The book that introduced the world to time travel In H. G. Wells’s immortal novella, an unnamed Time Traveller builds a machine that hurtles him to the year 802, 701 AD. He discovers a world divided into two species: the peaceful Eloi, who live in colossal, crumbling buildings and are childlike in size and demeanor, and the hulking Morlocks—pale, simian creatures who dwell below ground and prey on their terrestrial counterparts. When his time machine is stolen, the Traveller must outwit the Morlocks in order to retrieve it, escaping their clutches by skipping like a stone across the surface of time. On a frozen red beach thirty million years in the future, he bears witness to the planet’s terrible last days.  The first of H. G. Wells’s “scientific romances, ” The Time Machine is a thrilling tale of adventure, and an unsettling thought experiment on the nature of progress and the transience of humankind. Its central conceit has inspired countless writers, artists, and filmmakers, and is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions in modern literature. This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.