Product Description

From reviews of the first edition: "Here's a gem of a book...all peppered with delightful notes from science fiction films, novels, and comics. I can't turn a page without finding a jewel." Clifford Stoll, University of California, Berkeley (author of "The Cuckoo's Egg")From the Foreword by Kip Thorne (author of "Black Holes and Time Warps"):"In browsing this revised edition, I have been struck by the richness and complexity of the tapestry of ideas that Nahin presents. His interweaving of physics and fiction is done adeptly and keeps the book flowing.... Like a good journalist, Nahin simply reports what he sees in the physics and science fiction literature, commenting lucidly and often pointedly on the interconnections, contradictions, and controversies, but leaving it to his readers to form their own final judgments.... Nahin's book, with its complex tapestry of ideas and possibilities, may well remain the most readable and complete treatise on time travel in science and science fiction." Time Machines explores the idea of time travel from the first account in English literature to the latest theories of physicists such as Kip Thorne and Igor Novikov. This fascinating and very accessible book covers a variety of topics including the history of time travel in fiction; the fundamental scientific concepts of time, space-time, and the fourth dimension; the speculations of Einstein, Richard Feynman, Kurt Goedel, and others; time travel paradoxes, and much more. The new edition is substantially enlarged and updated throughout.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #611879 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 628 pages

Customer Reviews

Time travel: the real deal
This is a really thorough and engaging look at why physicists and philosophers have recently undertaken serious research into the possibility of time travel. Although quite a hefty volume, 'Time Machines' is well-written, well-organised and a pleasure to read. Paul J. Nahin is a physicist by trade and this book mainly tries to explain why some scientists have taken time travel seriously and why there may be fewer objections to time travel than you might think. (Nahin is also good on the reasons why other physicists reject the idea of time travel and while Nahin is generally pro the physical possibility of time travel, he handles criticisms of time travel very fairly.) This could have been a heavy read, since it has to survey about a dozen or so different physical means of generating time travel derived from relativity (mainly) and quantum theory. But Nahin keeps things clear and moving along, helped with a lot of useful examples from fiction too. (You could easily use the book as a survey of science fiction about time travel if you wanted - Nahin really knows his science fiction.) Nahin's also pretty good on the philosophy of time travel and the problems that time travel might create for freedom, knowledge and physical laws. Be warned though: don't look here if you want guidance on how to change the past - Nahin argues very clearly for the view that while it might be physically possible to visit the past, changing the past is (alas) right out.