The beginning of The Accidental Time Machine is pretty funny. I thought that if Haldeman could maintain the level of humor throughout the entire book, this one might be my favorite time travel book so far. Unfortunately, Haldeman pretty much abandons the humor and makes the book a "cautionary" tale. When the protagonist, Matt Fuller, arrives in AD 2252, he finds a theocracy controlled by "Jesus". I suppose quite a few Sci-Fi fans see Haldeman's having a scientist/atheist time traveler confront a Christian theocracy as an act of bravery on Haldeman's part. I, on the other hand, found that part of the novel a bit ho-hum. Maybe a little better than the traditional "time traveler meets world ruled by artificial intelligence", but Haldeman goes there later as well.
Sadly, The Accidental Time Machine starts with a bang and ends with a whimper.
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