Time Travel

A History

By: James Gleick

Narrated by: Rob Shapiro

From the acclaimed author of The Information and Chaos, 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.

Gleick's story begins at the turn of the 20th century, with the young H. G. Wells writing and rewriting the fantastic tale that became his first book, an international sensation: The Time Machine. A host of forces were 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. Gleick tracks the evolution of time travel as an idea in the culture, from Marcel Proust to Doctor Who, from Woody Allen to Jorge Luis Borges. He explores 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.

©2016 James Gleick (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"In his enthralling new book, James Gleick mounts H.G. Wells's time machine for an invigorating ride through the most baffling of the four dimensions. In these pages, time flies." (John Banville)

"James Gleick is a master historian of ideas - no one else can do what he does. Synthesis leads to elucidation leads to stunning, original insight. Time Travel, like so much of his work, is simply indispensable." (Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe)

"Magnificent. A riveting history of an idea that changed us so profoundly, we forgot we had even been changed. But Gleick remembers." (Lev Grossman, books editor of TIME and author of the Magicians trilogy)

Cluttered and Unfocused

My biggest criticism is that the book didn’t seem to have a focus or a point. It jumped around from time travel in fiction, to theoretical approaches to time travel in physics, to the philosophical question of what time is at its essence and how we perceive it. But it tackled none of these topics particularly well. It just seemed as though the author said, “I want to write about time travel” and then sat down to write whatever came to his mind, without much form or function, and even worse, without focus.

I just don’t know what the point of the book was. And that’s too bad because I really wanted to like it.

Time Traveling

A very good survey of time and time travel via books, short stories, film, philosophy, and science. Much of it is point of view about what time is or isn't and how it may be cause and effect or not. Gives one a lot to consider. Worthwhile as the author presents lots of different views on a timely topic.

Tedious!

struggled to finish. a lot of weeds. poor continuity. too much Einstein not enough Roddenberry.

A lot more about time travel and time itself than I ever imagined

James Gleick must have spent a lot of time putting this book together. He must have researched anything and everything having to do with time. It's definitely a thorough work on the subject. The only criticism might be that the flow is interrupted by a lot of naming of references that I'll never remember. The narrator Rob Shapiro does a great job. He's the perfect choice for the material.

Very immersive and fascinating.

Would recommend it to anyone that is an intellectual and loves the concept of time and space.

Interesting !

this book is a thrilling exploration of our culture and philosophy through time travel. Its a different kind of book with a very diff, story and very diff, characters . Its a good read but the second part seams to be quite stretched .Except that this one is a fabulous book.

Not great

Mostly a collection of plot summaries of sci-fi novels. Very disappointing compared to "The Information."

a great read very interesting good narrator

Very enjoyable and interesting read. The discussion is very thought provoking. All of Mr. Gleick's books are excellent. Narrator is excellent. Highly recommend.

Super fascinating

A bit muddled in the middle and end, but a mind expanding lesson on time and an interesting history of time travel.

Brilliant

Brilliant and highly enjoyable book. The mix of history, science, philosophy, stories, etc comes out beautifully and made even better by an excellent narrator.