The End of Eternity, by Isaac Asimov

In 1991, when I visited the USA as a tourist for the second time, I stumbled upon this book. I bought a copy, brought it home with me and before I had a chance to read it, I gave it away to my friend Valmir Barbosa, who had introduced me to Asimov's Foundation universe. The years went by, the book went out of print and then I finally remembered there was this one novel by The Good Doctor, which I had not read yet. I scoured bookstores looking for it, without any luck, until a few weeks ago, my friend and housemate Fred Henle dug up a copy for me from the depths of his most amazing library.

What an fantastic book! It's Asimov at his prime. The story is based on an institution called Eternity, that operates outside the confines of time. Eternity uses people and equipment to ferry goods from one time period to another, but also to guide the history of mankind. Using complex mathematical analyses and deep observations, they can change Reality to improve the goodness of all.

So, there is a component of hard science and time paradoxes to your heart's delight, but there's also a very human story interwoven in this plot. Andrew Harlan is a Technician: a member of Eternity (aka an Eternal) in charge of carrying out the deeds that change Reality. If one of these math specialists, a Computer, determines a new course for Reality, Harlan is one of those who must travel in time to set things in motion. The society in Eternity is caste-based and Technicians are not viewed with much love by the rest of the populace. After all, they are the ones who actually change Reality and may cause grief to other Eternals; even if they didn't determine these changes, they are seen as the cause of the effect and their existence is ignored by the others as much as possible.

The human drama of Harlan's existence develops when he meets a woman called Noys, while travelling through time in one of his assignments. Much against the rules of Eternity, he falls in love and risks not only his career, but also the entire institution for his feelings. To say much more than this would be to take away from you the pleasure of reading this page turner and being stunned by the surprises that come along.

Suffice it to say that this book will get you thinking hard about time and relativity, about sociology and society as a whole, and about individual human lives. Just like most of Asimov's novels do. Fans of the Robot, Galactic Empire and Foundation novels may even find something of a tie between that universe and the one of "The End of Eternity". A must read for any serious fan of science fiction.