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How to Build a Time Machine
 
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How to Build a Time Machine [Hardcover]

Paul Davies (Author)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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From Publishers Weekly

Is time travel possible? If so, what manner of machine would one need to traverse this fourth dimension? Covering ground similar to J. Richard Gott's Time Travel in Einstein's Universe, this slim, tongue-in-cheek treatise invokes the primary tenet of Einstein's special theory of relativity that both time and space are elastic to illustrate that time travel, while impractical, is definitely possible. The time travel mechanisms Davies (The Fifth Miracle) envisions are dramatically different from the devices that SF authors H.G. Wells and Ray Bradbury have employed in their fiction. All that's needed to travel to the future, noted theoretical physicist Davies asserts, is a little help from gravity and a spaceship that can reach speeds just under the speed of light. Traveling to the past is a trickier task, however, and Davies spends the bulk of his book explaining the components needed to construct a wormhole (a black hole "with an exit as well as an entrance"). Despite the author's penchant for diagrams and his habit of highlighting and repeating his major points, readers will struggle to accept some of his more difficult and extreme propositions such as the existence of an exotic matter possessing antigravitational properties, which is vital to his construction of a wormhole. While Davies's discussion of the paradoxes inherent in time travel and of the physical laws that seem to prevent it is both thought provoking and accessible, his limited focus on wormholes may disappoint those hungering for a broader discussion of time travel technology.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

A time-traveling machine can be constructed--provided one rotates a superdense cylinder of infinite length or locates a wormhole. Such are the contraptions contemporary physicists such as Frank Tipler and Kip Thorne (Black Holes and Time Warps, 1994) have conceived in their explorations of whether it's possible to build a time machine. Davies, also a physicist, has an impressive track record of writing popular titles about space-time (e.g., About Time, 1995), and he opens up the fascinating yet weird concept of time travel to readers new to the basic features of space-time. That does not mean his precis is simple, but it is lucid throughout, even sketching out the four technical parts required in a time machine that exploits quantum effects. And if a machine were actually built, many paradoxes would arise, which Davies explores in an inventive manner. An excellent explainer, Davies will well reward the curious bent on bending space-time. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
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4 star:
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars A science book that makes you want to read other science books - surely an accomplishment in itself!, July 13 2009
This review is from: How to Build a Time Machine (Paperback)
Physics ... Einstein's theory of relativity ... Black holes ... Does the thought of reading a book about science scare you more than watching Pyscho? It shouldn't. Not if this is the book you are reading. Author Paul Davies gently and skillfully guides you through complex scientific principles with ease and a touch of humour. This book is for those who love the idea of travelling in time, but have always wondered - is it really possible???
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4.0 out of 5 stars How to build a quick tour of physical theories., Jun 30 2004
By 
Wesley L. Janssen (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: How to Build a Time Machine (Paperback)
Well, I hate to ruin it for you, but Davies isn't really telling the reader "how to build a time machine" so much as he is taking advantage of a gee-whiz slice of science fiction fun to build a quick tour of the fundamental theories of modern physics.
"So can it really be done?" asks Davies, one of the most frequently cited mathematical physicists of our day. And away we go, flying through the ideas of Newton, Einstein, Gödel, Hawking, and Penrose, and leaping into wormholes in space-time. As we go, the great modern physical theories come into play one after another. Davies is good at this. Quickly treated are singularities, entropy and the arrow of time, the special and general theories of relativity, exotic matter, antigravity, the topology of space-time, quantum uncertainty, and other stuff including a bevy of time-travel paradoxes.
To be sure, the author describes time machines that 'might' work. "So can it really be done?" Again, I don't want to ruin it for you. But some reviewers seem to have come up with the wrong answer. Here's a hint, "The purpose of science is to provide a consistent picture of reality, so if a scientific theory produces genuinely paradoxical (rather that merely weird or counterintuitive) predictions, that is a very good reason for rejecting the theory" (p 123). This isn't going to be remembered as one of Davies more important books (I recommend 'The Mind of God' and 'The Matter Myth'), but this is aimed at a different audience/readership.
A fun little book.
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4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Interesting Book, Mar 10 2004
By 
Ryan (Walled Lake, MI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: How to Build a Time Machine (Paperback)
This book is about all the different theories of time travel. It also tells different ways that time machines "could" be made but they are highly unlikely.

Paul Davies is Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University. Davies is interested in the nature of time, high-energy particle physics, the foundations of quantum mechanics, the origin of life and the nature of consciousness. Davies is well known as an author, broadcaster and public lecturer. Paul writes regularly for newspapers, journals and magazines in several countries, both about science and the political and social aspects of science and technology. In 1991 Davies won the ABC Eureka Prize for the promotion of science in Australia. In 1992 he won the University of New South Wales Press Eureka Prize for his book The Mind of God, and in 1993 he was presented with an Advance Australia Award for outstanding contributions to science.

This book turned out a lot different than I thought, but I really liked it. A friend gave me the book to read and he liked it also. The book is about all the different theories of time travel and possible ways that you could make a time machine. This book was interesting, a little hard to understand, but it was never boring. I thought that this book was going to be more of a story but it turned out being an informational book about time travel. I actually did learn a lot about traveling through time and all the different theories that people like Einstein had. It also proved why time travel wouldn't be possible because of the size that the time machine would have to be. This book was a good length; it wasn't to long but it explained things enough for you to

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