Dune vs The Time Machine: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Science Fiction, Fiction
Dune
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Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the "spice" melange, a drug capable of…
The Time Machine
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The Time Traveller, a dreamer obsessed with traveling through time, builds himself a time machine and, much to his surprise, travels over 800,000 years into the future. He lands in the year 802701: the world has been…
Side by side
The verdict
- Readers rate Dune highest: Dune 4.3 · The Time Machine 3.9.
- The Time Machine is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 14 for Dune.
- Dune has the widest readership — 1700365 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Dune | The Time Machine | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.3 (1700365) | 3.9 (579364) |
| Hardcover | 3.8 (821) | 3.8 (1493) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (8225) | 4.5 (1863) |
| LiveLib | 4.4 (14462) | 4.3 (5) |
Reception
| Dune | The Time Machine | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1700365 | 579364 |
| Editions | 160 | 1146 |
| Citations | — | 34 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 1429560 | 406157 |
| Reading it now | 155458 | 20904 |
| Written reviews | 88652 | 20618 |
| Wikipedia attention | 126655 | 12134 |
| Pages | 784 | 119 |
Questions readers ask
Which is rated higher: Dune or The Time Machine?
Dune has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Dune 4.3/5, The Time Machine 3.9/5).
Which is shorter to read: Dune or The Time Machine?
The Time Machine is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: The Time Machine (119 pages, ≈ 2 h 12 m); Dune (784 pages, ≈ 14 h 31 m).
Which is harder to read: Dune or The Time Machine?
Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Dune: Moderate; The Time Machine: Challenging.
Have both books been made into films?
Dune: 5 film adaptations; The Time Machine: no film adaptation on record.