Hi everyone:
I?m interested in reading books related to time travel physics, but I don?t want to bite off more than I can chew. So, I?ve got a few questions on some of the ?easier? books in this genre?
(1) I?m wondering, between Black Holes and Time Warps, or The Future of Spacetime, which of the two should I read first? A while back, when I posted a message saying that I was interested in reading non-technical books on relativity, etc., primarily because I was interested in time travel physics, as opposed to being interested in relativity for relativity?s sake, someone suggested that I read The Future of Spacetime by Stephen Hawking, et al. The responder DID warn me that it?s not for the beginner, however. Later, when I read a review of this book in Scientific American, it said that this book was a ?hodgepodge?, and that a person who wanted to get the real skinny on time travel science and the future of spacetime would be better off reading Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne. I?ve browsed through this book at a few bookstores and it doesn?t look particularly scary ? I didn?t see any convoluted equations, etc., when I flipped through it. HOWEVER, I?ve seen a few reviews of this book on the Web that say this book is pretty dense stuff.
Why might someone who reads these books carefully have a lot of trouble with it? Although I understand that these books, especially Thorne?s book, aren?t exactly summer-at-the-beach reading even for very smart people, I?m not sure why a person who reads these books slowly but surely and looks up concepts he doesn?t understand couldn?t grasp them. If there?s something I should know about the difficulty of these books before diving in, I?d appreciate it if someone would let me know.
(2) Why is Brian Greene?s The Elegant Universe listed in the bibliography of Paul Davies? How to Build a Time Machine? Although I can see a little relevance, I?m not sure why he put that book alongside others that seemed a lot more obviously related to time travel.
(3) Between John Gribbin?s two books Unveiling the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Wormholes and In Search of the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Wormholes, which one should I read first? And would it even be worth it to read both books (i.e., might the books be redundant)?
(4) How about Igor Novikov?s book The River of Time? How would this fare as a basic time travel book (i.e., too easy, too difficult, etc.)?
Thanks in advance for any help!
I?m interested in reading books related to time travel physics, but I don?t want to bite off more than I can chew. So, I?ve got a few questions on some of the ?easier? books in this genre?
(1) I?m wondering, between Black Holes and Time Warps, or The Future of Spacetime, which of the two should I read first? A while back, when I posted a message saying that I was interested in reading non-technical books on relativity, etc., primarily because I was interested in time travel physics, as opposed to being interested in relativity for relativity?s sake, someone suggested that I read The Future of Spacetime by Stephen Hawking, et al. The responder DID warn me that it?s not for the beginner, however. Later, when I read a review of this book in Scientific American, it said that this book was a ?hodgepodge?, and that a person who wanted to get the real skinny on time travel science and the future of spacetime would be better off reading Black Holes and Time Warps by Kip Thorne. I?ve browsed through this book at a few bookstores and it doesn?t look particularly scary ? I didn?t see any convoluted equations, etc., when I flipped through it. HOWEVER, I?ve seen a few reviews of this book on the Web that say this book is pretty dense stuff.
Why might someone who reads these books carefully have a lot of trouble with it? Although I understand that these books, especially Thorne?s book, aren?t exactly summer-at-the-beach reading even for very smart people, I?m not sure why a person who reads these books slowly but surely and looks up concepts he doesn?t understand couldn?t grasp them. If there?s something I should know about the difficulty of these books before diving in, I?d appreciate it if someone would let me know.
(2) Why is Brian Greene?s The Elegant Universe listed in the bibliography of Paul Davies? How to Build a Time Machine? Although I can see a little relevance, I?m not sure why he put that book alongside others that seemed a lot more obviously related to time travel.
(3) Between John Gribbin?s two books Unveiling the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Wormholes and In Search of the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Wormholes, which one should I read first? And would it even be worth it to read both books (i.e., might the books be redundant)?
(4) How about Igor Novikov?s book The River of Time? How would this fare as a basic time travel book (i.e., too easy, too difficult, etc.)?
Thanks in advance for any help!
