Customer Reviews

Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine

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I bought "Breaking The Time Barrier" as a companion to the most excellent "Time Traveler" by Ronald Mallett, and if you are after a good book with time travel science in it, get Mallett's book.

I found Ms. Randles book a disappointment on two levels. First, it's filled with "gee whiz!" statements that upon further reading are discounted. Examples:

p. 102: "He (Frank Tipler) was the first modern scientist to design a time machine that could be constructed in the laboratory ... ". Later, on p.104, Ms. Randles backs away from that stating that, "Tipler's time machine was a worthy effort but is not likely for the foreseeable future ...". Because it would require a super dense cylinder over 60 miles long.

p.107 "The photo of Christ was a fake and the chronovisor did not work - but the device was built and the theory behind it was sound."

Antigravity experiments of Podkletnov are discussed (p. 174- 176). "Tests followed and many further experiments revealed the remarkable truth. Gravity was being reduced in the area above the floating superconductor." Then (p. 176) "But Podkletnov's research proved disappointingly difficult for others to verify."

Secondly, Ms. Randles, although seemingly familiar with modern physics ideas, sometimes misinterprets them. Example:

(pp. 77 - 78) Ms. Randles misunderstands Einstein Rosen bridges to mean that particles themselves travel through the bridges rather than quantum information.

If you do not have a science background and you are interested in time travel ideas then this could be a good starting book. For those who have had exposure to science there are a few jewels in the book such as the (brief) discussion of the delayed choice experiment.

The first great popularising of the idea of a time machine was undoubtedly H.G. Wells' novel of the same name, but lesser known is the fact that scientists from the same time period forward to today have been speculating in earnest about the factual possibilities of time travel and time machines. These kinds of speculations do not take the form of machines that look like go-carts with umbrellas on top (such as the films portray), but they are nonetheless fascinating. Once upon a time, the idea that human beings would send ships to the moon and other planets seemed like the stuff of fanciful science fiction; time machines and time travel still has that veneer, but as recently as a few years ago, physicist Paul Davies was able to state with all seriousness that there is no theoretical problem with building a time machine.

Jenny Randles has put together an intriguing text looking at the history of time machine and time travel speculation and research. This includes a good dose of science fiction, but more interestingly, a strong selection of science fact. Scientists with well-known names such as Einstein, Fermi, Hawking, and Penrose are joined with lesser-known figures such as Kaku and Chernobrov, the latter of whom has claimed to have built a time machine of sorts already.

Of course, this flies in the face of the law of chronological protection - a speculation advanced by Hawking (among others) that there is an as-yet undiscovered law of nature that enforces the cause-preceding-effect sequence of events. Just because it hasn't been discovered yet doesn't mean it's not there, and for good measure, the idea was advanced that civilisations with time-travel capabilities would have already made their presence known (if not destroyed us entirely) if such capabilities were ever found in fact. Others hold for a less rigid law of restrictive behaviour - you cannot go back and prevent your own birth, for example. However, where the boundary exists between chronology protection and flexible but restrictive boundaries is impossible to tell.

Randles discusses in general terms experiments, theoretical physical and mathematical models, and concepts that deal with dimensional analysis and speculation. How many dimensions are there, really? Even scientists such as Einstein could not come up with a single answer over the course of his life. Do we live in a universe or a 'multi-verse'? Just what is a multi-verse, anyway? These are some of the questions discussed. Randles does not get into equations and technical details, but sticks with general narrative discussion; thus, the level of science in this text never advanced much further than popular levels. However, there are some references listed in the back that can lead the interested reader to further texts. This part could be expanded to be more helpful for those who are technically inclined.

This is an interesting text, a quick read, full of personality and intrigue as well as scientific (and science fiction) ideas.

Jenny Randles writes about research being done in the arena of time travel. She compares our current period of time to the space race of the 60's. In her book she talks about various time travel theories and how the basic research into the area was started by Tesla. It was later expanded during the Philadelphia Experiment and the Montauk Project. Jenny Randles talks about modern researchers like Dr. Ron Mallet and about Steven Gibbs who claims to have built the first commercial time machine the HDR or Hyper Dimensional Resonator.

I thought it was well worth my time to become familiar with the world of time travel research and new events in chronodymanics.

I adore books like this, stretching one's concepts beyond their comfort zone to consider new possibilities. At the same time, however, I feel compelled to approach such works as "Breaking the Time Barrier" with a healthy measure of skepticism. Of course, most people believe that crossing boundaries of time is impossible, although from a theoretical perspective it appears possible at the same time that it is unlikely. Jenny Randles, a British science writer, tracks in "Breaking the Time Barrier" efforts beyond science fiction and wishful thinking to crack that barrier. There are enormous challenges, probably insurmountable ones at least for the projected future, in overcoming the speed of light, understanding and moving beyond of three dimensions into higher dimensionality, and navigating the space-time continuum of a black hole.

Recent investigations undertaken by serious scientists may yield answers to at least some of these questions. The result might be a workable time machine in some distant unimaginable era. Then watch out, fascinating possibilities exist. Read and enjoy, but don't rush out and invest money in a company offering time travel vacations immediately. It will be quite a while before we see that.

Time travel was once considered only the realm of science fiction: in Breaking The Time Barrier, Jenny Randles reveals recent experiments which are showing the time barrier may indeed be broken. Breaking The Time Barrier: The Race To Build The First Time Machine documents the evolution of research that began about a century ago, in which scientists from Marconi to Edison worked to create a real time machine. Modern physicists are experimenting on slowing the passage of information, freezing light, and breaking the speed of light - and the time barrier. Read all about it here: your future may be at stake.

The book Breaking the Time Barrier by Jenny Randles explains the process of which time travel has evolved. It begins at the dawn of time and continues on until the twenty-first century. It explains the development of many different theories by several scientists and the probability of their theories being realistic. The book depicts the impossibility of some theories, and the possibility of others. Overall, Randles depicts a time period where time travel shakes society and the possibility of time travel is a mystery to all.
This book persuaded me to believe in time travel in the universe. There are many unknown factors that scientists have not and cannot fully discover. This book showed me that there are many possibilities in the universe and persuaded me to believe some of the scientists whose work has been noted. It has enhanced my understanding in the sense that I have learned many new things about this specific branch of physics and has caused me to be interested in the current study of time travel. It broke down the more enhanced branches of physics which allowed me to have a larger understanding of what I was reading and allowed me to pay closer attention to it.
I would recommend this book to future students because it was easy to understand. I think future readers will appreciate this book because it is broken down to a good level of apprehension. It gives a great look into physics and shows that time travel could be possible in the future. The chapters are broken down into chronological order of the years where experiments have been conducted. I compliment this book as I learned lots, was able to follow it and found it fairly interesting.

If you're fascinated with the science of light and time travel but not a physicist or mathematician, this book is a great read. It's written in easy to understand language, backed up by appropriate research. Jenny Randles is excellent at writing these kinds of books and I recommend her other recent publications.

I have read many books pertaining to time travel and I must say this is one of the best. It is a "must read".

this book offers a varity of theories both in relativity and in quantum physics. it tries to cover too much ground in this book and no theory is ecplored to a satisfacory level. some explinations are trite and others are not current. dissapointiong. too much time is also devoted to fraud.

Have not read the entire book yet, but what I have read has been written very well. Not a big fan of most female authers as I notice a different writing style from that of men, but this woman has done an execellent job of creating a book that is both interesting and factual. It is printed in what I would say is 1 1/2 spaced lines so it makes for an easy and enjoyable read. Just let your imagination go and visualize the future with such possibilities, the potential is enormous! We can already travel in time in a limited way, get up in the morning and relive the afternoon all over again in the same day, but what is suggested may be around the corner is mind blowing. Buy the book!