Rather, the rising tide of thinking about time in more complex ways lifted all sorts of ships in both the art and scientific communities. The thing I most admired about this book was how Gleick cites and references many various writers, scientists, and philosophers to point out that these new developments with how people perceived time throughout the 19th and 20th centuries was not merely limited to the creative or scientific fields. ‘Time Travel: A History’ by James Gleick. It also includes a chapter on the history of time capsules, the evolution of that phenomenon, and their purpose in preserving the present for the intended purpose of eventually being opened in the future.
Improvement in technologies such as clocks, telegraphs, and steam engines all allowed different thinking about time, as well as people’s relationship to it, as a shift began to take place towards an ever more connected world.Īs the book progresses, Gleick brings up how new theories of physics that emerged in the early 20th century, most notably special relativity discovered by Albert Einstein, amplified the intersection between scientific discovery and creative inspiration. He argues that, while ancient myths had stories of immortality or fountains of youth, time travel emerged from Wells’ popular tale only because Wells himself was inspired by the developments of science and technology that were occurring in the mid-to-late 19th century. Gleick argues that time travel as a concept started with the publication of The Time Machine by H. James Gleick’s book, Time Travel: A History, attempts to rectify this by focusing on the circumstances and historical context that inspired the creation of this most imaginative and pervasive concept. Dick, Ray Bradbury to Bill & Ted, time travel is so embedded in our culture that we take for granted just what a modern creation it is. Wells to Outlander, Kurt Vonnegut to Philip K. It has inspired movies and television shows as varied as Back to the Future and Doctor Who. We all, for the most part, understand what “time travel” is.
Who, from the fierce science fiction fan to the existential philosopher, hasn’t wondered about the various scenarios, paradoxes, and conceits of time travel? It has seeped into our minds so much through cultural osmosis that it barely needs to be described or qualified.
0 kommentar(er)
