Throughout most of this novel, the protagonist has a low opinion of himself, yet he has not done anything particularly bad and rarely even acts thoughtlessly. Why is he so down on himself?

Charles has a warm and affectionate friendship with his computer, TAMMY, yet he is fully aware that her "personality skin" is a software program. Discuss what this situation suggests about the potential for relationships between the human mind and artificial intelligence.

Charles's father is portrayed as a disappointed man, who is emotionally distant and has trouble expressing his feelings. What are the connections between his personality and his fate in the novel, when he becomes stranded in the past by his time machine?

Charles's mother chooses to immerse herself in a time loop from a hypothetical 60 minutes of her life that will replay for 10 years. Why do you think she would...