Timeline

by Michael Crichton

Sometimes, it seems like you can reach out and touch the past...

An old man wearing a brown robe is found wandering disoriented in the Arizona desert. He is miles from any human habitation and has no memory of how he got to be there, or who he is. The only clue to his identity is the plan of a medieval monastery in his pocket.

In France, Professor Edward Johnston and his students are studying the ruins of a medieval town. Suspicious of the knowledge of the site shown by their mysterious financier, he returns to the US to investigate. But in his absence, the students make a disturbing discovery in the ruins: the long-decayed remains of Johnston's glasses - and a message in modern English.

The implications are staggering. The consequences are earth-shaking. And the distant past isn't so distant any more.
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Increasingly considered an underappreciated classic that stands proudly alongside his more famous works like Jurassic Park and Westworld, Timeline confirms Michael Crichton as the king of the high-concept thriller, and a master storyteller to boot.

• ISBN10: 0099244721
• ISBN13: 9780099244721
• Publish Date: 5 October 2000 (first published 1 January 1999)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Cornerstone
• Imprint: Arrow Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback (A-Format (178x111 mm))
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Call me crazy, but I loved this book. I also loved the horrible film version with Gerard Butler and Paul Walker which I see now, having read the book, really consists of some pieces of information that were snatched from the book and shuffled like a deck of cards and then the science was dumbed down and more people died and such. Nonetheless! I find them both thought-provoking and entertaining.

Michael Crichton's books draw me in. There are five pages of references in tiny print at the end of the book - this man does his homework. This one is definitely a favorite just because of the subject matter. There is a warm place in my heart for history, and the idea of time travel (alright, multi-universe jumping) is just so intriguing to me. The Middle Ages are an area of particular interest for me, and so, this book was definitely a favorite.

Oddly enough, I think I benefited from having seen the film before, because as many others have criticized, the characters are so flat. That is a thing with Crichton - he worries about telling the story more than if you relate to the characters. Although the film adaptation was poorly done when comparing it to the source, the characters have more depth and variety and even though some of them were grossly displaced (Chris! They took his name and put it on another character altogether!) having that in the back of my mind made them more likable, and helped submerge me better into the book.

The science in this book was also a little difficult for me to follow. But I don't know if that is a general concern, or based on my personal lack of comprehension.

There was a speech near the end that Doniger was practicing, about modern America and its primary concern being entertainment. It was almost completely irrelevant to the book, but I loved it.

For me, even already knowing the ending, this was a very hard book to put down. I've gotten so jaded by poor or cliched writing lately, complete engrossment in a book has been a rare pleasure.

[mrs_mander_reads]

This was my first Michael Crichton book, and I loved it. I thought that the story was compelling and believable, and I loved the amount of history and science involved in the story. Definitely recommend it as a must-read for anyone into science fiction/fantasy, and I'll be reading more of him as well.

[remo]

Siempre he dicho que lo mejor de Crichton son los planteamientos, las ideas germinales de las novelas. La de este libro, concretamente, es la de unos historiadores “experimentales”, que viajan al año 1357 para contemplar in situ (hablando en términos espaciotemporales, entiéndase) los monasterios medievales en cuya restauración trabajan en 1999. Nada más comenzar los viajes comienzan los problemas. Además, Crichton se ha especializado últimamente en empresas hi-tech y sus peripecias, así como en diseñar sus novelas parea su posterior adaptación al cine. Crichton escribe guiones novelados, todo en uno, y así se lleva el sueldo de los tres: el escritor, el guionista y el adaptador. No es mal negocio. De todos modos, no es de las mejores. La acción se detiene constantemente, a pesar de que el ritmo de los acontecimientos narrados es, supuestamente, vertiginoso. Hay escritores que han nacido con un número determinado de novelas en potencia. No deben superarlo.