Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine
Physicist Paul Davies noted inHow to Build a Time Machine(2001) that the building of such a machine is possible theoretically. Impeding progress are petty technical details such as how to access higher dimensional space, exceed the speed of light, or control a black hole. The construction efforts of science fiction writers, physicists, and the fringe element occupy British science writer Randles in this tour of imagined time travels, actual experiments, and dubious claims. In presenting a century's worth of speculation (dating back toThe Time Machineby H. G. Wells) and physical findings (physicists in 1999 slowed light, and hence time, to a sprinter's speed), Randles can be breathless as well as factual. Would time travel be a reality had the world heeded the ideas of Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating current? Such mind-bending if unlikely propositions abound here, all anchored in the ideas of reputable physicists such as Kip Thorne (Black Holes and Time Warps, 1994). An entertaining combo of science proven and unproven.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved