How to Build a Time Machine - by Brian Clegg (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 2011.

Book Synopsis

A pop science look at time travel technology, from Einstein to Ronald Mallett to present day experiments. Forget fiction: time travel is real.

In How to Build a Time Machine, Brian Clegg provides an understanding of what time is and how it can be manipulated. He explores the fascinating world of physics and the remarkable possibilities of real time travel that emerge from quantum entanglement, superluminal speeds, neutron star cylinders and wormholes in space. With the fascinating paradoxes of time travel echoing in our minds will we realize that travel into the future might never be possible? Or will we realize there is no limit on what can be achieved, and take on this ultimate challenge? Only time will tell.

Review Quotes

"In 'How to Build a Time Machine' we start each chapter with an affirmation; 'Yes, time travel is possible ...'. There's clarification, 'ifs', often detailed historic references; consequences; and then the practicalities - at which point you might have the feeling that it's not possible after all. But then there's the 'Or is it?', and one cannot but take the bait and turn the page (loop). To name but a few, what does the following have to do with time-travel?: near-light speed travel; an infinitely long cylinder built from dust - or a less ambitious one (!) built from Neutron stars; Wormholes; Paradoxes; Black/White Holes; Antimatter; Dark Energy...? If you're like me when presented with such a list - appetite whet to the point of drooling - this is a book written with you in mind! One last and very important point: Clegg is both a writer and a Physicist; and it's as a writer - one who is able to communicate physics to the non-specialist - and that makes this book so very enjoyable. The hard stuff is there; between the lines; but we're not asked to deal with it - Clegg leads us through, in his own imitable style! There are just two equations: Einstein's E=MC2 (of course!), and Maxwell's - the latter because they're so "beautifully spare and simple looking". Perfect." --Dr. Peet Morris of Oxford University

About the Author

BRIAN CLEGG holds a physics degree from Cambridge and has written regular columns, features, and reviews for numerous magazines. He lives in Wiltshire, England, with his wife and two children.