1
Time: the final frontier... These are some of the voyages of storytellers through the mysteries of time and how to break through its apparently-rigid barriers and break its, apparently equally rigid, rules. Thing is, we're all traveling through time together—forward. Not all quite at the same subjective rate, of course, because there are teeny-tiny relativistic effects at work, which have to do with our relative motions. Come to think about it, your very own bodies are subject to that. The hands of a boxer throwing lightning-fast punches actually move slower through time than the rest of his body, and when he pulls them back again, they've actually aged less than the rest of him. But that's time for you—or, more accurately space-time. Makes you wonder how you function at all.
By and large such nano-minuscule effects don't show. But we'd notice significant deviations from everybody moving in lockstep. Like if someone had a time-machine and made themselves or some object disappear—though there'd need to be some feedback to prove that it was indeed a time-travel event and not something else, like a parallel-universe thing. In fact, that's a problem with all time-travel stories, because we really just can't tell what it is. Like ever. Probably.
There's another way of cheating time, e.g. by putting someone in suspended animation and then waking them up again in the future. That's a kind of time travel, but it's 'biological', not 'physical'. In the first novel in the list that's done twice, with almost the same starting and end points. But that can only be done if there a BACKWARD time-travel event in the middle—and that's where time-travel stories becomes mind-twisters. Going into the past, except in our memories or by inspecting records—artifacts, books, photos and films, etc—has serious potential ontological and logical ramifications. And that's where the real fun starts, and fiction writers definitely do better than scientists—for the time being anyway.
The ranking
2
The Time Machine
by Wells, H. G.
Follow a time traveller into an alien-like future Earth to witness the consequences of humanity's social and biological choices and evolution.
3
4
5
6
7
A Sound Of Thunder
An example of time tourism, this novel is the source of the phrase, "butterfly effect" because a butterfly dies and the traveller's future is altered.
8
The End Of Eternity
Guardians of time steer history along safe paths, ultimately stagnating humanity--an example of the common theme of time police.
9
Timescape (1981)
A novel about ecological issues and scientific experiments that address current events at the time of writing.
10
11
The Anubis Gates
by Powers, Tim
An award winning novel that has time travel, historical figures, Egyptian mythology, and 19th century England.
12
13
14
Behold The Man (Karl Glogauer)
A story that is inspired by the Gospel of John and is about a man who travels back in time with the intent of meeting Jesus.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Trending Books in Best Time Travel Science Fiction Books
Trending Science Fiction Booklists
Top 25 Underrated Science Fiction Books
Under-appreciated Science Fiction You Should Read
Top 25 Post Human Science Fiction Books
Best Post Human Science Fiction Reads
Top 100 Best Science Fiction Books
Top 100 Best Science Fiction Books of All Time
Top 25 Science Fiction Books
The Best 25 Science Fiction Ever Written (Updated January 2016)
Best Non-English Science Fiction Books
Best Non-English Science Fiction Books
Best Early Science Fiction Books
Influential, Early Science Fiction That Helped Shaped The Genre
The shortlist
Want the next list like this in your inbox? New releases and the lists readers are opening most, by email.