This is long overdue. When I was traveling to San Francisco at the early part of the month, I read The Time Machine by H. G. Wells in electric form (via Stanza on the iPhone).

I got about 2 chapters in the book and realized that I had already read the book a long time ago, but it was still a pretty fun read. I found it hard sometimes to believe that the book had been written in 1895.

One of the things that I thought was interesting in the book was that the time traveler as the protagonist envisions an ideal future (802,701 AD) where Communism has taken over the world. What seems visionary by Wells is that Communism was in its infancy at the time of writing.

The time traveller thinks there is safety in Communism. That all the world's problems would be solved if all people worked toward a common goal. The protagonist's ideals become quickly shattered. He deduces that Communism succeeds for a time with the Eloi, but is corrupted by forces that don't follow the precepts of Communism (Morlocks).

What I also liked about Wells' writing style is that it was very easy to imagine this machine in your head. The machine feels a bit anachronistic to me without electronics, but in context it totally fits the Victorian age in a steam punk kind of way.

I have already read The War of the Worlds, so the next book I think I am going to read is From The Earth To The Moon by Jules Verne. Free books online are awesome.