This book is absolutely amazing (and I'm not just saying that because I first read it as a teenage boy struggling with his sexual identity).

This book portrays one of the most human, vivid, and realistic explorations of what would happen if you gave a teenager a time-machine. I'm going to get rich! Then that becomes boring. I'm going to try to create a paradox on purpose! (And the results are exceptionally well-explained.) Then: I'm lonely, I'm going to keep myself company...

In science fiction, the notion of time-travel is so often dealt with poorly that it is thought-provoking and captivating to see it done correctly: all of the details thought out, all of the implications taken to their logical end. With a few fun twists and turns in characterization along the way.

I can't believe that so many people have not heard of this book... it is an undiscovered gem. ( )

Danny Eakins has been bequeathed a unique gift – a belt that allows him to travel through time. Danny then proceeds to do everything that a time-traveller would wish to do with the belt, and quite a few more that a time-traveller would not. To list what Danny does to give you an idea of what the book is like would be to spoil the book. However, it is sufficient to say that it seems like Danny manages to cover pretty much everything that one might wish to do with a time-travel machine, quite a few that one might not, and the speed in which Gerrold covers this makes for quite an interesting and fun read. I also enjoyed the way that Gerrold comes up with a plausible explanation that allows him to disregard every single time-travel paradox that has ever been written about, and then proceeds to do so. There are no Paradox Police here, which makes the read quite enjoyable.

The occasional supporting characters never rise above crude stereotypes, and Danny himself is quite a simply-drawn character. Certainly, Danny has a few personal angsts and problems, but for much of the book, Danny is simply a vehicle to show Gerrold’s ideas about time travel. This is not a great problem; “The Man Who Folded Himself” for the most part seemed to be more about what any person might do with a time-travel device, rather than what Danny Eakins in particular would do.

Having said this, there is one particular aspect of the book which I did not enjoy, both for how Gerrold portrayed this, and for how it ruined the “this is pretty much what I would do in this situation” idea floating in my head beforehand.

“The Man Who Folded Himself” has lots of interesting ideas about time-travel, which does make the book quite a bit above average. Recommended. ( )

Odd. A young man inherits a belt that lets him time travel, which he uses mostly to have sex with alternate versions of himself. About as complete an exploration of the "many worlds" version of time travel as you could expect. Plus a lot of sex. ( )

D: A little gem of a book. I've never read anything that so carefully explores the possible emotional and psychological ramifications of time travel. For that reason alone this novel should be a must-read for science fiction fans. That being said, the psycho-sexual explorations, while controversial and ground-breaking in the early 1970s, now seem quaintly overwrought. ( )

This book was an interesting take on time travel and identity. While I liked the main character, I wish the book had been longer and more detail given to Dan's adventures in different time periods. ( )