The Wheels of Chance / The Time Machine

by H.G. Wells

The Wheels of Chance, the earliest example of what seems likely to prove the most enduring kind of Wells story, is a delightful comedy of the introduction of bicycling and of life in the late-Victorian suburban store. Hoopdriver, the central character, ranks with Mr Polly and Kipps among the Wells ‘cards’.

The Time Machine is the first of Wells’s ‘scientific romances’, a field of fiction in which he pioneered and excelled. Nearly seventy years after it appeared, this tale of the Time Traveller’s journey into the far future has for us a quality and an interest all its own.
Undoubtedly the best of Well’s prolific fiction falls within one or other of the two categories exemplified in these two short novels, and together they represent him worthily with the compass of one Everyman volume.

316 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Herbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.

He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.

More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...

http://www.online-literature.com/well...

http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

Reviews

[André · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is only about the 2nd part of the book, "The Time Machine": I read it and I have to say, I liked the 1960 film much better. It's a pity that H.G. Wells didn't describe what the Time Traveller was experiencing while travelling through time until he arrived in 802,701 (or was it 801,702?). Otherwise, the story is of course a classic and very well-written and exciting. It occurred to me, while reading, that in those days' English the word "because" must have been used much less than nowadays; I recall having seen the word "for" way more often. I have yet to decide if I like to read the first story in this book, but I doubt I will...
By the way, I "stole" this book from our university's Anglistics institute, but I will give it back as soon as classes start again, next year. I promise!