Welcome to Books at Bedtime by Calming Anxiety.If you are struggling with insomnia, a racing mind, or simply need a soothing evening routine to help you drift off, let the comforting cadence of classic audio books guide you into a deep, restful sleep.In tonight’s episode, we journey through Chapter 15 of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (The Time Traveler's Return). After an epic voyage through the ages, the story slows down to a gentle pace as our traveler returns to the quiet stillness of the laboratory. Let your mind unwind as the chaotic world fades away, bringing you to a place of complete relaxation and peace.Why Listen to Audio Books for Sleep?Using a bedtime story or soft spoken-word audio book is a proven way to combat insomnia. By giving your mind a gentle, low-stakes narrative to focus on, you can naturally lower your heart rate, quiet late-night anxiety, and transition peacefully into deep REM sleep.Key Features of This Episode:Sleep-Inducing Narration: A calm, slow, and rhythmic voice designed to soothe a tired mind.
Insomnia Relief: The perfect background audio to stop late-night overthinking and restlessness.
Classic Literature: Enjoy the immersive world of The Time Machine without the harsh blue light of a screen.
The story
Transcribed from the audio, so the odd word may be off. Tap any line while it plays to keep the words in step with Martin's voice.
Books at Bedtime by Calming Anxiety, the Time Machine, Chapter 15, The Time Travelers Return.
So I came back. For a long time I must have been insensible upon the machine. The blinking succession of the days and nights was resumed. The sun got golden again, the sky blue.
I breathed with greater freedom. The fluctuating contours of the land ebbed and flowed. The hands spun backward upon the dials. At last I saw again the dim shadow of houses, the evidence of the decadent humanity.
These two changed and passed, and others came. Presently when the million dial was at zero, I slacken the speed. I began to recognize our own pretty and familiar architecture. The thousands hand ran back to the starting point, the night in day flapped slower and slower.
Then the old walls of the laboratory came railing me. Very gently now, I slowed the mechanism down. I saw one little thing that seemed odd to me. I think I've told you that when I set out before my velocity became very high, Mrs. Watchett had walked across the room, traveling as it seemed to me like a rocket.
As I returned, I passed again across the minute when she reversed the laboratory. That now, her every motion appeared to be the exact inversion of her previous ones. The door at the lower end opened, and she glided quietly up the laboratory, back foremost and disappeared behind the door by which she had previously entered. Just before that, I seemed to see Helia for a moment, but he passed like a flat.
Then I stopped the machine and saw about me again the old familiar laboratory. My tools, my appliances, just as I had left them. I got off the thing very shakily and sat down upon my bench. For several minutes I trembled violently.
Then I became calmer. Around me was my old workshop again, exactly as it had been. I might have slept there, and the whole thing may have been a dream. And yet, not exactly.
The thing had started from the southeast corner of the laboratory. It had come to rest again in the northwest, against the wall where you saw it. That, that gives me you the exact distance from my little lawn to the pedestal of the white sphinx, into which the more locks had carried the machine. For a time, my brain went stagnant.
Presently, I got up and came through the passage here, limping, because my heel was still painful, and feeling sorely begrined. I saw the Palmal Gazette on the table by the door. I found the date was indeed today, and looking at my timepiece, saw the hour was almost eight o'clock. I heard your voices, and the clatter of plates.
I hesitated. I felt so sick and weak. Then I sniffed good wholesome meat and opened the door on you. You know the rest.
I washed, I dined, and now I am telling you. The story.