The Time Machine

This innovative debut novel by British author H.G. Wells follows an unnamed scientist as he uses a time machine to travel from turn-of-the-century England into the far future. Instead of a world of gleaming technology, the explorer finds a primitive society populated by the fragile, human-like Eloi and the predatory, underground-dwelling Morlocks. Attempting to retrieve his stolen invention and return to his own time, the traveler encounters plenty of dangers and eventually glimpses more unsettling visions of dire future eras.