Hall of Mirrors

"Hall of Mirrors" by Fredric Brown is a science fiction novel written in the early 1950s. The book delves into the complexities of time travel and the philosophical implications of living one’s life over again. It addresses the potential consequences of a discovered time machine and explores themes of identity, memory, and morality. The story follows Norman Hastings, a 25-year-old mathematics professor who unexpectedly finds himself in a future world after stepping out of a time machine he did not know he would be entering. Upon arriving in the year 2004, he discovers that he has not only forsaken his past life but has been given the power to decide the fate of the time machine—whether to share its potential with a world that might not be ready for it or to destroy it to prevent chaos and overpopulation. The narrative deeply examines his emotional turmoil as he grapples with the loss of a life lived, including the death of his fiancée, and the weight of the responsibility he now carries to safeguard the implications of time travel for humanity. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Fredric Brown was an American science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writer. He is known for his use of humor and for his mastery of the "short short" form—stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. Humor and a postmodern outlook carried over into his novels as well. One of his stories, "Arena", was adapted to a 1967 episode of the American television series Star Trek.