Stargazing Guy

Wells, H.G.. The Time Machine: with Illustrations (Classic Collection Book 22) (p. 63). Kindle Edition.

The great H.G. Wells, in The Time Machine, goes on to state:

“I felt a certain sense of friendly comfort in their twinkling. All the old constellations had gone from the sky, however: that slow movement which is imperceptible in a hundred human lifetimes, had long since rearranged them in unfamiliar groupings. But the Milky Way, it seemed to me, was still the same tattered streamer of star dust as of yore.”

His first novella is such a classic, much loved by and of itself and ably supported by the classic 1960s movie by George Pal, with Rod Taylor and Yvette Mimieux.

Aside from being a compelling and engaging story, the scientific underpinnings are clear for all to see – and right bang up-to-date (for the late 19th century).

His knowledge of the solar system, of the movements of the earth, moon and other planets around the sun, which he brings to bear in his speculations about the way the night sky of earth in the far distant future, millions of years hence, is so radically different from our time.

The next big quote follows on from that above – and shows his depth of thought where he goes on to say:

“Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future. I thought of the great precessional cycle that the pole of the earth describes. Only forty times had that silent revolution occurred during all the years that I had traversed. And during these few revolutions all the activity, all the traditions, the complex organisations, the nations, languages, literatures, aspirations, even the mere memory of Man as I knew him, had been swept out of existence.”

He is writing about the end of humanity (ater all are the Morlock and Eloi still human?).

Not bad for sci fi novel. Not read it – get it on Kindle for £0.99 (other digital book readers are available!), buy the book from a bookshop, watch the movie (even the 2020 remake!).

It is after all – in some minds – one of the most important novels of the modern age. I’ll let you be the judge.

PS: I love coffee. BuyMeACoffee, leave a message with a date and time and we can share it, remotely, at the same time, and think about the Cosmos.

In the meantime, take care of yourself and if you can, someone else, too, because as Adam Smith said, “we naturally desire not only to be loved but to be lovely”.

Credit for opening image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Poster_for_the_1960_film_The_Time_Machine.jpg