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Loading... Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time (original 2001; edition 2001)by J. Richard Gott (Author)
Work InformationTime Travel in Einstein's Universe : The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time by J. Richard Gott (2001)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Professor Gott starts with the familiar paradox of a time traveler going back and killing a grandparent, adds Einstein's general theory of relativity, and walks the reader through much of current physics theory while seeking ways time travel might be permitted. Along the way, he manages to use almost no mathematics through a set of simple, expressive diagrams. An excellent popular science book! Includes an explanation of the theory that the universe (multiverse, actually) created itself, advanced by the author (a Princeton astrophysicist) in a 1998 _Physical Review_ paper. Also includes his simple (compared to the Doomsday Argument of Brandon Carter and John Leslie), Copernican-principle-based method of estimating future durations. This guy is *smart*, and writes well too. A great treat. no reviews | add a review
Distinctions
The author, an astrophysicist, takes time travel from science fiction to science fact, speculating about the possibility that temporal navigation may be within the grasp of humanity. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)530.11Science Physics Physics Theoretical Physics RelativityLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Length? – Several days to read.
Characters? – Not really.
Setting? – Semi real world. Science on the scale of the largest and smallest particles.
Written approximately? – 2001.
Does the story leave questions in the readers mind? – Reading to read more theories.
Any issues the author (or a more recent publisher) should cover? No.
Short storyline: The first chapter was really good and covers many types of media (books and movies) that give examples of time travel. The second chapter talks about the possibility of time travel to the future. The third chapter pretty much decided that time travel to the past, other than within a person's own lifetime is nigh impossible, and even then, the likelihood of time travel to your own past is almost impossible. There is a lot of repetition. Some sentences are repeated dozens of times.
The last chapter spouts about a future prediction theory. It could have been summed up quite well in three pages. Basically, if it has happened, it will happen. The numbers it comes up with are so unrealistic, that it's unbelievable. No individual human could live 1,250 years and still be healthy. In some ways, this theory might be useful for giant calculations - like predicting the demise of the universe. And yet, even then, the numbers seem too large to be meaningful, and are often contradicted by other science (much as theories often are).
Notes for the reader: Great for a collection of literary resources for time travel to both the past and the future. ( )