Time: A Traveler's Guide"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 the nature 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's book 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. |
Contents
Gravitational Time Dilation | 130 |
Tachyons Cosmic Moment Lines | 139 |
Time Travel by Balloons and Strings | 160 |
Can John F Kennedy Be Saved? | 172 |
Closed Timelike Curves in a Gödelian Universe | 182 |
Wormhole Time Machine | 192 |
Adventures with Time | 204 |
Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility | 221 |
Some Concluding Musings and Thoughts | 245 |
Notes | 251 |
261 | |
Smorgasbord for Computer Junkies | 275 |
About the Author | 281 |
Common terms and phrases
acceleration alien atoms axis backward balloon black hole bowl brain causality Chapter Chopin clock closed timelike curves Constantia looks Constantia says coordinate cosmic strings create cylinder dilation distance ds)² Earth Einstein's electrons energy equations example exist experience faster than light Figure frame future go back Gödel's gravity hand here-now human imagine infinite interval Kennedy light cones light speed Lorentz transformation machine marble mass mathematical means million minutes motion mouth moving museum observer paradox particle past path pause photon physicists physics possible quantum foam relativity of simultaneity rocket rotation Science Fiction science-fiction ship simultaneity space spaceship spacetime diagram special relativity speed of light stars stationary superluminal tachyons tardyons theory of relativity There's time-travel time-viewer tion Tipler Tipler cylinder travel back Veil and Constantia Veil says Veil's velocity walk White House world line wormhole Zetamorph