John Titor: A Time Traveler's Tale
==================================

I read the book "John Titor: A Time Traveler's Tale (2003)". It was
rather difficult to find for a long time because it's been out of
print forever, but it was finally uploaded to the Internet Archive
back in February 2024[1] and now everyone can read it properly.

The book is a compilation of John Titor's forum messages edited and
annotated by his mother. Her comments are few and far between, but
they offer a lot of useful context to fill some gaps in Titor's
story. For example, she tells us that John:

* Arrived in 1998 (so a few years before his forum posts) with the
  IBM 5100 to spend time and stay with his family until his departure;
* Was terrible at communicating with people and understanding context:
  she tells us of an anecdote in which John spends a long time
  talking to a telemarketer on the phone before noticing that he
  only wanted to sell him something, not make friends;
* Cried strepitously the first time he visited a supermarket;
* Might have had an additional secret agenda for coming to the 70s
  and then 1998-2001 to reveal himself besides recovering an IBM 5100
  or spending time with his family and that she was worried because
  John wasn't telling her.

From John Titor's own messaages, it was surprising to learn he was
deeply religious (his military insignia, that you can easily find
online, features two curved lines coming in the center that
symbolize the two possible paths a time travel mission can take: the
planned destination time, and God, that is, death) and that he
couldn't really return to his original world line, only an
infinitesimally similar one because of the effects of divergence,
a topic that he explains in depth. Although John didn't predict
9/11, his mother found it morbid how John Titor used plane crashes
so often as examples. It really makes you think.

It was an easy read and very entertaining too. A bit funny, too,
if you imagine John Titor to look like Suzuha from Steins;Gate. It's
essential reading for any internet lore aficionados. I leave you
with a quote from John:

  "Perhaps I should let you all in on a little secret. No one likes
  you in the future. This time period is looked at as being full of
  lazy, self-centered, civically ignorant sheep. Perhaps you should
  be less concerned about me and more concerned about that."

[1] https://archive.org/details/JohnTitorTimeTravel