Time Travel: A History

Time Travel: A History

â€œA time-jumping, head-tripping odyssey.â€ â€”The Millions
â€œA bracing swim in the waters of science, technology and fiction.â€ â€”Washington Post
â€œA thrilling journey of ideas.â€ â€”Boston Globe

From the acclaimed author of The Information and Chaos, here is a mind-bending exploration of time travel: its subversive origins, its evolution in literature and science, and its influence on our understanding of time itself.

The story begins at the turn of the previous century, with the young H. G. Wells writing and rewriting the fantastic tale that became his first book and an international sensation: The Time Machine. It was an era when a host of forces was converging to transmute the human understanding of time, some philosophical and some technological: the electric telegraph, the steam railroad, the discovery of buried civilizations, and the perfection of clocks. James Gleick tracks the evolution of time travel as an idea that becomes part of contemporary cultureâ€”from Marcel Proust to Doctor Who, from Jorge Luis Borges to Woody Allen. He investigates the inevitable looping paradoxes and examines the porous boundary between pulp fiction and modern physics. Finally, he delves into a temporal shift that is unsettling our own moment: the instantaneous wired world, with its all-consuming present and vanishing future.

(With a color frontispiece and black-and-white illustrations throughout)Â
Country USA
Brand Pantheon
Manufacturer Pantheon
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 9780307908797
ReleaseDate 2016-09-27
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780307908797

Country	USA
Brand	Pantheon
Manufacturer	Pantheon
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	9780307908797
ReleaseDate	2016-09-27
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780307908797

Time Travel: A History

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