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Loading... How to Build a Time Machineby Paul Davies
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. Perhaps it was inevitable that my fondness for novels involving time travel would lead me to this slim but fascinating non-fiction work by physicist, Paul Davies. Despite the provocative title, Davies doesn’t actually give step-by-step instructions for building a time machine in your garage, more’s the pity. But he does explain in plain English why we’re already time travelers (moving toward the future at the stately pace of one second per second) and how the universe just might allow us to do far more—eventually. Want to get to Year 3000 in a hurry? Build a rocket that can attain 99.999999999% of the speed of light and you’ll be there in six months. Want to get back now from then, or visit some other time that relative to now is in the past? You’ll need a wormhole and Davies provides helpful, if daunting instructions for building one. If a traveler from the future ever does show up, don’t be surprised if he’s got a copy of this book in his back pocket. (  ) SaraPoole | Aug 10, 2009 |  After reading it, I know why a time machine is not a total fantasy. gaozeng | Jul 31, 2008 | I was somewhat disappointed by this slim book. Davies obviously knows what he is talking about, but I felt the book would have been better with more detail (like equations). For disclosure's sake, I am pursuing a PhD in physics, so I might have a skewed idea for the appropriate level of detail. The other problem I had with this book is that, since it covers a practical (well, not really so practical) problem, Davies has to weave together several different threads into a discussion that is primarily about relativistic spacetime. There were a few places where this felt awkward. For example, the section on how to 'inflate' a virtual wormhole up to macroscopic size gets interrupted by a grabbag listing of possible sources for exotic (negative energy) matter. This list is very interesting but feels as if it were crammed into a space too small for it. (  ) colinflipper | Oct 9, 2007 | Sketchy but authoritative, and short, account of time-related implications of relativity. fpagan | Dec 25, 2006 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0670030635, Hardcover)With his rare knack for making cutting-edge theoretical science effortlessly accessible, world-renowned physicist Paul Davies has won a devoted readership with his bestselling books The Fifth Miracle, About Time, and God and the New Physics. Now Davies tackles an issue that has intrigued humankind for centuries-is time travel possible?The answer, insists Davies, is definitely yes-once you iron out a few kinks in the space-time continuum. With tongue planted seriously in cheek, Davies explains that to visit the future, all you need is a little help from gravity and a spaceship that can travel just under the speed of light. As for returning to the past, the best bet is to find a convenient black hole equipped with a traversible worm hole-though if you're not careful you may find yourself sucked into a one-way journey to nowhere. Finally, having brilliantly laid the theoretical foundation, Davies sets out a four-stage process for assembling the time machine and getting it to work. He also addresses the ticklish question of why, if time travel is really feasible, we're not swarmed with time tourists visiting us from the future. Wildly inventive and theoretically sound, How to Build a Time Machine is creative science at its best-illuminating, entertaining, thought provoking, and fascinating in every way. (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:53 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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