A Wonderful Old Friend

     Have you ever encountered an old friend and, after spending time together, felt like you got to know them for the first time?  Well, I had an old friend sitting on a bookshelf for years, who knows how long, that I finally got to know for the first time. 

     This old friend is a terrific book by Isaac Asimov entitled The End of Eternity.  It's rather old, for science fiction, but the set-up and plot line were mind-blowing for me.

     It's about a man who works in Eternity, a time line that exists outside of the actual Reality in which most people live.  Eternity exists, you see, so that a small group of people can make small changes to avoid unwanted developments (wars, plagues, unhelpful inventions, and so on) in the history of humankind.

     The main character, Harlan, is someone I wanted to shake after a while and tell him to stop being so angry and so paranoid and so devious.  But I found out that he had a reason for being this way.

     It's a love story, it's a mind-blower, it's a thriller that keeps you turning the pages until the very end.  Treat yourself and spend some time with this new friend.