I think I read this when I was younger; I have Swiss-Cheese memory.
If you are basing your knowledge of this book on this movie:
(Samantha Mumba, remember her? David had a huge crush on her.)
then you are sadly sadly mistaken. I don't even know where all the movie plot points came from. No attempts to save a lost fiance, no human-sized future people who miraculously speak English, no creepy Gary Oldman character.
The Time Traveler is a man who has invented a time machine in the 1800's. He's telling the story of what he did and saw to a group of people who have come to dinner in his home. He has traveled over 800 thousand years into the future. The human race split into two species; a kind, minuscule child-like group of above-ground dwellers, and the pale-skinned, large-eyed ape-like subterraneans.
After a harrowing experience with these two groups, he moves further into the future, where the devolution is scarier. Single-celled organism scary. The Traveler returns home, replenishes his supplies, and is never heard from again.
The book deals with the evolution/devolution of man. The more technology we have, the worse off we will be until some cataclysmic event lead to the downfall of man kind as we know it. Humans devolve. What do we know how to do anyway? Can you kill, clean and cook a chicken or deer? Can you make bread from scratch in a coal oven? Can you make your own clothing? Can you live without electricity? Grow your own fruits and vegetables? Can you defend yourself?
Doom and Gloom, the future is.
1 comment:
I just read this last year. I liked some of the points it made, but overall... whatever. That's kinda how i feel about most of his stuff.
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