The Man Who Folded Himself

by David Gerrold, Robert J. Sawyer (Foreword), Geoffrey Klempner (Afterword)

With an introduction by Robert J. Sawyer
"The Man Who Folded Himself" is a classic science fiction novel by award-winning author David Gerrold. This work was nominated for both Hugo and Nebula awards and is considered by some critics to be the finest time travel novel ever written.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Fantasy, Classics, Science Fiction Fantasy, LGBT

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written on a pad of hotel stationary:

One thing for certain: I would be stubborn in every timeline.

What would I ask my future and past selves:
“What did you discover about F. Scott Fitzgerald?”
“Read that passage out loud.” Just to see the moment as I read one of my favorite books for the first time.

For me, I couldn’t change my timeline too much because I am living the rare variant—I am alive only on the thinnest of margins. In 2022, my geneticist discovered that I have a rare genetic disease. In order for me to be alive, I would have had to receive enough financial and societal support to go to Mayo Clinic. This is where I had my first heart surgery. Only by luck, I had a sleep study scheduled at Cleveland Clinic about a month later. This led to my second heart surgery.

Weekly, I receive albumin to bring up my blood volume. This treatment was popularized in World War II so I couldn’t go back in time too much. Gene editing at conception is also not allowed so I couldn’t even go back and try to convince my parents.

If anything, my life points towards someone orchestrating it. Will I catch myself one day out of the corner of my eye?

If I do have millions upon millions of dollars, when I do receive the keys to my personal libraries in Princeton, New York, London, Boston, and Birmingham? Please deliver my keys immediately!

Things that have touched me so deeply, did someone set them up that way? Is that why my real name is ******? Is that someone’s (perhaps my) idea of a practical joke?

[Richard Derus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: This classic work of science fiction is widely considered to be the ultimate time-travel novel. When Daniel Eakins inherits a time machine, he soon realizes that he has enormous power to shape the course of history. He can foil terrorists, prevent assassinations, or just make some fast money at the racetrack. And if he doesn't like the results of the change, he can simply go back in time and talk himself out of making it! But Dan soon finds that there are limits to his powers and forces beyond his control.

My Review: Danny's been livin' the high life, thanks to a bequest from his mysterious old uncle. One day, the gravy train ends, and Danny has to make his own way. With a belt. A very special time-travel-enabling belt.

An exploration of adolescent exceptionalism, a meditation on the establishment, building, and defense of identity, and an astonishingly rare representation of gay maleness in science fiction. The author, who penned "The Trouble with Tribbles" for the original Star Trek series, tackles all this heaviness in less than 200pp, and never makes it feel like any tackling is being done.

Deft and timely even now, Gerrold's unapologetically gay Danny is mildly surprising even in the modern SFnal world. The ewww-ick-they-do-WHAT? homophobes need fear nothing, there's no raunch in Danny's journey of self-discovery (of a sort I've never seen again).

For my teenaged self, this book blew into my life at a time when I was under emotional siege from the forces of Jesus. It was a lifeline thrown from a grown person to my too-young-to-run self. If he could write this book, there was a world that didn't loathe me, because here was something written, published, and sold with me in it! I endured many a screaming, hectoring, sermonizing hour thinking that thought.

If you suspect some youth of your acquaintance might be struggling to think positively of himself because he's probably gay, think about giving him this book. It can't hurt, and it might do him a world of good.

ETA a few musings and a quote. In going back over the 2003 edition of this book, I thought to compare it to the 1973 edition that blew my mind wide open when first read (I was not going to sleep a peaceful night until I found a room full of men having sex with each other and diving in). Gerrold has done a light but thoroughgoing job of making alterations to the book that reflect thirty years' growth in himself and the world. It was lovely to see, and BenBella Books deserves our thanks for making room in this timeline for it to happen.

I've pushed my rating to five stars because, thinking back on it, any minor quibbles I've made vanish in the arc-light of this novel's originality in a musty, stuffy, conservative genre. And world.

I've said in other reviews (see Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand) that re-reads of the peak experiences of bygone days are hazardous to one's ego. I've always praised this book as a well-written, risk-taking, genre-expanding chef d'oeuvre by a writer whose fame came early. I was right then, I'm right now...this book's genre-bending continues because, despite the presence of many other QUILTBAG characters in current SF/F, the main character of this book remains unique and speaks with an evergreen honesty. The frame has been dusted and re-gilded to keep the portrait sharply focused. It takes nothing away from the central and beautiful idea of the book, the inner life of an infinity of people contained in one-many-same-different body-brain-spirit.

I worked and worked to make that sentence make sense and I think I was only marginally successful, but I don't know how to make it better. If I figure it out, I will change it.
^^^
That there's a better review of this book than any I could have dreamed up before.

And that quote:

My body has not experienced its years in sequence. But it has experienced years. And it has aged.
And my mind has been carried headlong with it—this lump of flesh travels through time its own way, in a way that no man has the power to change. ... Perhaps I'm not a mind at all. Perhaps I'm only a body pretending the vanity of being something more. Perhaps it's only the fact that language, which allows me to manipulate symbols, ideas, and concepts, also proves the awareness of self that precedes the inevitable analysis. ... I have spent a lifetime analyzing my life. Living it. And rewriting it to suit me.

[sAmAnE · Rating 4 out of 5]

.کتاب در باب ماهیت زمان و شناخت خود نوشته شده است
✔
راوی داستان مسافر زمان است. با خود گذشته‌اش و خود آینده‌اش ملاقات می‌کند.
✔
رمان درباره‌ی اعتماد کردن است اینکه چقدر به خودمان می‌توانیم اعتماد کنیم. اگر الانمون را در چند سال آینده ببینیم چقدر بخاطر کارهایی که انجام داده یا نداده قرار هست سرزنش بشه، یا اگر آیندمون را ببینیم چقدر می‌تونیم تحسینش کنیم؟
✔
این‌ها باعث به وجود آمدن یک رمان خلاق و خواندنی شده است. ایده‌ی جالبی بود. سفر در زمان، تنهایی و کنار آمدن با آن، تلاش برای خودشناسی از محورهای اصلی داستان بودند.
شخصیت اصلی داستان لحن صمیمی و گرمی داشت که باعث خوش‌خوان شدن داستان و روان بودن آن می‌شد.
✔
گفتگوهای جذابی داشت و گاهی گذشته‌اش را سرزنش می‌کرد که تو اگر می‌دونستی این اتفاقات قرار هست بیوفته موظف بودی من رو آگاه کنی که این قسمت‌ها عمیقا برای من ناراحت‌کننده بود.

[Apatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff.”
– Doctor Who

I have reviewed several time traveling novels, but this is the first time I feel the above DW quote from the fan favorite episode Blink is appropriate. The Man Who Folded Himself is stuffed to the gills with time travel paradoxes, bootstrap paradoxes even.

Time travel—as a sci-fi trope—has many different models. In some novels time is immutable ( The Time Traveler’s Wife for example,), in others changing the past will lead to catastrophic changes (Ray Bradbury’s A Sound of Thunder springs to mind). One of my favorite variants of the time-traveling trope is the “timestream” model. Basically when the time traveler changes some key event in the past he does not change the future as such, instead, he creates a sort of bifurcation of reality, an alternate timeline where the future is different. To quote from the Afterward of the book:
“You cannot use the timebelt to stop the Holocaust by murdering Hitler when he was 20, you can only create a universe where the Holocaust never happened.”

The above-mentioned “timebelt” is the time traveling device used by David Gerrold in this novel. You may think “A belt, how silly”, but given that time traveling is impossible the size of shape of the time machine should not matter too much.

Daniel Eakins is the eponymous “Man Who Folded Himself”, his uncle Jim bequeathed the device to him. His first time traveling trip is just twenty minutes into the future, to verify the device works, on his second—more ambitious—trip is to his “tomorrow”, he meets his future self. To help ease confusion his future self calls himself Don, and our protagonist—for the moment—is called himself Dan. Don and Dan go to a race track and win thousands of Dollars, thanks to Don’s foreknowledge of the winners. At the end of the day Don leaves to go to the future, and the next day Dan assume the role of Don to take his past self to the race track. And so it goes…

Excellent cover art by AlanGutierrez

In a good time travel story, the internal logic has to make sense, causes must lead to understandable effects, even if the effects loop back to the causes. Paradoxes in this kind of story are to be expected, required even, but they have to be logical in spite of being paradoxical. The Man Who Folded Himself has paradoxes in spades, and they are very cleverly thought out. For example, there are more variants of Daniel Eakinses than you can shake a stick at, some of them diverge very far from the Daniel we started the novel with. I won't spoil the extent of their divergence but the mind boggles. There are all kinds of Daniels from different stages of their lives, they often meet up and even have Gatsby style of all night parties.

One side of The Man Who Folded Himself is the fun thought experiment of the implications of time traveling and meeting oneself, but a different aspect of the book is Gerrold’s exploration of homosexuality; a theme close to his heart, based on his own sexual orientation. Daniel’s bizarre romance with his male partner gives a new meaning to that cliché platitude “Learn to love yourself”. His (their) initial hesitation and eventual acceptance of who and what he (they) are. Daniel also has a stab at a heterosexual relationship with even more mind-blowing consequences.

I love this cover, it is the edition I first read decades ago.

The Man Who Folded Himself literally* breaks my brain with its timey wimey weirdness, but there is also a surprising degree of sadness, pathos, and philosophical musings. The first person narrative initially seems fairly ordinary but later in the book the narrator changes to different variants of Daniel and some of them are quite bizarre. The twist at the end literally knocked me for a loop**. This is my personal favorite time travel novel, it may be a little weird, uncomfortable and even kinky to some, but it blows my mind over and over again. This is actually my second reading and it is unlikely to be the last.

________________
* A bee in my bonnet! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻┻
** There is only one character in the entire book!

Notes:
• “The Man Who Shagged Himself” would be a very on the nose alternate title for this book.
• The paradoxes in this book are similar to Heinlein’s short story All You Zombies, and also By His Bootstraps by the same. Even the cover art rings a bell:

I suspect Heinlein’s stories predate The Man Who Folded Himself .
• The Bootstrap Paradox explained by the Doctor.

________________
Quotes:

“You don’t understand. You won’t understand until you’re me.”

“If they didn’t exist to warn me, then I wouldn’t have been warned and I would have made the mistake they would have warned me against, realized it was a mistake and gone back to warn myself. Hence, I am the result of an inevitable”

“Time travel is only subjective to the traveler, not the timestream. Each time I’d made a change in the timestream, it was like a new layer to the painting.”

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great books out there, and then I come across this one that manages to mobilize, outwardly, all the things that go through our own minds about ourselves, our dreams, our sexuality, and our agency in our own lives.

And all it does is take the form of a short Time-Travel novel. Amazing.

I mean, seriously, let's just throw out all paradox and assume, just for a moment, that all time travel iterations are possible. This is the many, many, many-worlds interpretation. Go back and talk to yourself times infinity. No paradox, just added dimensions. That means you never need to be alone. That loving yourself and your lot in life takes on truly physical dimensions. That neither money, events, or anything can stand in your way.... except... your PoV grows older, naturally, and so if you're trying to revisit your own youth, you can, but your youth may not really appreciate YOU. :)

So is this a fantastic Time-Travel novel exploring all the far reaches of time and place, or is it an introspective novel exploring himself and everything that it means to be and to grow older and sometimes wiser?

Well, both.

Plus I really love how it handles masturbation. I mean, if you're with yourself... lol... anyway... of course there's a couple of really great spoiler moments, too, but even those become a dialogue of what it means to be a man or a woman and the ultimate absurdity of it all, and I loved that, too. The whole novel is very Plato, only it's also extremely entertaining even as it hammers home some really delicious philosophy without ever naming it as such.

This is really good mind-candy. :) Daydream stuff taken to wonderful extremes.

It was also nominated for many awards, but that's not nearly as important as how interesting and available this book is, even to us jaded modern readers. Well, 1973 isn't *that* old.

This is some really good stuff! I'm loving my time-travel kick!

[HaMiT · Rating 3 out of 5]

اگه خودتون رو از بیرون و از چشم خودتون ببینید، می‌تونید یقین داشته باشید که اون شخص شما هستید؟
He is Mi and I'm Yu

ایده و پرداخت در یه سطح نبودن و چیزی که اوایل کتاب نوید یک اثر فوق‌العاده رو می‌داد در انتها به چیزی نسبتاً معمولی تبدیل شد. چفت و بست درستی نداشت و سرگردون و گم شد و نتونست خودش رو خوب جمع کنه
اینکه همون اول هم آخرشو حدس زدم تقصیر آثار مشابهش بود

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Daniel Eakins's Uncle Jim dies, he inherits a belt that allows him to travel through time...

I haven't had a ton of time to read since my son was born. In fact, I'm typing this with him asleep in the crook of my arm. The two or three weeks it took me to finish this are no indication of the book's quality. It was pretty fucking good.

In The Man Who Folded Himself, David Gerrold uses Daniel Eakins to explore the nature of time and of man himself. The way he handles time travel has been used by other writers since this book's original publication: changing the past creates a parallel universe and the time traveler is the only one who knows of the existence of the previous timeline.

Daniel travels through time, meeting other versions of himself, and sometimes having sex with them., sometimes with multiple versions at a time. Is it gay if you're having sex with another version of yourself? Joking aside, Daniel goes on a journey of self discovery and ultimately winds up back where he started, as I suspected he might.

The Man Who Folded Himself may be the best time travel story I've ever read. 4.5 out of 5 tribbles.

[Ali Karimnejad · Rating 3 out of 5]

آیا اصلا پول مفهومی داره وقتی بتونید با یک توک پا سفر در زمان، بفهمید بهترین شرط‌بندی روی مسابقه اسب‌دوانی فردا چیه؟!ا

هنر این کتاب اینه که به شما نشون بده با سفر در زمان چه چیزهایی بی‌معنی خواهند شد. اینکه تعبیر این کتاب از سفر در زمان چقدر منطبق با اصول علمی هستش رو نمی‌دونم چقدر درسته. اما یک بلغوری هست از جهان‌های موازی. خلق نسخه‌ای جدید از خودت که می‌تونی با اون مواجه بشی، باهاش حرف بزنی و حتی باهاش رابطه جنسی برقرار کنی!! می‌تونی با 5، 6 تا نسخه از خودت از جهان‌های مختلف، بشینین پوکر بزنین یا یک مهمونی بزرگ ترتیب بدی و نسخه‌های مختلف خودت از جوانی تا پیری رو دعوت کنی به یک مهمونی و یک شب رو دور هم بگذرونید! می‌تونی یک خونه حسابی در زمان روم باستان برای خودت دست و پا کنی و خریدهای آخر هفته‌ات رو از هایپرمارکت‌های قرن 21 انجام بدی! این کتاب از این نظر که مرزهای تخیل رو حسابی جابه‌جا می‌کنه انصافا کتاب ارزشمندیه.

با اینحال ابدا نمی‌شه گفت که در خلق یک داستان جذاب موفق بوده. یا لااقل برای من اینطور نبود. کتاب بخاطر بازی‌های زمانی مکرر، سریع تکراری می‌شه و داستان خاصی ورای این سفرهای زمانی و شگفتی‌هایی که می‌تونه بالقوه خلق بشه، وجود نداره. البته آخر کتاب یک سورپرایز براتون داره که خیلی زیبا و فنی بود انصافا! ولی همچنان جای خالی داستان شدیدا حس می‌شه.

اینه که نمی‌دونم چه نمره‌ای بدم. بنظرم کسایی که به ژانر تخیلی علاقه دارن و نیم‌نگاهی به نوشتن دارن، این کتاب رو خوبه بخونن. فکر کنم خیلی ایده بهشون می‌ده.

[°•.Melina°•. · Rating 5 out of 5]

خوانش صوتی/⭐️4.5/این کتاب به یادموندنی ترین رمانی بود که تو چندوقت اخیر خوندم. یه ایده و ماجرای جالب و جدید که واقعا یه لحظه‌هاییش به وجد و شگفتی می‌آورد منو. عاشق خلاقیتش و جوری که تونست همینقد مختصر، قضیه‌‌ی گسترده و پیچیده‌ی سفر در زمان رو شکل و شمایلی بده و به جایی برسونه واقعا جای تحسین داشت! بهم چسبید و کتابی پیدا کردم که میتونم به هرکسی معرفیش کنم البته یکم بعضی جاهاش درکش زحمت میخواست اما در کل کتابیه که میتونه هرکسی رو در عین حال سرگرم کنه و به فکر فرو ببره. حالا من که صوتیشو گوش دادم با صدای آقای عمرانی عالی بود اما کاش جلدش این نبود!! تنها اشکال بزرگی که میبینم جلدِ امروزی و چرت و کسل آوردیه که مناسب داستان نیست و به شخصه اگر تو کتابفروشی ببینمش اصلا کنجکاو یا وسوسه نمیشم بخونمش مخصوصا اینکه موضوعش تو اسمش خیلی دیده نمیشه.
درکل اگر هیچوقت درمورد سفر در زمان مثل من چیری نخوندید این بهترین شروعه، جالب اینکه تو دهه‌ی هفتاد منتشر شده و واقعا ذهن و هوش نویسنده ستودنیه مخصوصا تو جمع و جور کردنِ داستانی که میتونست به هزار روش باشه و تا ابد ادامه پیدا کنه. به شخصه اگر این ایده دستم باشه نمیدونم باهاش چیکار کنم از بس که خیلی کارا میشه باهاش کرد!

×اسپویل که نمیشه گفت ولی خطاب به کسایی که خوندنش: عاشق اونجایی شدم که به مردم کمک میکرد و عاشق صحنه‌های تاریخی‌ای که رفته بود دیده بود...چقدررر جالب بود

[Arash · Rating 4 out of 5]

زمان چیز مسخره ای می شود، اگر آن را به طور خطی تجربه نکنید. هر وقت خسته می شوم، می خوابم. بی معطلی خودم را به نزدیک‌ترین ساعات شب، حالا چه در گذشته، چه در آینده، می رسانم و می خزم توی رختخوابم.
اگر خسته نباشم و شب شده باشد، یک راست می روم به صبح و کنار ساحل قدم می زنم. یا به زمستان گریزی می زنم و کمی اسکی می کنم. به هر زمان که می روم، تا هروقت دلم بخواهد آنجا می مانم. گاهی چندین هفته، گاهی چند دقیقه ی ناقابل. من دیگر برده ساعت نیستم، حتی برده ی فصل هم نیستم. منظورم این است که... دیگر روی یک زمان مستقیم زندگی نمی کنم. من مثل یک توپ پینگ پونگم که در طول زمان به جلو و عقب پرتاب می شود. دیگر حتی نمی دانم چند سالم است. به گمانم، تولد ببست سالگی‌ام را رد کردم اما مطمئن نیستم.
_
سفر در زمان. از کودکی چه بسیار راجع به آن خواندیم و دیدیم و در ذهنمان در زمان سفر کردیم، موضوعی که بسیار مورد استفاده قرار گرفت، به نوعی می توان گفت به یک کلیشه بدل شد. ولی در این کتاب که در اواسط قرن نوزدهم نوشته شد، شاید با بهترین و خاص ترین نوع روایت سفر در زمان روبرو هستیم.
پسری در ابتدای نوجوانی متوجه میشود که عمویش ارثیه ای برایش باقی گذاشته، یک کمربند و دفترچه خاطرات. کمربندی که می توان با آن در زمان سفر کرد ولی یک تفاوتی وجود دارد با تصور ما از سفر در زمان. به عنوان یک فرد نمی شود در زمان حرکت کرد، بلکه در زمان حرکت می کنی و با خودِ آن زمانت ملاقات میکنی، همین امر سبب شده که من های زیادی در کتاب وجود داشته باشد که نویسنده برای راحتی خواننده آن ها را از دنی تکثیر میکند، دنی، دان، دن، دانا و....
شاید یکی از جذابیت های سفر در زمان آگاهی از اتفاقات آینده و رفتن به گذشته برای جلوگیری از اتفاقات ناخوشایند آینده باشد. قدری فکر کنیم، اگر اینگونه بود و یکنواختی سرتاسر زندگی ها را فرا میگرفت، آیا جذابیتی برای ادامه روند زندگی وجود داشت؟ این وسط تکلیف اختیار چه می شود؟ تعقل و انتخاب چه می شود؟
سفر در زمان فرد را دچار نوعی اعتماد به نفس کاذب می کند که خود را خدا می خواند چون می تواند در هر زمانی حضور داشته باشد حتی زمان خلق آدم و حوا پس طبیعی است که بگوید من می توانم حتی خدا را هم کنترل کنم.
رفت و آمدهای پیاپی در زمان همه چیز را بهم میریزد، حتی نمی توانی تشخیص بدهی چندسال عمر کرده ای، و تنها می مانی با من هایی که به واسطه سفر در زمان به وجود آورده ای، آنها همه تو هستند در زمان های مختلف، تو می مانی و خودت و خودت. این چرخه ادامه دارد و مرگ هم ناگزیر است. تو شاهد مرگ خودت خواهی بود و باز شاهد تولد خودت.
من خودم همیشه فکر میکردم تخیل و این نوع روایت های علمی و تخیلی مختص سنین جوانی و نوجوانی است، چون در آن سنین است که همگی رؤیا پردازی می کنیم، ولی این کتاب مثال نقضی بود بر این تفکر من. تخیل همراه با فلسفه و دیدگاهی اگزیستانسیالیستی.

[Manny · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's genres, sub-genres, and sub-sub-genres. Science fiction is a genre; the time-travel story is a sub-genre; and, I would argue at any rate, the time-travel story where you end up having sex with yourself is a sub-sub-genre. Someone must have written a dissertation on it by now. I'm guessing that All You Zombies is marked as the first time the idea is used by a well-known SF writer (no doubt the author of the dissertation has managed to locate several unknowns who got there before Heinlein). And Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me is presumably the point where it went mainstream.

Perhaps The Man Who Folded Himself is some kind of milestone too. The first time someone wrote a full-length SF novel in which the main theme is using time travel in order to have sex with both male and female versions of yourself? I think I'd better leave this to the experts. If you have opinions, feel free to answer my poll!

[Alireza Ayinmehr · Rating 5 out of 5]

به مدت ۱۰ دقیقه بعد از این که کتاب تموم شد خودم رو با کتاب می‌زدم

[Arghavan-紫荆 · Rating 3 out of 5]

امتیاز: کمتر از ۳ و بیشتر از ۲
وقتی سراغ یکی از کلاسیک‌های سفر در زمان میری، احتمالا انتظار داری با یه داستان هیجان‌انگیز پر از ماجراجویی با فراز و نشیب‌های فراوان روبرو بشی و خودتو توی داستان گم کنی و یه مدتی خوش بگذرونی. ولی خب این ازون کتاب‌ها نیست:(
خیلی ازش انتظار بیشتری داشتم، درواقع ایده‌ای که اوایل کتاب مطرح شد انقد خوب بود که خودم رو برای یه داستان عالی آماده کردم ولی نویسنده این ایده‌ی خوبش رو خیلی معمولی پردازش کرده و نتیجه‌ی خیلی معمولی بدست اومده.
یه ایرادی که داشت غیریکدست بودن لحن کتاب بود، از خودمونی و خنده‌دار تا جدی و فلسفی و شاعرانه و... همشون قاطی‌پاتی توی متن بودن و ریتم خوندن رو به‌هم می‌ریختن.
در کل شروع و پایانش رو بیشتر از هسته‌ی اصلی دوست داشتم، یه ایده‌ی جالبی توش مطرح شده بود، اینکه اگر امکانش بود که آدم‌ها با خودشون رابطه‌ی جنسی داشته باشن، اینکارو باید میکردن یا نه؟ و اینجوری "مردی که خودش را تا کرد" تبدیل شد به "مردی که خودش را کرد" :||

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dec 28, 2009: David Gerrold uses time travel to develop an extended metaphor for human life. The potentials of time travel take the loneliness, the quest for self-knowledge, and the futile quest to understand why we exist as ourselves to the most literal and profound extremes. The (almost) omnipotent protagonist Eakins constantly reshapes the timestream he exists in to suit his changing personality, and thus all his character developments become quite literally reflected in the world around him. The tone is lonely and almost tragic near the end, showing that nothing; not money, not love, not even time travel, can protect us from the oft-unbearable aloneness of being, nor spare us the inevitable changes and losses Time imposes.

The book is written in somewhat subdued diary format, which helps communicate the central issue of the plot: the developments of Daniel Eakins' character. It is very simple, and reads phenomenally quickly. While many issues are only treated briefly, and the mechanics of time travel are perhaps wisely only alluded to, I was fascinated by the implications of time travel that were explored.

It was also one of the most personal, intimate, and philosophical books I've ever read. It spoke to me - resonated with things I've thought many times before, and gave a strong impression of the sense of hugeness The Big Questions have for us, which to me is quite 'spiritual' and enjoyable. Truly a 'strange and wonderful book.'

[Roya · Rating 2 out of 5]

دیوید جرولد دقیقا چه کوفتی زده بود که باعث شد چنین چیزی رو بنویسه و چقدر پول داده بود که این کتاب رو چاپ کنن؟
حالا چرا بین این همه کتاب، اینو ترجمه کردند و به تعداد درخت‌های الکی قربانی شده اضافه کردند؟
فقط بخش پایانی خوب بود.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.96642203659 stars.

This started out to be Super Extra Good (SEG™) but turned out to be Super Extra Meh (SEM™). Which is Slightly Very Outrageous since the book was written the glorious year I was born. Which should have obviously guaranteed its Super Extra Goodness (SEG™). Which it didn't. Which is Slightly Very Discombobulating (SVD™), if you ask me.

[Mahbubeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

یکی از عجیب‌ترین کتابهایی بود که خوندم. نثر گیرا! ماجرای بسیار جالب، عمق داشتن و پیچیدگی و درون‌کاوی داستان، و همچنین ترجمه‌ی خوب.
موضوع کتاب راجع به پسریه که یه کمربند زمان بهش به ارث می‌رسه. و این شروع ماجراست.. اگر فکر میکنید با یک داستان علمی تخیلی ساده سرو کار دارید سخت در اشتباهین! کتاب کاااملا متفاوت با چیزیه که با شنیدن "ماشین زمان" تو ذهنتون میاد. کتاب جوریه که شما رو تو خودش گم میکنه.. حل میکنه و به چالش میکشه..
نکته جالب برای من این بود که این کتاب در سال 1974 نوشته شد و چند جایزه هم برده. همچین موضوعی در اون سالها نوشته شده.. برام جالب بود..

[Space · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough good things about this book, but I can definitively narrow down all the bad things into one simple sentence. Too short.

I've read this book twice - maybe actually three times - and both times, I've read it in one single sitting - about three hours. It's highly energetic and very entertaining. The pages all but turn themselves.

The story is about a boy who opens a box, and finds a belt in it, and a journal. The journal is a collection of entries by all the people who have worn the belt. The belt allows the wearer to time travel. Gerrold thought of every angle here. Every paradox, every enigma and every puzzle you can think of tied to the time-travel question is in this book. Yes, you will run into other versions of yourself. Yes, you could kill your grandfather and wipe yourself out of existence. He covers every bit of that to the point that it sufficiently wipes out any doubt you have about the validity of the story. Like I always say, if you give me enough science - even a science you made up specifically for selling me the story of your book - and make it believable enough, I'll buy the fiction. I don't believe in time travel, but yet it's my favorite sub-genre. And this is my favorite time travel book. That's close to saying it should be my favorite book of all time. Well it's not that, but it's in the top three or four.

Please remember one thing when reading this book. The book starts with one simple sentence (paraphrasing from memory): "In the box there was a belt and a book." Just remember that as you turn the pages of The Man Who Folded Himself you are reading the book that was in that box. I was wondering why the perspective and point-of-view changed so drastically occasionally, until I finally realized I was reading that book. The book in the box. If you keep that in mind from the first page, you'll enjoy and understand the book a lot better.

[Alicia]

This book wasn't what I was looking for.

I wanted a book about time travel, about changing the past and the future, and about some sort of time machine device. That's what I was expecting based on the cover and the description. And yes, I got that, but I also got a lot of ruminations on how time travel works, how it affects the world, and how it affects Dan. This book is full of lots and lots of internal monologue. Not much action. Not even much time travel, when compared to the amount of thinking that goes on.

A very large portion of that thinking was with respect to sexuality. If that's what you're in the mood for, then yeah, read the book. But it didn't meet my expectations, and that is reflected by my rating.

And now, I have to give you the spoiler tag . . .

The main character, Dan, goes backward and forward in time enough, and returns to the same places enough, that he encounters himself a lot. At first that was interesting. Then the the book took a turn that was odd for me, when he has sex with himself. Not just once, mind you; he repeatedly has sex with himself. Seduces younger versions of himself. Has orgies with multiple copies himself.

Then he changes enough about the world that, in at least one variant, he was born as a woman. And you guessed it; he has sex with her. He spends some time thinking about how sex with his female self is different from sex with his male self.

Although I was a tad uncomfortable with the repeated sex-with-himself, I could maybe accept that there might be a natural curiosity there. I would have been fine with it had it not continued on and on and on. It got a little . . . weird.

[Fateme H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب خیلی عجیبی بود.
خیلی جاهاش رو درک نکردم و متوجه نشدم، یه سری توضیحاتش برام نامفهوم و مبهم بودن، اما در کل داستان رو گرفتم.
باید بگم ایده جالبی بود و نگاه جدیدی داشت. همین که اسم سفر در زمان میاد، آدم جلوی چشمش یه سری سناریوی تکراری می‌بینه، اما این یکی متفاوت بود.
ازش خوشم اومد، اما در حد همین سه تا ستاره.

_تاریخ، تنها اخباری قدیمی و منقضی نیست. تاریخ، یعنی مردم؛ یعنی جریان و زوال زندگی، یعنی صدای ناقوس‌ها و شیپورها، کوبش چکمه‌ها روی کف خیابان، اهتزاز و بال‌بال‌زدن پرچم‌ها در باد، و بوی دود و گُل. تاریخ یعنی نان، قطار، روزنامه... یعنی بوی گس گلّه، فشار ازدحام جمعیت. تاریخ یعنی شگفتی، افتخار، و وحشت؛ یعنی سرگشتگی، هراس، و فاجعه...

[Fatemeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

اگر به داستان‌های Sci-fi علاقه دارید این کتاب خیلی گزینه‌ی خوبی می‌تونه باشه. اولای داستان یکم شبیه داستان‌های تخیلی عادی‌ه ولی بعدتر خیلی بهتر می‌شه. یه جاهایی حرفایی که زده می‌شه توی داستان ساده‌لوحانه‌ست، ولی می‌شه با دیده‌ی اغماض ردشون کرد، مخصوصاً که کتاب خیلی سال قبل نوشته شده و به نظرم نسبت به اون زمان فوق‌العاده‌ست.

[Alinodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب راجب یکی از موضوع های مورد علاقه ی منه یعنی سفر در زمان
شاید واسه همین دارم بهش ارفاق زیادی میکنم ، چون هیچ توضیحی داده نمیشه کمربند دقیقا از کجا اومده و چرا الان دست دنیه و ایراداتی مثل ساده کردن موضوع سفر در زمان و اینکه شخصیت اصلی تقریبا به هر دوره تاریخی که دلش بخواد میره و میتونه حتی روی حرکات مسیح رو هم تاثیر بزاره
اما خب این ایرادات به نکته مثبت منجر میشه و شما رو با کلی موضوعات فلسفی و تاریخی رو برو میکنه
پایان رمان هم خیلی جذاب بود

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully metaphysical, solipsistic and slightly perverse exploration of self, gender and sexuality. The author takes us on a deeply personal journey of a man as he rigorously examines and challenges all the aspects of time travel - including paradoxes, meeting multiple selves and alternate realities - as they relate to his sense of self, his needs to love and be loved, and ultimately his place in the world.

[Reza Abedini · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعنوان فردي كه ديوانه وار عاشق تئوري هاي زمانه ، عاشق اين كتاب شدم

سرتا سر كتاب پر بود از گيجي ، تداخل هاي زماني ، تركيب گذشته و حال و آينده و ...

راوي به سرآغاز خلقت ميره
به مصر باستان ميره

به نسخه هاي پيشنِ خودش براي ساخت آينده بهتر خودش هشدار ميده

عاشق خودش ميشه
با نسخه ديگري از خودش درجهان موازي سكس ميكنه
لحظه مرگ خودش رو ميبينه و ....

به شكل ديوانه واري كتاب سختخولني بود و به همون اندازه جذاب و تامل برنگيز ، جوري كه هر چند صفحه كه ميگذشت خواننده محبوره جايي بغير از جملات رو نگاه كنه تا شرايط حاكم بر داستان رو تجزيه و تحليل كنه

پايان بندي كتاب رو از اواسطش حدس زدم و حدسم هم درست بود و اين امر باعث شد يكم تو ذوقم بخوره

در كل اگر بخوام بگم كتاب چي بود:
يه تركيب سمي از فيلمهاي نولان و سفر در جهان هاي موازي سريال ريك اند مورتي و كلي تئوري هاي زماني ، از پارادوكس گرفته تا اثر پروانه اي.

والسلام

[Alex Bright · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a major disappointment. It was predictable, arrogant, and pretentious. The whole thing amounted to narcissistic naval-gazing.


I rarely give any book a 1 star review, reserving such a rating for novels which promote really bad ideas when the author should know better. Here, Gerrold conflates an absurd level of vain "self-love" with homosexuality. As a gay man, he should know better than that. Unless, of course, he really is such a raging narcissist as to think fucking yourself, literally, is the same as being gay. This book should have been called "The Man Who Fucked Himself... Repeatedly". I felt trapped inside the mind of a psycho the entire time I was reading. At least it was short, I suppose.

[Megan Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely little mindbender of a book - not hard science, for those who are so inclined. But a true literature of ideas, looking at identity and self through the lens of time travel, through one man (and all the versions of himself) and how he chooses to use it.

He is not a representative man, that's for sure. He is self-absorbed to a fault, choosing, once he has acquired a time travel belt, to socialize only with himself.

Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

[Whitney (SecretSauceofStorycraft) · Rating 4 out of 5]

How can one possibly rate this?? It is weird and strange, it is also probably the most honest time travel conundrum story i’ve ever read. Its the authors “about the author” that truely contextualized this story for me.

Despite following Daniel eakins as he is gifted a time travel belt by his uncle, he proceeds through all the mistakes one is wont to make— until the answers return to the questions.

While many aspects were uncomfortable (the sexuality conundrum), by the end, i saw 👀 the point. This is a story about identity and quest to find what you want and how one would choose to spend their life. Its an impossible tale with a very solid and yet elusive answer.

How thought provoking this was. Will consider it more- but for now 4 stars for that alone

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an unusual time travel SF novel, which spends much more time on thoughts and feelings of the time traveler than on the external world. I read is as a part of monthly reading for December 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group. This book was nominated for Hugo and Nebula in 1974, but lost both to Rendezvous with Rama.

The story starts when a protagonist, a 21 years old student Daniel Eakins meets with his very old uncle Jim, who manages his trust fund. The uncle informs him that Danny is worth $143 mn and asks him to start a diary, in return doubling his weekly money. Some time passes and Daniel finds that his uncle is dead and all the funds he is about to inherit is below $6000. However, Jim left him a strange belt, which is actually an individual time machine.

There are several types of time travel in SF, roughly divided into “past and future are fixed” e.g. By His Bootstraps, or they are changeable e.g. Time Patrol. In this novel we get a fascinating mix of the two, with the hero constantly meeting future himself to get info. This is a caveat of the novel – a narcissistic paradise, for with whom you can be honest if not yourself? And yes, you can do other things with yourself too :)

A great “what if” story, reminiscent of early Robert A. Heinlein.

[Mahmood666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

مردي كه خودش را تا كرد
ديويد جرولد
رضا اسكندري
سالهاست كه ادبيات علمي تخيلي در گستره جهاني مورد توجه منتقدين و عموم قرار گرفته است و به آن به عنوان سبكي پيش و پا افتاده نگاه نمي شود اما اين زيرشاخه مهم ادبي هنوز در ايران از انواع غير جدي و تنها سرگرم كننده محسوب مي شود.
يكي از بهترين و معروف ترين داستانهاي علمي تخيلي ((مردي كه خودش را تا كرد))نام داردكه داستاني پر پيچ و خم و پر از شگردهاي عجيب در مضمون و فرم است.نويسنده در اين كتاب داستان پسري به نام دانيل را روايت ميكند كه بر طبق وصيت نامه عمويش كمربندي استثنائي را به ارث مي برد .كمربندي كه صاحبش ميتواند با آن در زمان سفر كند اما اين سفر تفاوتهاي زيادي با سفرهاي زماني كه تا كنون ديده ايم دارد .سفر در زمان در اين كتاب به معني اين است كه فرد دارنده كمربند ميتواند در يك لحظه در زمانهاي متفاوت و در فضاهاي متفاوتي توامان حضور داشته باشد و به عبارت ديگر شخص ميتواند با خودش در زماني واحد ملاقات كند.اما اين رويه كه ابتدا به صورت بازي شروع مي شود كم كم جدي مي شود و داستان ابعاد جديدي مي يابد .
كتاب براي دوستداران ادبيات تخيلي و همچنين دوستداران علم و حتي فيزيك ميتواند بسيار جالب باشد چون بحثهاي درون آن همگي رنگ و بويي از دانش فيزيك دارند .
خوشبختانه كتاب ترجمه فوق العاده خوبي دارد و رضا اسكندري (كه پيش از اين ترجمه بسيار خوب مرد زنجبيلي را از وي ديده ايم) با انتخاب واژه هايي نزديك به واژه هاي اصلي توانسته سد سانسور (كه به نظر من مهمترين عامل در مغفول ماندن ترجمه اين كتاب است)را دور بزند .مترجم همچنين در برگرداندن مباحث علمي به زبان ساده و عامه فهم نيز كاملا توفيق يافته است .

[Sonya · Rating 4 out of 5]

هر حادثه هر تصميم و هر اتفاق مي تواند منجر به خلق دنياي ديگري شود، جهان هايي موازي در كنار هم پر از "من" هايي با تصميم هاي مختلف.
اين كتاب روايت زندگي "مني" هست كه مي تواند در زمان سفر كند و حتي با تغيير حوادث و اتفاقات با خلق "جريان زماني جديد" دنياي ديگري رقم بزنداو حتي "من" هايي كه جريان زماني خلق شده را مي پيمايند ملاقات مي كند، او حتي ميتواند به عقب برگشته و يك جريان يا اتفاق را پاك سازي كند كه اين خود نيز منجر به خلق جرياني جديد مي شود. در واقع اين انسان خود را در يك تاريخ زماني تا كرده و مدام با سفر در زمان به آن تاريخ مبدا بر ميگردد، او "من" خود را حقيقي پنداشته و "من" هاي ديگر را حاصل خلق جريان هاي زماني ميداند.
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قسمتي از كتاب:
گذشته همان آينده است و آينده همان گذشته. هيچ تفاوتي ميا اين دو وجود ندارد هر دو قابل تغييرند. من ميان تعدادي دنياي موازي جهش مي كنم و با هر بار جهش يك جهان جديد خلق و يك جهان بالقوه را نابود مي كنم. جهان لايتناهي است. بنابراين تعداد احتمالات زندگي من هم بي نهايت اند.
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پ ن: اين رمان ١٧٠ صفحه اي يك اثر متفاوت و تامل بر انگيز است.
پ ن ٢: اينروزها بامسيله انتخاب ها و مركزيت انسان بسيار مواجه مي شوم.
پ ن٣: اين كتاب براي درك صحيح نياز به بازخواني دارد.