The Man Who Folded Himself.
The Man who Folded Himself. (1973)
IMHO this is the best book on the effects of time travel you will ever find. It really goes into the mechanics and ramifications in detail, as the man desperately tries to change back the changes that he previously made, by making further changes, and only making things more complicated. Quite sad also.
It was hard to track it down though, but well worth it. I couldn't find it in any bookshop. It was originally published by Bantam Books. The guy I rang at the 'Forbidden Planet' bookshop told me for about 15 minutes, what a really good a book it was, but then said sorry, it's out of print.
I managed to borrow it eventually, from my public library, who loaned it from the BBC library.
The story of a bewildered young man and his adventures with a Timebelt Temporal Transport Device which is left to him by his deceased uncle.
Daniel Eakins is unsure about the belt left to him by an uncle he did'nt know. But after a short while he sees the potentials. Horse races to bet on, stocks to ride high etc...he can be very rich!!
However, his first trip into the future presents him with an "all knowing" version of himself waiting for him to arrive (after all, this future version of himself knows exactly what Dan is going through, as "he" went through it yesterday!!!)
Dan is needless to say, taken aback! And later when a future version of himself pops (folds) back to warn him and his other self (so now three versions of himself in the same timeframe) about over gambling, Dan only starts to see some of the implications of what this belt is all about.
This is a fascinating and mind bending look at a very common SF theme. David Gerrold takes a hard look at the possible paradoxes, or even lack of paradoxes that time travel implies - multiple versions of one's self, parallel universes, history fixing, gender bending, sexual mores etc...
The Man who Folded Himself. (1973)
IMHO this is the best book on the effects of time travel you will ever find. It really goes into the mechanics and ramifications in detail, as the man desperately tries to change back the changes that he previously made, by making further changes, and only making things more complicated. Quite sad also.
It was hard to track it down though, but well worth it. I couldn't find it in any bookshop. It was originally published by Bantam Books. The guy I rang at the 'Forbidden Planet' bookshop told me for about 15 minutes, what a really good a book it was, but then said sorry, it's out of print.
I managed to borrow it eventually, from my public library, who loaned it from the BBC library.
The story of a bewildered young man and his adventures with a Timebelt Temporal Transport Device which is left to him by his deceased uncle.
Daniel Eakins is unsure about the belt left to him by an uncle he did'nt know. But after a short while he sees the potentials. Horse races to bet on, stocks to ride high etc...he can be very rich!!
However, his first trip into the future presents him with an "all knowing" version of himself waiting for him to arrive (after all, this future version of himself knows exactly what Dan is going through, as "he" went through it yesterday!!!)
Dan is needless to say, taken aback! And later when a future version of himself pops (folds) back to warn him and his other self (so now three versions of himself in the same timeframe) about over gambling, Dan only starts to see some of the implications of what this belt is all about.
This is a fascinating and mind bending look at a very common SF theme. David Gerrold takes a hard look at the possible paradoxes, or even lack of paradoxes that time travel implies - multiple versions of one's self, parallel universes, history fixing, gender bending, sexual mores etc...
We find out that he, himself, was actually the uncle who left the belt in the first place 
He keeps visiting a party where large numbers of himselves are always present. Some upsetting event happens in the bedroom that he is never allowed to see by his other selfs, until he finds out it is his death.
He keeps visiting a party where large numbers of himselves are always present. Some upsetting event happens in the bedroom that he is never allowed to see by his other selfs, until he finds out it is his death.
