolving on planets other than the Earth, in different time lines. The middle part, where Avron tells the story of how he and the rest of the crew became stranded is a bit long-winded, but otherwise I liked everything else.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, standard pulpy, campy sci-fi. The stuff I love. I've read so many of these kinds of books that 3 stars means it is actually good and worth reading. Fun book. Nothing special, but definitely worth reading for a good time.

[Khalil Khabibullin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is very believable story of aliens comming to our planet to try surviving. I liked the melancholy and pessimism of the story.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one. I think I picked it up in a surplus store without knowing what it was...title just sounded cool.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic novel of time-traveller by anthropologist Chad Oliver. A Science Fiction Book Club selection.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

An old school alien contact book that smacks of 50s pulp SF. An OK, if somewhat dated read.

[Ivaylo Zlatev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книгата е писана 1957 година, 8 години след Розуел.
Визионерска в много отношения.

Оригинална с увлекателно повествувание.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A curiously melancholy and curiously structured book, but one which I enjoyed. All the implicit sexism of its time, though; definitely doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test.

[A.]

All I remember about this book is where I left it when I finished it: at the bus station in Borgarnes, Iceland. I shudder to think what the Icelanders think of American literature now. I did not do a good job as a cultural ambassador in this instance. Oh, and I think there may have been some misogyny.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely dated, but this was one of my first SF books. The synopsis really is pretty inaccurate. Despite when it was written, the author still engages in more character development than I'm used to seeing in early SF novels. I should honestly rate it a 3, but it gets 1 star for nostalgia.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Forgettable science fiction by the academic anthropologist, Chad Oliver. Picked up at a resale shop.

[Jane Potter]

Humans on other planets? A good book for something written in the 50s.

[Alex Ott · Rating 4 out of 5]

re-reading old good sci-fi :-)

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad story idea, but the writing, etc, have not aged well. Definitely dated.

[Mary Bakhtadze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Классический роман, проработаны персонажи, но сюжет не впечатляет. Старая добрая фантастика. Любители жанра смогут оценить по достоинству.

[Steven Moore]

Here the best description of the genre is "literary sci-fi." The novel is so well written that Mr. Oliver deserves to be called the Hemingway of sci-fi. Unfortunately there's a major flaw, and I recognized immediately when I first read this as a tween: it's anthropomorphic. While one might argue that planetary evolution often selects for bipeds, or something else determines only humans fill the Universe (Asimov did that via the Eternals in The End of Eternity), but the assumption that ETs will be like us is absurd! One can get around this as an author by assuming something like lost colonies, or seeding from some super-civilization, but Mr. Oliver didn't bother. If you can get around this nitpick, you're in for a classic sci-fi read that is a haunting study of the human condition.
By the way, I went to the publisher's website, sfgateway.com, to look for more classics--that's their shtick--but nearly all I clicked on aren't available in the U.S. Too bad. I'd like to get ebook versions of more SF classics, and most of theirs seem to be reasonably priced. We shouldn't forget about these authors and their books either.
r/Steve