Conrads Time Machine Book Review

This book is a retroactive prequel to the adventures of Conrad Stargrad series.  It is basically the story of how the civilization that made the time machine Conrad stumbled into began.  It is a very good story about three nerdy friends who discover and develop time travel together.  Like the Conrad series this book stays mostly upbeat and stays happy while still being interesting, but there are some very unfortunate personal consequences for the main characters from the development of time travel.

This book still has an element of everything going right for the main characters, but not to the extent that the Conrad series had.  In fact there are some very sad parts for one of the main characters.  The part I really didn't like was when in the course of the story advanced inter-dimensional aliens taught them how to do time travel right, so that they didn't pollute the alien's homes.  I think that the story would have been better without it.

This book tells the story of Conrad's Uncle Tom, and two of his friends Ian and Jim, who discover and develop time travel.  Soon after its initial discovery the societies that the three of them will start show up to help, and the time travel paradoxes, antics, and tragedies begin.  This book explores both what happens to a people when they know their future from the day they were born, and the havoc reckless time travelers can cause.  The book also explores a lot of the spin off technologies that warping space and time creates.  This story explains why Tom is so willing to help his relative Conrad in the Conrad Stargrad series.  It is not just because they are related, but because he knows first hand the damage, and the good, a little bit of knowledge from the future can cause.  He wants to make sure he helps the good come about.

This book will appeal to Leo Frankowski fans, and to people who like a good engineers tale.  Large parts of the book are devoted to figuring out technical problems, and this may not be the sort of thing action adventure lovers would like.

This book can be purchased in print or as an e-book at www.baen.com or www.amazon.com.