(2 minute read)
Imagine this; a Victorian-era scientist builds a machine that can travel through time. In the distant future he finds that, rather than advancing, human civilization has totally collapsed.
Author H. G. Wells created The Time Machine in 1895 and is one of the earliest known science fiction stories. It popularized the concept of time travel and introduced the now-common phrase “Time Machine.”
“Books are the nearest thing to a time machine humans have ever made.”
(Shane Parrish)
In a world where the bleak reality of conflict, poverty, and uncertainty have become the norm, we are turning to books more than ever – and with good reason.
Books have the unparalleled ability to transport us to another place and another time.
Consider these:
To be transported back to ancient Rome -and to rub shoulders with Cicero, Julius Caesar, Augustus and Claudius – you should immerse yourself in Mary Beard’s masterful book, SPQR. A History of Ancient Rome.
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius, takes us to around 170 CE and allows us to shift inside the head of one of the great Stoics and that of a Roman Emperor.
To explore the challenge of navigating the world in the late 17th and early 18th century, without an accurate timepiece (and therefore no accurate plotting of longitude), author Dava Sobel’s Longitude, transports us into one of the greatest competitions of the time. The race to make the perfect timekeeper – and secure a £20,000 prize.
Historian, Geoffrey Blainey, shares one of the most epic voyages of discovery – and the brutal reality of vitamin C deficiency at sea – in ‘Captain Cook’s Epic Voyage’. (Get ready to be really seasick!)
Ever wondered what Hell and Purgatory are like, without wanting to do the trip? In 1320, Dante Alighieri put into words (poems actually) what artists have since attempted to create in paint, in ‘The Divine Comedy’.
To understand the atrocious conditions of Auschwitz, Victor E. Frankl documented the experience as a prisoner and then published ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’. “…we slept in beds which were constructed in tiers, with 9 men each sleeping directly on the boards and only 2 blankets.”
It’s a tremendous indulgence to be able to experience the wisdom, wonder, despair, or beauty created in the words of gifted authors – each creating for us own very own Time Machine.
Fun Fact: Approximately 2.2 million books are published each year. Go Explore!