Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Fourth Estate (2016), Edition: 01, 352 pages
Description
Gleick's story begins at the turn of the twentieth century with the young H. G. Wells writing and rewriting the fantastic tale that became his first book, an international sensation, The Time Machine. A host of forces were converging to transmute the human understanding of time, some philosophical and some technological--the electric telegraph, the steam railroad, the discovery of buried civilizations, and the perfection of clocks. Gleick tracks the evolution of time travel as an idea in the culture--from Marcel Proust to Doctor Who, from Woody Allen to Jorge Luis Borges. He explores the inevitable looping paradoxes and examines the porous boundary between pulp fiction and modern physics. Finally, he delves into a temporal shift that is unsettling our own moment: the instantaneous wired world, with its all-consuming present and vanishing future.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn
Very well done. A history of the history of time travel, so to speak, in that Time Travel itself doesn't exist (yet?) but that hasn't stopped many of our best authors from writing about it, nonetheless. As much a book for literary enthusiasts and SF fans as devotees of science, as the author goes
And it's a lovely, beautifully-written volume. Very recommended. Lacks 5 stars because it didn't make me cry, and I'm unlikely to read it again, but there's nothing wrong with it.
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = very good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
Show More
back and forth between literature and physics.And it's a lovely, beautifully-written volume. Very recommended. Lacks 5 stars because it didn't make me cry, and I'm unlikely to read it again, but there's nothing wrong with it.
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = very good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!)
Show Less
LibraryThing member rakerman
I would say it assumes some familiarity with the science fiction literature of time travel, which it discusses in depth.
Has major spoilers (gives away the ending) for Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity.
Unabridged audiobook:
Well read by Rob Shapiro. The powerful conclusion of the ending is
Has major spoilers (gives away the ending) for Isaac Asimov's The End of Eternity.
Unabridged audiobook:
Well read by Rob Shapiro. The powerful conclusion of the ending is
Show More
unfortunately stepped on, as we get only four seconds -- four seconds! -- between the ending and the narrator stepping in to give concluding credits. The concluding credits should have been separated much farther in time and in space, by having a longer quiet space at the end of the last chapter, and by separating the credits into a subsequent track. Stop the playback at 30 seconds remaining if you want to savour the ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member fpagan
An eclectic sampler of takes on temporality -- in physics, in philosophy, in fantasy stories and science fiction, and in culture generally. Compared to his other books, Gleick's tone sometimes seems rather sardonic, such as in the chapter on the burying of time capsules. Perhaps worth noting: (1)
Show More
Gleick deftly deals with the paradoxes connected with backward time travel; (2) he seems to like Lee Smolin's rejection of the block-universe concept (from relativity) and embrace of the reality of "flowing" time. Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
James Gleick’s newest book, Time Travel, was a bit of a disappointment to me. Gleick is an excellent explicator of abstruse subjects (Cf. Chaos and The Information), so I expected a lucid explication of bizarre relativity physics dealing with the nature of time. Instead, Gleick pretty much
So what is there to write about? Culture: how time travel has been expressed in various forms of media, and the philosophical hopes and dreams behind its enduring appeal, e.g., the desire to continue to exist beyond the years of our allotted lifespan. As he says at the end of the book: “Why do we need time travel? All the answers come down to one. To elude death.”
For most of the book, Gleick describes how various authors, beginning with H. G. Wells and his Time Machine, have explored the potentialities and paradoxes of time travel. His analysis of the literature is enlightening, but will mean more to those familiar with all the works he discusses.
Evaluation: Since I am more interested in science than in science fiction, my disappointment in the book may not be a fair reaction; fans of time travel in books and on television will no doubt love this overview of how the subject evolved “over time.”
A Few Notes on the Audio Production:
I listened to the book, read by Rob Shapiro. Although he does a fine job reading, the problem with the audio version is that the organization or outline of the book is not at all obvious, and it seems to skip from one topic or aspect to another somewhat randomly. I’m sure the structure of the argument would have been easier to perceive in print, but I was never sure where the author was going as I listened in the car. In avoiding the printed medium I may have done a disservice to an author I respect and have enjoyed in the past.
(JAB)
Show More
dismisses the possibility of time travel. He states that, as imagined by writers over the decades, it “does not exist. It cannot.”So what is there to write about? Culture: how time travel has been expressed in various forms of media, and the philosophical hopes and dreams behind its enduring appeal, e.g., the desire to continue to exist beyond the years of our allotted lifespan. As he says at the end of the book: “Why do we need time travel? All the answers come down to one. To elude death.”
For most of the book, Gleick describes how various authors, beginning with H. G. Wells and his Time Machine, have explored the potentialities and paradoxes of time travel. His analysis of the literature is enlightening, but will mean more to those familiar with all the works he discusses.
Evaluation: Since I am more interested in science than in science fiction, my disappointment in the book may not be a fair reaction; fans of time travel in books and on television will no doubt love this overview of how the subject evolved “over time.”
A Few Notes on the Audio Production:
I listened to the book, read by Rob Shapiro. Although he does a fine job reading, the problem with the audio version is that the organization or outline of the book is not at all obvious, and it seems to skip from one topic or aspect to another somewhat randomly. I’m sure the structure of the argument would have been easier to perceive in print, but I was never sure where the author was going as I listened in the car. In avoiding the printed medium I may have done a disservice to an author I respect and have enjoyed in the past.
(JAB)
Show Less
LibraryThing member antrat1965
Very interesting and entertaining book.
The best parts are when he tells us how authors and tv shows have used the concept of time travel to tell stories.
When he gets into the physics of time travel I got completely lost on more than one occasion. It will make your head spin - and hurt, to try to
That did not dampen my enjoyment of the book.
Think of this as an Erik Larsen type history book. Instead of World's Fairs and sinking ships, the really fun subject of traveling through time.
The best parts are when he tells us how authors and tv shows have used the concept of time travel to tell stories.
When he gets into the physics of time travel I got completely lost on more than one occasion. It will make your head spin - and hurt, to try to
Show More
completely understand the paradoxes of time travel.That did not dampen my enjoyment of the book.
Think of this as an Erik Larsen type history book. Instead of World's Fairs and sinking ships, the really fun subject of traveling through time.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tgraettinger
Really didn't care for it - just never got hooked. I'm a big fan of Gleick, but this book just didn't have the usual effect. Too bad, I was excited when I heard about it coming out.
LibraryThing member DLMorrese
Can we travel through time? Well, sure. We're doing it now at a rate of one minute per minute. But can we change our speed or turn around and go back the other way, and, if so, what are the implications? Time travel in this way is a fairly new idea, and in this book, James Gleick provides an
Show More
entertaining survey of it in fiction, philosophy, and physics. I found it quite entertaining. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBD1
A pretty basic, mostly literary treatment of time travel, with a few "science"-y bits thrown in. A perfectly fine quick read, but it definitely didn't knock my socks off.
LibraryThing member Nodosaurus
The book's title has two meanings. The first is obvous, time travel at other than the normal rate. The other is traveling through history discussing attitudes and knowledge about time.
The first few chapters discuss historical perspectives about time, putting them in context of the local cultures.
With Wells' book, there is a lot of discussion about reactions to the idea, from supportive and expansive fiction to ridiculing reactions as reviews.
It expands on this idea to talk about how time travel is used to tell stories. This includes backstories and telling a story from two differnt time periods concurrently, as opposed to the current idea of time travel.
Finally, there is some discussion about the arrow of time, current ideas on time travel, and more journeys into fiction.
The book is interesting and worth reading, but didn't provide a lot of new information of philosophical ideas.
The first few chapters discuss historical perspectives about time, putting them in context of the local cultures.
Show More
Then it gets into fiction, early suggestions of time travel cluminating with H. G. Wells and the actual consideration of traveling through time.With Wells' book, there is a lot of discussion about reactions to the idea, from supportive and expansive fiction to ridiculing reactions as reviews.
It expands on this idea to talk about how time travel is used to tell stories. This includes backstories and telling a story from two differnt time periods concurrently, as opposed to the current idea of time travel.
Finally, there is some discussion about the arrow of time, current ideas on time travel, and more journeys into fiction.
The book is interesting and worth reading, but didn't provide a lot of new information of philosophical ideas.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Eoin
A readable and entertaining overview of the idea of time travel since Wells. Not as well-formed or complete as could be hoped for but passably researched. Would have preferred clearer structure and fully formed theses. Interesting ideas about the relationship between fiction, metaphor, and science
Show More
as well as non-linear time in literature. Pretty good on the subject, if you are interested. Show Less
LibraryThing member GeoffHabiger
Time Travel: A History mixes the history of time travel as a science fiction genre, with the physics on the possibility of time travel, and the philosophy of how time travel stories has affected our way of thinking. I enjoyed the book, though I would have liked more analysis and examination of the
Show More
many different stories that make up the genre, from stories, film, and TV. Gleick covers many of the stories you would expect him to, and a few I was unaware of, though he did limited examination of time travel in movies and TV. (Just barely touching on a few of the different titles in this varied genre.) I did find the discussion well thought out and insightful. Well worth the read for anybody interested in diving behind just the books and stories. Show Less
LibraryThing member Paul_S
Kept me reading despite being just an analysis of usage of the time travel concept in books and film. Goes into too much detail of every example, recapping the plots for no benefit.
LibraryThing member TobinElliott
While this didn't go as deep into the science and stuck more with the literary and cultural aspects of the history of time travel, I still found Gleick's conversational style good enough to keep me interested from start to finish.
LibraryThing member kevn57
My favorite parts were about the SF classics, Pulps and HG Wells, next up for me to read By His Bootstraps by Robert A. Heinlein, Gleick devotes a chapter to this SF classic. Then I'd like to find a biography of HG Wells.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
A very thought provoking book. Mr Gleik is quite well read, and exhibits a wide ranging analysis of the idea dwelling in both the Sci-Fi world and that of more formal philosophy, and to some degree, physics. The wide-ranging bibliography contains TV scripts, the cinema, and actual books, by terry
Show More
Gillam, T.S. Elliot, and of course the originator H.G. Wells. It does bring more examples, counter-arguments, and insights than one might be comfortable with. It does read well. And, one finds in it this interesting definition: "What is time? Things change, and time is how we keep track." Show Less
LibraryThing member tuckerresearch
Not a scientific treatise on time travel, though there is a lot of science, but a history of time travel as an idea both literary and culturally. Tracing the idea from H. G Wells (and his antecedents) to the time travel stories and movies of today, Gleick reflects on the growth of the idea and
Show More
genre. It's an intriguing book, jumping from Wells to Asimov to Borges to Heinlein to a whole bunch of authors. It covers multiple universes to the grandfather paradox to time capsules to a whole bunch of other things. It is well worth the time if you like time, philosophically, scientifically, and literary. Show Less
Awards
Locus Award (Finalist — Non-Fiction — 2017)
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Science & Technology — 2016)
Boston Globe Best Book (Nonfiction — 2016)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2016)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Non-Fiction — 2016)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016
Physical description
352 p.; 6.02 inches
ISBN
9780008207670