threemonkeys | ...goes the weasel (Reply)

As I have mentioned a few times recently, I'm a bit of a sucker for pop culture references. The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman has a bunch of them. Well, I think so. I recognise a few of them anyway - a time machine bigger on the inside than the out anybody? And I can see where the text is set up for others - I just don't recognise them. Time travel, particularly in ever increasing jumps forward, was a staple of science fiction in its earliest days and has never really left the genre. There are a lot of references for Joe to call upon and I just don't get them all which is a pity really because it rather seems to be the point of the book. Of course, it is not without its other charms because he really is a good wordsmith and can always spin a good yarn. However there are two sorts of Joe Haldeman stories. There are the all too rare epic tales with war themes that are in the top of the field. Then there are the entertaining but slight stories that always seem to have some sort of non-divine god figure in them. This book is certainly in the latter class.