JAMES GLEICK (around.com) is our leading chronicler of science and technology, the best-selling author of Chaos: Making a New Science, Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, and The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood. His books have been translated into thirty languages.
"A fascinating mash-up of philosophy, literary criticism, physics
and cultural observation. It's witty . . . pithy . . . and
regularly manages to twist its reader's mind . . . . Throughout the
book [Gleick] displays an acute and playful sensitivity to how
quickly language gets slippery when we talk about time . . . a
wonderful reminder that the most potent time-traveling technology
we have is also the oldest technology we have: storytelling."
--Anthony Doerr, The New York Times Book Review (cover)
"Exhilarating . . . Time travel has become a veritable theme park
of playful attractions, which Mr. Gleick explores with infectious
gusto." --Michael Saler, The Wall Street Journal
"A grand thought experiment, using physics and philosophy as the
active agents, and literature as the catalyst. Embedded in the book
is a bibliography for the Babel of time--a most exquisitely
annotated compendium of the body of time literature. What emerges
is an inquiry, the most elegant since Borges, into why we think
about time, why its directionality troubles us so, and what asking
these questions at all reveals about the deepest mysteries of human
consciousness and about what Gleick so beguilingly calls 'the
fast-expanding tapestry of interwoven ideas and facts that we call
our culture'...the kind of book that lodges itself in the
imagination, planting seeds of ideas, insights, and revelations
bound to go on blossoming for the remainder of this lifetime."
--Maria Popova, Brainpickings "Like [David Foster] Wallace,
Gleick's a wide-ranging enthusiast and a graceful explainer....one
of the great charms of this book is its author's willingness to
embrace multiple points of view and to credit art and experience as
much as theory." --Kate Tuttle, Los Angeles Times
"Extraordinary....Ultimately, Time Travel centers around a single
question: Why do we need time travel? To find the answer, Gleick
brilliantly stitches together moments at seemingly disparate points
in history: He goes from explaining the plot of an episode of
Doctor Who in one sentence to revisiting the invention of the
Cinématographe in 1890s France the next. But what could be a
dizzying narrative is deftly handled. And that's because Gleick's
adventure in time travel is, in the end, not about distinctions
between past and future, but a love letter to 'the unending now.'"
--Adrienne LaFrance, The Atlantic "In his enthralling new book,
James Gleick mounts H.G. Wells's time machine for an invigorating
ride through the most baffling of the four dimensions. In these
pages, time flies." --John Banville, author of The Sea "James
Gleick is a master historian of ideas--no one else can do what he
does. Synthesis leads to elucidation leads to stunning, original
insight. Time Travel, like so much of his work, is simply
indispensable." --Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a
Science Fictional Universe
"Time Travel is another of James Gleick's superb, unclassifiable
books--rich in obscure and illuminating information, laced with
lyricism, wit, and startling and convincing insights. It is an
exploration not only of the (theoretical) phenomenon of time travel
but of our understanding of 'time' itself." --Joyce Carol Oates
"Magnificent. A riveting history of an idea that changed us so
profoundly, we forgot we had even been changed. But Gleick
remembers." --Lev Grossman, Books Editor of TIME and author of The
Magicians Trilogy "Against Kingsley Amis' skeptical assertion that
'time travel is inconceivable, ' Gleick adduces impressive evidence
that the phenomenon has tantalized novelists, philosophers, poets,
scientists, moviemakers, and even cartoonists as a transformative
possibility. Readers follow the fictional 'Time Traveler' that H.
G. Wells sends into future centuries; track the gyrations of
time-spanning thought that Borges unfolds in his labyrinthine
tales; ponder the temporal cause-effect paradoxes that Bertrand
Russel surmounts; and puzzle over the reversibility of time in the
physics with which Einstein revolutionized science....Ultimately,
readers discern behind the modern mania for the phenomenon a human
craving for immortality that--particularly in a secular
age--fosters this mania. Both piquant and profound." --Booklist
*starred review* "A dazzling voyage through the concept of
time....Deeply philosophical and full of quirky humor--'The
universe is like a river. It flows. (Or it doesn't, if you're
Plato.)'--Gleick's journey through the fourth dimension is a
marvelous mind bender." --Publishers Weekly *starred review*
"Engaging...[Gleick's] book resembles a salon where the guests
include physicists (Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein),
science-fiction writers (Robert Heinlein, Hugo Gernsback and the
inevitable Isaac Asimov), philosophers (Richard Taylor), logicians
(Kurt Gödel) and scientist-philosophers (Arthur Eddington), among
many other articulate souls. Their discussions draw upon the
theater (Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia"), TV series ("Doctor Who") and
movies ("La Jetée"), as well as books of philosophy and works in
theoretical physics....Time Travel presents a great read--as well
as a wide-ranging, rich list for further reading--for anyone
intrigued by the scientific romance of time travel." --The
Washington Post "Illuminating and entertaining....there isn't a
paragraph in Gleick's book without good sentences and fascinating
information." --John Lanchester, The New York Review of Books
"Fascinating....Gleick's hybrid of history, literary criticism,
theoretical physics, and philosophical meditation is itself a
time-jumping, head-tripping odyssey, and it works so well. Even
though Gleick can elucidate complex ideas into accessible language,
he's even better at explicating notions that remain
perplexing....Time Travel is as elegant and eloquent as it is
edifying." --Jonathan Russell Clark, The Millions "The consummate
temporal tour guide, Gleick deftly navigates the twists and turns
of our fascination with time travel, investigating its evolution in
literature, exploring scientific principles that have hinted at or
scotched the idea, and teasing apart the curious spell it cast
across society with its suggestion of immortality....Intoxicating."
--The Guardian "Far ranging, accessible, and witty, Time Travel
tackles its elusive subject from unusual angles but with fine-tuned
focus....Knowledgeable, curious and humane, Gleick proves to be the
perfect tour guide for this mind-bending intellectual expedition
into the past, present and future." --San Antonio Express-News
"From Wells to Schrödinger to Twitter, [Gleick] doesn't miss a
beat, and he imparts a wry appreciation for humorous detail, making
him one of the most enjoyable science writers in the
field....Another fantastic contribution...from Gleick, whose lush
storytelling will appeal to a wide range of audiences." --Kirkus
Reviews
"Mind-blowing . . . . A fascinating argument that the most
important time is the present." --TIME Magazine "In Time Travel,
James Gleick provides an absorbing history of the idea, eloquently
elucidating the reasons for its enduring appeal.... Within physics,
Gleick captures some of the intellectual ferment in his account of
the debate about whether time is an illusion. Within literature,
he's particularly incisive in his account of alternative histories,
which originated as an accident of time travel." --New Scientist
"Gleick is particularly well equipped to explore how the idea of
time travel evolved across the past century in science, literature,
technology and philosophy. Far-ranging, lucid, accessible and
witty, 'Time Travel' tackles its elusive subject from unusual
angles but with fine-tuned focus." --SF Gate
"Dazzling." --The Boston Globe, "Best Books of 2016"
"Isaac Newton's biographer takes a smart, scholarly look at this
science fiction staple. With a little help from Gleick, you might
finally understand Interstellar." --Esquire Magazine, "Nine Books
That You Need To Know" "A brilliant, wise, insightful and
mind-boggling look at the nature of time." --The Missourian
"A pleasurable romp over Wells's fourth dimension and polished
Victorian machinery; 'golden age' science-fiction authors such as
Isaac Asimov, who provided the templates for modern treatments of
time travel; and the Doctor Who franchise. Gleick also explores
more highbrow offerings from writers such as David Foster Wallace
and Jorge Luis Borges (who envisaged time as a "Garden of Forking
Paths"), and filmmaker Chris Marker, whose 1962 sci-fi short La
Jetée inspired 1995 time-travel noir 12 Monkeys." --Nature
"An engaging and entertaining look at science that will always
remain fiction. It's lucidly written, a breeze to read and erudite
in assessing a vast range of literary and popular media treatments
of time travel as dream and desire." --Science News "A whirling
polymathic joy ride...It's a work of history that, in its attempt
to buck chronology, dissolves the illusory distinctions between
science and art, theory and fiction. Gleick reveals a unified
culture connected by existential questions and desires to escape
the bounds of time and space....Time Travel is most delightful, and
fun, when Gleick pulls the lever and connects Everett and Jorge
Luis Borges; Isaac Asimov and Augustine; Robert Heinlein and David
Foster Wallace; and other thinkers separated, merely, by time and
space." --Joshua Alvarez, Brooklyn Rail
"There's much to commend....Anyone who picks up Time Travel: A
History will find quotes and witticisms galore, a plethora of
absorbing historical footnotes and trenchant observations on
humanity's relationship with time....A stunningly learned
tour...Joyous." --Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Tor.com
"Gorgeous." --Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed
"I thoroughly enjoyed it....An entertaining and informative read,
and also a fantastic resource for anyone interested in time travel
stories." --Jonathan H. Liu, GeekDad.com
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