In Ronald Wright's A Scientific Romance (Knopf), an archaeologist suffering from a terminal illness discovers H. G. Wells's time machine when it arrives sans pilot in a London warehouse in the year 1999. He gets it working again and sets out into the future hoping to find a cure. Wright deduces an entirely believable description of a possible future from the few clues his archaeologist uncovers while excavating the ruins of an uninhabited London and UK turned into tropical jungle. This book is a great read: it kept me awake all night.