Aunque no siempre se cumpla, en el fútbol suelen decir: "entrenador nuevo... victoria segura". Pues a mí me sucede algo similar con los viajes en el tiempo. Debo venir del futuro (o del pasado) y me han borrado la memoria o qué sé yo..., pero es leer o ver alguna peli sobre viajes en el tiempo y no poder quitar ojo hasta terminar.

En esta novela, Crichton mezcla los viajes en el tiempo con la Guerra de los Cien Años en la Edad Media y el resultado me resultó muy gratificante. Aventuras, suspense, tecnología punta, arqueología y el toque mágico de amor para conseguir una novela que me gustó ayer, me gusta hoy y me gustará mañana.

It seems a lot of people feel this was one of Crichton's weaker efforts but I enjoyed reading this. It may be that, beyond the opening, there was not as much technology-driven plot as there was medieval adventure and romance. I thought it was entertaining and found that Crichton was able to keep me interested while I was reading.

Not a bad way to spend your reading time.

At times it was difficult to remember that this book was a work of science fiction. Michael Crichton has written an almost believable tale...the dream of almost all history buffs. Imagine the reality of going back in time... to any place in the past... to yesterday or the day before or to important events in your life or in history itself.

In this case...we travel to the 14th century.... the Middle Ages. Just imagine what it would be like to experience the past in person. We'd have to be very careful not to alter or change anything in any way or we ourselves could return to an entirely different life or even never have been born...literally cease to exist.

Michael Crichton is so talented at allowing his readers to become involved with the promise of that visit to the past, and then teasing us with the possibility that we may be stuck there with no chance of returning to our own present time. Timeline is of course a work of science fiction but rather it was intended to be or not, it's also educational, and written in a way that can be easily understood. The story is a fairly quick read that mixes some scientific truths with delightful fantasy, breath-taking excitement, while creating a delightful tale that will have you wanting to skip meals, skip sleep and read to the very end.

This book was my introduction to Crichton and I fell in love!
I fell in love because this is an author who does extensive research on the subjects he writes about. So he not only entertains, he teaches you something in the process.
In Timeline, Crichton combines science(quantum technology) and history(medieval) in a heart-stopping adventure. A group of historians are given the opportunity to literally enter life in fourteenth-century feudal France. But this is not your typical time travel story.

Το 'χω πει κι άλλες φορές νομίζω: για βιβλία που απολαμβάνω δεν έχω τίποτα να πω, σε αντίθεση με βιβλία που βαρέθηκα ή δεν μου έκαναν κλικ όπου εκεί γράφω σεντόνια.

Και επειδή αυτό το βιβλίο μ' άρεσε θα αρκεστούμε με μια μαξιλαροθήκη.

Στο συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο, το τελευταίο του Κράιτον γραμμένο στον 20ο αιώνα (1999) και το τελευταίο βιβλίο του που μεταφέρθηκε στη μεγάλη οθόνη (2003) ο συγγραφέας συνδυάζει ταξίδι στο χρόνο με ιστορικό μυθιστόρημα, επιστημονική φαντασία και κβαντομηχανική με ιστορική περιπέτεια και μεσαιωνική πολιτική.

Στο πρώτο κομμάτι του βιβλίου μια ομάδα αρχαιολόγων / φοιτητών ιστορίας κάνει ανασκαφές κοντά σε ένα ερειπωμένο κάστρο στη Νοτιοδυτική Γαλλία. Εδώ υπερτερεί ο ρεαλισμός. Όμως έρχεται η στιγμή που ο καθηγητής τους και επικεφαλής της ανασκαφής πάει για μια δουλειά διεκπερέωσης με τον χρηματοδότη τους, μια εταιρία που ασχολείται με κβαντομηχανική. Τελικά δεν επιστρέφει και ταυτόχρονα μέσα σε μια κρύπτη που μόλις έχει ανασκαφθεί οι φοιτητές βρίσκουν γυαλιά, αντικείμενο που δεν υπήρχε στο μεσαίωνα, αντικείμενο που επιπρόσθετα ανήκει στον καθηγητή τους.

Κι εδώ ξεκινά το δεύτερο κομμάτι του βιβλίου, όπου οι φοιτητές θα πάνε στο εργαστήριο της εταιρίας η οποία κατάφερε με την κβαντομηχανική να στέλνει χρονοταξιδιώτες κάτα βούληση.
Κι εδώ ο Κράιτον μπάινει σε άφθονες λεπομέρειες για το πώς λειτουργεί η κβαντομηχανική και επιπλέον οι χρονομηχανές. Παρουσιάζει με άλλα λόγια μια επιστημονική εξήγηση για ταξίδι στο χρόνο σε αντίθεση με τους Κινγκ, Μπάτλερ, και Ουέλς που αρκούνται να περιγράψουν το ταξίδι και την περιπέτειά του μέσα από αυτό, αντί να εξηγήσουν πώς κάτι τέτοιο είναι εφικτό.

Έτσι (και εδώ ξεκινά το τρίτο και μεγαλύτερο κομμάτι του βιβλίου) 4 φοιτητές θα ταξιδέψουν πίσω στο 1357, την περίοδο του Εκατονταετή Πολέμου μεταξύ Αγγλίας και Γαλλίας. Με άλλα λόγια ένα εχθρικό και επικίνδυνο περιβάλλον για τους φοιτητές του 20ου αιώνα.

Δηλαδή αν σας αρέσει ο μεσαίωνας και τα ιστορικά μυθιστορήματα της περιόδου του, το ταξίδι στο χρόνο, και η σκληρή επιστημονική φαντασία, τότε αυτό το βιβλίο είναι ό,τι πρέπει για σας.

$1.99 ON KINDLE! https://smile.amazon.com/Timeline-Nov...

This is a terrific piece of adventure fiction. I am glad that I read it before I saw its movie...which was adequate as an adaptation but unsatisfying in its simplicity.

Como siempre Crichton ¡¡¡ se sale !!!

Escribo hoy 24 Enero 2021 ésta reseña porque anoche volví a ver la película que hicieron de éste libro y me volví a fascinar.

Es asombroso cómo un libro puede transportarte a donde el autor quiera y convencerte de que lo que te cuenta (sea lo que sea ) es posible, si eél, el autor, es lo suficientemente bueno y señores, a mí éste señor me ha convencido ya de muchas, muchas cosas.

Si no lo has leído, léelo, sin dudarlo, te va a sorprender y si quieres, salvando las distancias, la pelicula no está mal.

Too scientific for me. But Mr Crichton as always proves himself a master of storytelling. Timeline is no different. Bringing suspense and thrilling story at the same time.

3 stars

Never judge a book by its cover. Also, never judge one by the plot written at the back. Timeline by Michael Crichton is a time-hop action drama, traversing the present and the fourteenth century medieval past.

History gets opened up to the present as a professor is marooned in the fourteenth century medieval world. His students are swept off to the headquarters of ITC, the multinational organization that made the technology possible. The plan is to send them back in time and rescue the professor, but things go awry the moment they step into the fourteenth century. Wars, torture, death and rape are rampant and the group found itself fighting for survival.

Timeline does not feature your average run-of-the mill time travel. You are not actually travelling back in time, instead you are travelling across multiverse (amongst the multiple parallel universes).

The plot appeared quiet nonsensical at first. An organization develops the technology to time-hop and starts investing in research around historical sites. Their idea is to dig up these historical sites and reconstruct old castles and granaries. What I find ridiculous is that you are sitting on top of the most sensational scientific invention and you decide to use it to create medieval Disneyland and Universal Studios!

But I could not have been more wrong. The book absorbed me right from the beginning, so much so, that by the second half I could not put it down. The writing is remarkable and the subject matter, well researched. The science part of the time-hop is explained brilliantly, giving you the crux of the things without intimidating you into oblivion.

The beginning is a bit slow and the end is way too predictable. However the action starts soon, and once it begins it stays till the very end. Crichton had me sitting at the edge of my seat in the second half of the book. He made the fourteenth century medieval world not only exciting but nail-biting horrifying, making Timeline a true page turner.

You can also read the review here: Argumentative Watermelon

I read this in 2018 and didn't care much for it. The moment they land in the past, it was zip, zap, zoom.
While I found the concept very interesting, I couldn't stand the unbelievable action. How the protagonists stay alive while the villains are killed instantly was beyond me. Then the part where one of the heroes chose to stay back in the past had me shaking my head. It was a 3 * rating then.

Coming to the present 15th March 2021, after reading Outlander, which is also about time travel, I am seeing this book in a new light. I hated Outlander.
The subtle romance, the suitably researched historical elements, the superb action, a very much believable time travel concept - I wonder why I hadn't liked it much before.
All I needed was a bad book to see this book favorably. Increasing the rating to 4 * and planning to re-read sometime.

This book is marvelous if you're just getting into or are already into fantasy and/or historical fiction. I know I learned a ton of information about the 14th century even though I kinda consider myself a sage of speculative fiction haha. Crichton is just so so so good at explaining really advanced concepts in such a way that lay people can understand.

The reason why I bring up fantasy, is because I honestly can't think of one work of (high) fantasy that isn't based, or at least derived from, the Tales of Chivalry from the 14th century.

Still unsure whether or not to take time out to read this novel because it deals with history and advanced theories of quantum mechanics? Let me give you a taste in Crichton's own words (no spoilers):

"Consider for a moment," Doniger continued, "how unevenly technology has impacted the various fields of knowledge in the twentieth century. Physics employs the most advanced technology--including accelerator rings many miles in diameter. The same with chemistry and biology. A hundred years ago, Faraday and Maxwell had tiny private labs. Darwin worked with a notebook and a microscope. But today, no important scientific discovery could be made with such simple tools. The sciences are utterly dependent on advanced technology. But what about the humanities? During this same time, what has happened to them?"

Doniger paused rhetorically. "The answer is, nothing. There has been no significant technology. The scholar of literature or history works exactly as his predecessors did a hundred years before. Oh, there have been some minor changes in the authentication of documents, and the use of CD-ROMs, and so forth. But the basic, day-to-day work of the scholar is exactly the same."

He looked at each of them in turn. "So we have an inequity. The fields of human knowledge are unbalanced. Medieval scholars are proud that in the twentieth century their views have undergone a revolution. But physics has undergone three revolutions in the same century. A hundred years ago, physicists argued about the age of the universe and the source of the sun's energy. No one on earth knew the answers. Today, every schoolchild knows. Today, we have seen the length and breadth of the universe, we understand it from the level of galaxies to the level of subatomic particles. We have learned so much that we can speak in detail about what happened during the first few minutes of the birth of the exploding universe. Can medieval scholars match this advance within their own field? In a word, no. Why not? Because no new technology assists them. No one has ever developed a new technology for the benefit of the historians--until now."

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a thrilling read filled with unique ideas, especially if you're into either physics, history, or both!

Another spectacular quote I highlighted (it made me feel great about minoring in history): "Professor Johnston often said that if you didn't know history, you didn't know anything. You were a leaf that didn't know it was part of a tree."

I wish I could go back in time (even though it wouldn't really be back in time, except it is, except it isn't, except it definitely is! Did I get that right, Crichton, you motherless fuck?) and tell Michael Crichton that, really, he doesn't need to spend 1/3 of the novel fruitlessly attempting to make time travel hold scientific water because no matter what he does, he will only end up creating more and more plot holes that he'll have have to patch up with ever more bullshit until his readers frankly don't give a flying fuck about who is where or when or why.

The premise itself is so deeply flawed that it beggars belief this got to the complete draft stage, let alone published. If I have this straight (and, really, I don't care if I do at this point), Timeline asserts that: 1) time travel is not possible; 2) you can be transported to an almost identical universe in the infinite ~*~*~multiverse~*~*~ where you're able to observe the past and you're supposed to assume that the things you learn in ANOTHER FUCKING UNIVERSE really have significance in this universe; 3) things that happen in ANOTHER FUCKING UNIVERSE somehow pop up in our universe (see: Dr. Johnson's bifocal lens). Once I absorbed these three foundational truths that set up the rest of the novel, I really should have packed it in because it's too dumb for words.

There are really so many stupid things going on that you could write a graduate thesis covering them all, but I'll end my angry review on this one note: if I'd been Doc Johnson's history grad student, that man would have just been fuck out of luck. The second an obviously evil corporation told me my professor had been lost in another universe and they wanted me to go back and save him, I'd have had my ass on the first flight back to Yale and I'd find a new professor to oversee my studies. Period. The end.