Time A Traveler's Guide

by Pickover, Clifford A.

• ISBN13: 9780195130966
• ISBN10: 0195130960
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-09-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

"Bucky Fuller thought big," Wired magazine recently noted, "Arthur C. Clarke thinks big, but Cliff Pickover outdoes them both." In his newest book, Cliff Pickover outdoes even himself, probing a mystery that has baffled mystics, philosophers, and scientists throughout history--What is thenature of time? In Time: A Traveler's Guide, Pickover takes readers to the forefront of science as he illuminates the most mysterious phenomenon in the universe--time itself. Is time travel possible? Is time real? Does it flow in one direction only? Does it have a beginning and an end? What is eternity? Pickover'sbook offers a stimulating blend of Chopin, philosophy, Einstein, and modern physics, spiced with diverting side-trips to such topics as the history of clocks, the nature of free will, and the reason gold glitters. Numerous diagrams ensure readers will have no trouble following along. By the time we finish this book, we understand a wide variety of scientific concepts pertaining to time. And most important, we will understand that time travel is, indeed, possible.

Author Biography

Clifford A. Pickover is Research Staff Member at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. An associate editor of several journals, prolific inventor, and puzzle columnist for magazines such as Discover, Pickover is the author of many bestselling books on popular science topics. He lives in Yorktown Heights, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface
Prelude	p. 2
The Relativity of Simultaneity	p. 6
Building an Einstein-Langevin Clock	p. 12
The Lorentz Transformation	p. 24
The Brain's Time Machine	p. 46
Here-Now and Elsewhere in Spacetime	p. 62
Three Important Rules for Time Travelers	p. 88
Your Space or Mine?	p. 96
How to Time Travel into the Future	p. 106
Future Shock	p. 122
Gravitational Time Dilation	p. 130
Tachyons, Cosmic Moment Lines, Transcendent Infinite Speeds	p. 138
Time Travel by Balloons and Strings	p. 160
Can John F. Kennedy Be Saved?	p. 172
Closed Timelike Curves in a Godelian Universe	p. 182
Wormhole Time Machine	p. 192
Adventures with Time	p. 204
Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation	p. 220
Some Concluding Musings and Thoughts	p. 244
Notes	p. 251
References	p. 261
The Grand Internet Time-Travel Survey	p. 265
Smorgasbord for Computer Junkies	p. 275
About the Author	p. 281
Index	p. 283
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.