Nineteen Eighty-Four vs The Time Machine: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Science Fiction, Fiction

Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell · 1949 ★★★★☆ 4.2 244 pages · ≈ 4 h 31 m · Challenging

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by the English novelist George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair). It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker…

1 film adaptationBanned book

Surveillance Censorship Essays Classics

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The Time Machine H. G. Wells · 1895 ★★★★☆ 3.9 119 pages · ≈ 2 h 12 m · Challenging

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…

Self-experimentation in medicine Time travel in fiction Scientists Space Warfare

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Side by side

The verdict

Readers rate Nineteen Eighty-Four highest: Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2 · The Time Machine 3.9.
The Time Machine is the quickest read — about 2 hours vs 4 for Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Nineteen Eighty-Four has the widest readership — 5733183 ratings behind its score.

Nineteen Eighty-Four: Check price →The Time Machine: Check price →

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How to choose

Want a one-evening read? The Time Machine ≈ 2h vs 4h for Nineteen Eighty-Four Want the crowd-tested pick? Nineteen Eighty-Four 5733183 ratings vs 579364 for The Time Machine Just want the better-reviewed one? Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2 vs 3.9 from readers

Scores by source

	Nineteen Eighty-Four	The Time Machine
Goodreads	4.2 (5733183)	3.9 (579364)
Hardcover	5.0 (1)	3.8 (1493)
Apple Books	—	4.5 (1863)
LiveLib	—	4.3 (5)
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Reception

	Nineteen Eighty-Four	The Time Machine
Ratings	5733183	579364
Editions	536	1146
Citations	—	34
Film adaptations	1	1
Want to read	3170038	406157
Reading it now	—	20904
Written reviews	171557	20618
Wikipedia attention	140637	12134
Pages	244	119
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Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Nineteen Eighty-Four or The Time Machine?

Nineteen Eighty-Four has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Nineteen Eighty-Four 4.2/5, The Time Machine 3.9/5).

Which is shorter to read: Nineteen Eighty-Four 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); Nineteen Eighty-Four (244 pages, ≈ 4 h 31 m).

Which is harder to read: Nineteen Eighty-Four or The Time Machine?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Nineteen Eighty-Four: Challenging; The Time Machine: Challenging.

Have both books been made into films?

Nineteen Eighty-Four: 5 film adaptations; The Time Machine: no film adaptation on record.