The Time Traveler's Almanac / Ann & Jeff VanderMeer

The Time Traveler's Almanac

ed. Ann VanderMeer, Jeff VanderMeer

science fiction

copyright 2013

(individual story copyright: all over time)

read in December 2016 / January 2017

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Though truth to tell, 6/10 "read to pass the time" was my first thought. But my wife -- not a fan of science fiction -- enjoyed many of the stories. And that has prejudiced my judgement.

This is a whole lot of stories about time travel. Some stories use magic or mysticism for the travel, others use science, more or less. The end result is a story displaced in time. So "science fiction" is near enough as a category.

There's the well known -- to me, at least -- story of the time traveller who steps on a past butterfly and changes his own present. I hadn't realised that that story is the source of the phrase "butterfly effect" in chaos theory.

There is a story set (largely) in a siege of a Dutch city. That one is interesting enough that I read Wikipedia on the details of the siege. Apparently, known facts have changed since the story was written.

There is a story set largely in an actual siege of a Scandinavian fortress. And partly in a miserable future. It is so boring that I failed to finish reading.

Some stories are exploring time, time travel, the mechanics and the effects of time travel. Others are pushing a social issue, trying to make it interesting by setting it in a different time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's still just a boring one-issue rant.

Overall... this is a readable book. If you don't like one story... read the next. There are plenty of stories to choose from. It's probably a mistake to start at page one and try to read straight through to the end. Perhaps it would be better to jump in, read a few stories, leave the book aside for a few weeks.

There's a lot of good and some dross. Most of the stories are good. Some are very good. I'm glad to find a thorough collection on the time travel theme. I'm not sure that it's the best way to *read* a large number of time travel stories.

Worth reading. Be prepared to read the stories in small doses.

===

28jan21: Interesting... This time the book is a definite six. Not seven. No more than, read to pass the time...

I didn't remember the book. I opened at random and read a short story. My immediate impression was, Americans do love to describe idyllic country-town settings. I prefer a story with minimum (irrelevant) scene-setting, more emphasis on plot.

To me, a short story is an interesting idea wrapped round with a short and relevant plot. Some of these stories are trivial and unexplained ideas wrapped round with many many words of filler. Admittedly, I have read only half a dozen, I won't bother with the rest.

Looking at my original comments: This time, the Dutch city did not interest me. I was distracted by the pointless and contradictory use of a clock. Whereas the Scandinavian story held my attention past the end and into Wikipedia.

I guess there's a lesson: A review is just one person's opinion, at one time. A different person -- or the same person at a different time -- may have a completely different opinion.

===

04aug21:

Without realising it, I took my own advice from my 2017 review: I dipped into this book and read a few of the stories. Based on those few I would rate this book as four -- bad but could be read... at best.

The stories that I read were... terrible. I suspect that one was based on a classic story. Another on American history. As simple stories -- rubbish.

Like all reviews: mine are my own opinion. And my opinion may vary over time. Read the book or not... read random stories... enjoy, or not...

Over to you :-)

=======
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
=======

​What I do on my holidays: see http://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/​

"Some people have trouble making friends because they build fences rather than bridges." … on a cafe wall