Time Travel in Einstein's Universe

Richard Gott

Average Rating 5/10 (1 Review)

Human beings have a strong desire to travel through time. As an acknowledged world expert in the topic, Professor Richard Gott is rumoured to have a time machine in his garage, and he was once sent a letter inviting him to give a talk on the subject six months after he had already done so. But time travel has a serious side too. He often receives calls from people who want to return to the past to see a loved one.

Although scientists are not yet taking out patents on a time machine, they are investigating whether it is possible under the laws of physics. In Newton's three-dimensional world this would have been inconceivable. But with Einstein's theory of relativity a fourth dimension - time - enters the frame. Is it really inconceivable that we can travel along the timeline?

In this book Richard Gott offers an intellectually expansive, witty and engaging study of the viability of time travel, which takes us from the dream of time travel itself in H. G. Wells's path-breaking novel "The Time Machine" to cutting-edge research into astrophysics and quantum teleportation. He explores the scientific, social and moral implications of time travel, and looks at recent remarkable experiments in which fundamental particles were actually sent into the future.

Finally he reveals how the study of time travel to the past may provide new insights into cosmic origins and evolution.

Review by Vex (010602) Rating (5/10)

Review by Vex
Rating 5/10
This is a book that is both interesting and somewhat confusing. It tries to explain how time travel could be possible within the current theories regarding space and time, most importantly Einstein's theory of relativity.

The first part of the book is fairly easy to understand and grasp, however, as the book progresses it does seem to get a little too technical and confusing. The subject matter is such that it is never going to be easy to understand, and the author does do a pretty good job of explaining things, but nevertheless the reader is left somewhat bewildered as the book progresses. I guess it might make more sense for someone with a background in these kinds of things.

I did learn some things from the book and it's given me some new things to think about, but I feel that I've probably missed a lot of the ideas that are contained in this book. Maybe subsequent re-reads will help, or perhaps I shouldn't have read it late at night, before going to sleep!
Vex (1st June 2002)