Time Machine Tales

The Science Fiction Adventures and Philosophical Puzzles of Time Travel

Paul J. Nahin (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

XLIX, 383 Seiten

2016 | 1st ed. 2017
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-319-48862-2 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This book contains a broad overview of time travel in science fiction, along with a detailed examination of the philosophical implications of time travel. The emphasis of this book is now on the philosophical and on science fiction, rather than on physics, as in the author's earlier books on the subject. In that spirit there are, for example, no Tech Notes filled with algebra, integrals, and differential equations, as there are in the first and second editions of TIME MACHINES. Writing about time travel is, today, a respectable business. It hasn't always been so. After all, time travel, prima facie, appears to violate a fundamental law of nature; every effect has a cause, with the cause occurring before the effect. Time travel to the past, however, seems to allow, indeed to demand, backwards causation, with an effect (the time traveler emerging into the past as he exits from his time machine) occurring before its cause (the time traveler pushing the start button on his machine's control panel to start his trip backward through time). Time Machine Tales includes new discussions of the advances by physicists and philosophers that have appeared since the publication of TIME MACHINES in 1999, examples of which are the chapters on time travel paradoxes. Those chapters have been brought up-to-date with the latest philosophical thinking on the paradoxes.

Paul Nahin was born in California, and did all of his schooling there (Brea-Olinda High 1958, Stanford BS 1962, Caltech MS 1963 and - as a Howard Hughes Staff Doctoral Fellow - UC/Irvine PhD 1972, with all degrees in electrical engineering). He has taught at Harvey Mudd College, the Naval Postgraduate School and the Universities of New Hampshire (where he is now emeritus professor of electrical engineering) and Virginia. Prof. Nahin has published a couple of dozen short science fiction stories in ANALOG, OMNI, and TWILIGHT ZONE magazines, and has written 14 books on mathematics and physics. He has given invited talks on mathematics at Bowdoin College, the Claremont Graduate School, the University of Tennessee and Caltech, has appeared on National Public Radio's "Science Friday" show (discussing time travel) as well as on New Hampshire Public Radio's "The Front Porch" show (discussing imaginary numbers) and advised Boston's WGBH Public Television's "Nova" program on the script for their time travel episode. He gave the invited Sampson Lectures for 2011 in Mathematics at Bates College (Lewiston, Maine).

Some First Words.- Introduction.- A Broad Look At Time Travel.- Philosophical Space and Time.- The Physics of Time Travel -Part I.-Philosophers, Physicists, and the Time Travel Paradoxes.- Communication With the Past.- The Physics of Time Travel -Part II.- Epilogue.- Appendix 1.- Appendix 2.- Appendix 3.- Glossary.- Index.

"This work is an indispensable study for scholars and fans of time-travel sf, and readers will gain a deeper insight into both the literary history of time travel and the science involved. Literature teachers will also find a plethora of ideas for texts to teach and very insightful discussion and writing prompts at the end of each chapter. Without a doubt, Time Travel Tales is a necessary read in the field of time-travel studies." (James Hamby, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 45, 2018)

“This work is an indispensable study for scholars and fans of time-travel sf, and readers will gain a deeper insight into both the literary history of time travel and the science involved. Literature teachers will also find a plethora of ideas for texts to teach and very insightful discussion and writing prompts at the end of each chapter. Without a doubt, Time Travel Tales is a necessary read in the field of time-travel studies.” (James Hamby, Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 45, 2018)

Erscheinungsdatum	12.01.2017
Reihe/Serie	Science and Fiction
Zusatzinfo	XLIX, 383 p. 53 illus., 3 illus. in color.
Verlagsort	Cham
Sprache	englisch
Maße	155 x 235 mm
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Naturwissenschaft
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie
	Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
Schlagworte	Causality Loops Time Travel • Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theo • Grandfather Paradox • Gravity • History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics • History of Science • philosophy of science • Physics and Astronomy • Physics of Time Machines • Popular Philosophy • Popular science • Popular Science in Philosophy • Popular Science in Physics • Predestination Paradox Explained • Relativity physics • Science Fiction Time Travel • Time Machine Science • Time Travel Philosophy • Time Travel Sci Fi
ISBN-10	3-319-48862-7 / 3319488627
ISBN-13	978-3-319-48862-2 / 9783319488622
Zustand	Neuware