Time Travel in Einstein鈥檚 Universe: The physical possibilities of travel
through time by J. Richard Gott, Houghton Mifflin, 拢25, ISBN
0395955637
ACCORDING to Einstein, it ought to be possible to go back in time to try to
kill your parents before you were born. OK, he didn鈥檛 say that in so many words,
but it鈥檚 right there between the lines of his general theory of relativity.
Something ought to stop you killing them, so it would be fascinating to watch
history protect itself (see p 26 of this issue).
Time travel is a great tool for approaching relativity without realising
you鈥檙e doing something so serious, and Richard Gott has a lot of fun in Time
Travel in Einstein鈥檚 Universe. He is one of the few time lords of physics: some
years ago he came up with a way to travel into the past. Granted, it鈥檚 a bit
impractical鈥攜ou have to find a couple of handy cosmic strings鈥攂ut it
should work if technology ever gets there.
Advertisement
There are probably more physicists working on time travel than the funding
agencies realise. Most do it covertly, camouflaging their research with obscure
scientific jargon, and having a ball while everyone thinks they鈥檙e doing worthy
physics. Fortunately, Gott is on the inside, and able to translate the jargon
back into familiar terms.
Gott鈥檚 book is informative, well written, and entertaining. It鈥檚 not entirely
flawless鈥攊f his time machine ever works, I鈥檇 encourage him to go back and
save the last chapter for another book, as it doesn鈥檛 really fit here. That
would have the added advantage of leaving the reader reeling from Gott鈥檚 most
mind-bending idea: the Universe could be its own mother. Great stuff.
