Time Travel, Now!

"I'm not a nut," says Ronald Mallett, a physicist at the University of Connecticut who believes that he has devised a plan for building a working time machine (Boston Globe, 4/5/02).

Claiming that his ideas are supported by Einstein's theory of relativity, Mallett hopes to begin experimenting this fall, after he creates a device that, surprisingly, does not require the use of both a flying phone booth and George Carlin. Instead, Mallett's machine would involve distorting space, as well as the passage of time around it, through using a rotating laser beam. He hopes to use the device to transport a neutron into … the future. If his experiment works, Mallett feels that it won't be long until we're able to send a person through time, despite the assertions of many scientists who claim that such a feat would require more energy than we currently know how to harness.

Having long harbored dreams of time travel, Mallett claims that such desires are what initially led him to the field of physics. Since he was a child, in fact, Mallett has yearned to go back in time in order to possibly prevent the untimely death of his father by warning him of the dangers of cigarette smoking.

While Mallet's dreams may be unrealistic, they're certainly not uncommon. After all, we live in a world full of chrononaut wannabes, and thus, to all of those among us who are jonesing to do the time-warp, we recommend the following books.

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time
by J. Richard Gott
Now, we're not trying to burst your bubble here, but the truth is that some of us have already traveled to the future. As Gott, a Princeton astrophysicist and time-travel expert, explains, astronauts have actually aged a bit less than us constant earth-dwellers have. While such a feat is hardly the epic tale of inter-dimensional wandering that we're all hoping for, we do have other time-travel possibilities to look forward to, Gott tells us -- including options that involve dismantling Jupiter, and near-light-speed space travel. Of course, there are more than a few kinks to be worked out before we start kicking back with our ancestors, yet Gott remains optimistic, even full of humorous anecdotes, throughout this exploration of our century-hopping potential. Along the way, he also explains Einstein's theory of relativity, examines the realities and fabrications of science fiction, and even offers up some practical tips for time-trekkers. Wide-ranging and impressive.

Doomsday Book
by Connie Willis
While The Time Machine is arguably the greatest volume of time-travel literature, Doomsday Book makes a strong case for being the modern heir to H.G. Wells' throne. This novel, which won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, tells the story of a Kivrin Engles, a history student living in the year 2048, who, in order to conduct some historical research, travels back to a 14th-century English village. Due to a series of unforeseen complications, however, Kivrin becomes stranded in history just as the bubonic plague is taking hold of Europe. Meanwhile, another mysterious plague is spreading in her own time. A work of meticulous research, Doomsday Book is a intellectually-satisfying, tension-filled thriller that is sure to appeal to both science fiction buffs as wells as neophytes to the genre.

Einstein's Dreams
by Alan Lightman
A different sort of time travel book altogether, Einstein's Dreams is a novel composed of a series of vignettes, all of which describe places in which time behaves differently. In one, time is circular, in another, time moves backward, and, in yet another, times moves erratically in fits and starts. Some people move to snowy mountaintops where they're convinced that time moves slower, others lives their whole lives in the course of one very long day. Naturally, all of these visions spring from the mind of Einstein, who, in Switzerland in 1905, is a young patent clerk putting his finishing touches on his theory of relativity. Similar in structure and scope to Calvino's Invisible Cities, Einstein's Dreams is a compelling mindwarp from the pen of Lightman, an acclaimed writer and MIT physicist who explores the mysteries of time like no other.

Time's Arrow/Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Study of Geological Time
by Stephen Jay Gould
After reading Einstein's Dreams, you're sure to realize that time is definitely "deep," but do you have any knowledge of "deep time?" If not, then look no further than Time's Arrow/Time's Cycle, a historical and scientific look at the origins of our current concept of geologic or "deep" time. Gould's work illustrates how geologists have led us to understand the almost incomprehensible immensity of time -- in which humanity is but a speck in the vast span of millennia -- by realizing that our continents and oceans were created by geological processes that have lasted millions of years, rather than by biblical catastrophe. Gould then goes on to examine the metaphors of the arrow and cycle, which serve as our only means of understanding the scope of time. Throughout, he explores some fascinating connections between history, science, religion, and culture, in this mind-blowing achievement from the Harvard professor, acclaimed writer, and one-time Simpsons guest-star.

Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar
by Duncan Steel
Here's an amazing tale that touches upon astronomy, history, politics, technology, and scores of human foibles. Marking Time chronicles how our modern day calendar came about, and the many ways in which it has changed over the years. Along the way, Julius Caesar divides the year into months, a 16th-century Pope decides to chop 10 days off each year, and daylight savings time becomes a wartime necessity. Accounting for thousands of years of history, Steel moves his narrative swiftly, yet includes cameos from William the Conqueror, Isaac Newton, and Benjamin Franklin among many others -- along with an enormous amount of odd facts that explain a great deal about the illogical ways of our time-recording methods. A captivating story that's sure to have you questioning that illogical collection of dates hanging on your wall.