A time travel adventure story, "Timeline" is pretty weird even for Crichton: a tech company that sorta-accidentally sorta-invents sorta-time-travel; naturally, they accidentally strand a history professor in 14th century France, and, naturally, the company's response is to send back his grad students (including one who, naturally, is fluent in multiple dead languages and proficient at period-appropriate combat techniques) to rescue him.
A great, meandering discussion ensued--we thought this feels a little rushed, even for Crichton, with some of the most intriguing bits of the book also the most confusing--there are a few major ideas and threads that he either forgot to cut or meant to develop. And, since this is time travel, we spent a lot of time just unravelling the mechanics and comparing it to other work. Spoilers below!
