Timeline (English, Paperback, Crichton Michael)

Timeline outlines a tale of time travel that takes the protagonists back to Europe in the middle ages.

Summary Of The Book

The story of Timeline opens in New Mexico. A lonely man, wearing a brown robe, is found wandering through the desert by a couple who happen to be vacationing there. The man is sick and doesn’t know how he ended up there, and he does not even remember his own identity.
It is discovered that the man’s name is Joe Traub and that he is a physicist working for a company called ITC. He dies, and the company takes his body and cremates him, as he has no living relatives. One interesting item is discovered in his pocket - the plans of a medieval monastery.
Meanwhile, in France, a team of archaeologists and historians led by Professor Edward Johnston are studying the remains of some medieval towns. Their expedition is funded by ITC.

Professor Johnston’s suspicions hit a high when the company reveals a very deep knowledge of the sites they are studying. He decides to visit ITC’s headquarters in New Mexico. Sometime after he leaves, archaeologists at the dig find a pair of glasses and an appeal for help written on a parchment.

The handwriting and the glasses are identified as the professor’s. Curious about this and concerned about the professor’s prolonged absence, four people from the group go back to New Mexico. Andre Marek, Chris Hughes, Kate Erickson, and David Stern visit the ITC headquarters and meet its founder, Robert Doniger.

In an interesting turn of events, they find themselves face to face with a secret that ITC has been maintaining for long, and are thrown headlong into an exciting adventure in France, right in the middle of the Hundred Years War. Their search for their mentor leads them on a strange journey in an unfamiliar time. They are caught up in the intrigue and power struggle of the period, and their own lives are endangered.
Will they use their wits and knowledge of history to work their way out of the situation, and find the professor?

About Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton was an American novelist and screenwriter.

Other books by Crichton include Jurassic Park, The Terminal Man, Rising Sun, Congo, Disclosure, Airframe, and The Lost World.

His writings combined cutting edge science with fantasy, often using hi-tech ideas that are carried to the extreme. His books also throw up instances of the misuse of science, and how it can impact mankind.

Michael Crichton was born in 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. He began his undergraduate studies as a literature major, but he switched to biological anthropology as he had some issues with a professor in the English department. He later graduated with a medical degree from Harvard Medical College. His techno-thrillers were often cautionary tales, highlighting the dangers of science unrestrained by a sense of moral and social responsibility. Crichton also dabbled in screenwriting and direction, and achieved fame as the creator of the popular TV series, ER.