The Great Time Machine Hoax

by Keith Laumer

Book Overview

Slight shelf wear, broken spine. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B002J1IB4K
• Release Date: January 1965
• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great fun - a classic

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and bought a copy for my adult daughter. It is an old-fashioned SF book that is just fun. The technology may be a bit dated, but that hardly detracts from the enjoyment.

The Girl, the Grandpa, and Everything

Perhaps I should open with a bibliographical note. I first read this Keith Laumer novel as a three part serial in _Fantastic_ back in 1963 under the title, "A Hoax in Time." I greatly enjoyed it. Several years later, I picked up a copy of _The Great Time Machine Hoax_ (1964), expecting to reread an old favorite under a slightly different title. Only, it wasn't the same novel. Some new scenes were added, and other scenes were cut. The sequence of events was drastically altered. Dialogue was modified. I won't make a laborious, point-by-point comparison, but the reader should be aware that the book version is markedly different from the original serial. I suppose that on the balance, it is a little better. But I sometimes find myself bemused by the multitude of changes that were made. Whichever version you read, think of it as a fantastical romp-- the sort of novel that Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague de Camp used to write for _Unknown_. There's not really a serious bone in its body, but there is a philosophy of sorts. It may best be described as a kind of amiable hedonism. The hero tells a mountain man who is leading a bunch of grubby "free men" in the wild: "You're echoing a long line of philosophers who concluded that the secret of the universe consisted of sitting around in your own dirt-- all the way from early Christians to twentieth-century beatniks. I can be just as self-righteous as the next fellow, while I'm sitting in an air-conditioned restaurant ordering _haute cuisine_ with one hand and lighting up an expensive dope stick with the other, with a well-stacked young lady occupying the rest of my attention." (130) And the story? Chester W. Chester IV has inherited a run-down circus, a neo-Victorian mansion with some awesomely ugly artifacts, a super computer in the wine cellar with Great Grandfather Chester's personality... and millions of dollars in back taxes. Chester and his carney pal Case Mulvihill gradually hatch a plot. With a bit of preparation, they might be able to con the Internal Revenue Service into believing that they have a real live time machine. And then we are off and running with an account of cavemen, dinosaurs, beautiful Genies, the _real_ story of the _Marie Celeste_, the truth about flying saucers, an unorthodox academy with an amiable but crafty instructor, hordes of bungling policemen, and model airplanes. (Laumer once wrote a nonfictional book on the subject.) It is a grand adventure. I won't say that _The Great Time Machine Hoax_ is the very best novel that Laumer wrote, but I will say that it is very good-- very good indeed. Put a double decker sandwich and a drink by your side. Nestle down into your favorite chair. Prop up your feet on a footstool. Pick up the book. Enjoy.

Great science fiction that borders on the profound

I've always been fascinated by the idea of time travel, so this book's title fairly jumped off the shelf of a used book store I frequented back in college. Don't let the title, The Great Time Machine Hoax, fool you. This isn't some piece of second-rate science fiction that winds up reneging on its promises of adventures through time; the essence of the "hoax" can only be found in the writing itself. I wouldn't call this novel incredibly visionary, either, but it does provide much food for thought in terms of the philosophy of science. Of course, you can just read the novel for the story itself and get your money's worth. Laumer mixes plenty of wit and comedy into the adventures of our main characters. As the book opens, Chester W. Chester IV has been legally declared the sole heir of his quirky great-grandfather's estate; unfortunately, the back taxes that have accrued over the full century of legal wrangling over the will seem to do Chester more harm than good. In order to raise money, he is forced to close down his Wowser Wonder Shows circus. Case Mulvihill, the man running the circus, is determined to find a way to save the business, and he focuses his attention on the giant computer in Chester's great-grandfather's house. Chester's ancestor had poured the bulk of his money and the last quarter century of his life into building the Generalized Non-Linear Extrapolator; basically, the idea was to connect an ungodly amount of memory to the processor and input all the knowledge known to man into the machine. Of course, actually making use of all this information is the proverbial rub. Chester and Chase visit the house and start asking the computer questions. Eventually, Case tests the machine by asking for realistic looks into the distant past. This is where the trouble starts. The two men, and the female named Genie the computer creates to be their guide, wind up trapped and separated in time, in eras ranging from that of cavemen to a future society based on philosophy and science. For Chester, rescuing his friends and getting back home safe and sound stands as a true challenge indeed. I think the writing in this novel is a tad bit uneven at times, but this is a quick and entertaining read blessed with both comedy and insight. By far the most fascinating section to me was Chester's reeducation in a future academy. A lifetime's worth of learning is packed into a single year, and Laumer takes the opportunity to introduce some truly thought-provoking ideas about mental and physical education, the mastery of mind over pain and boredom, and the making of a man in his most enlightened and nature-attuned form. Some of the philosophy proffered here borders on the esoteric (the starting point and unofficial school "motto" is "Is-not is not not-is") yet much of it seems to merit consideration in the reader's own approach to life. Keith Laumer's 1963 The Great Time Machine Hoax is just very good science fiction. It offers a rousingly go

Deep Fun

If one were to lift the edge of the cosmic consciousness and find a chuckle underneath it would be entirely congruent with Laumer's approach to the human condition. While dealing with the big issues of human evolution, civilization and the nature of time and matter "The Hoax" manages to be extremely humorous and cognizant, in a down-to-earth way, of the motives and passions of humans. I read this book when it came out (about 30 years ago) and while it is not quite as well written as I remember it, the concepts and synthesis are powerful and the humour is classic.

Adventurous look at philosophical precepts, with humor!

I first read The Great Time Machine Hoax some years ago because I was 'into' SF. I have since returned to it several times because of Laumer's interest in philosophical precepts concerning the nature vs nurture controversy. Using a delightfully acerbic tone, Laumer turns a modern wimp into an actualized man by placing him in a futuristic academy dedicated to improving all his inherent physical and mental capacities to their ultimate state of perfection. Laumer makes us wonder if it is possible to attain self-actualization through operant conditioning and pain avoidance/pleasure seeking. Would these techniques benefit society? These are the issues I like to ponder. Of course, the hero returns to save the beautiful girl and his best friend. What makes Laumer unique is his humerous portrayal of the stupidities of modern man, particularly our vanities. Fans of Keith Laumer's "Retief" series will be greatly entertained by this novelette. Fans of social commentary, a la Mark Twain's 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court', will be at home in this book. A great light read, with room for thought if you like. One of my favorites