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Quantum Time Travel
Dr. Orville Boyd Jenkins
A review of the book by J Richard Gott
Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time (Boston:  Houghton Mifflin, 2001.  291p.)

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Gott explores the current possibilities for actual time travel in light of current physics and quantum mechanics.  He summarizes the history of quantum physics, as providing insights into the concepts of time.  This branch of science has probed the possibility of wormholes and other perturbations of Spacetime that might allow time travel.

Gott reports on various experiments and lines of enquiry by various physicists, such as Kip Thorne, who have investigated time, practical factors in time relationships and travel into the future or past.  The concepts of relativity and warp speed (speed of light) come into view here.

Recent thought from theoretical physics is analyzed along with experimental science.  Gott correlates various areas of current enquiry, including a rich survey of the contributions science fiction has made to actual enquiry in quantum physics.

This fascinating book does get technical at points.  This is not dull reading.  But it is rich and deserves your attention.  It is good, readable prose with solid science throughout, written with a pleasant lilt.  Overall it is not a hard read.

Gott lays out the primary considerations and logical problems involved in considering the practical problems of time travel.  The realities of limitations in the physical universe are laid out as he clarifies the possibilities and the manner in which time travel can be understood and implemented and for what particular purposes.

You'll find here the sense of adventure that we all like to experience.  Gott expresses energy and excitement as he leads us down the path of exploration of possibility and probability in the dynamic realm of Time.

See related reviews and articles on this site:
[review] A Real-Science Time Travel Plan!
[review] Psychic Memories Through Time

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OBJ

Initial review written and posted on Amazon 8 February 2006
Rewritten for OJTR 13 November 2008
Last edited 23 February 2009

Orville Boyd Jenkins, EdD, PhD
Copyright © 2008 Orville Boyd Jenkins
Permission granted for free download and transmission for personal or educational use.  Other rights reserved.

Email:  orville@jenkins.nu
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