THE ICE PICK

Time Travel, by Paul J. Nahin. Cincinnati, Writers Digest Books, 1997. 200 p. (Science Fiction Writing Series) $16.99 Includes bibliography, glossary, and index. ISBN 0-89879-748-9.

If you want to write a story that includes time travel and get the science right, or you simply want to know if time travel is possible, this comprehensive "writer’s guide to the real science of plausible time travel" is for you.

Nahin says that "physics seems to be coming to the astonishing conclusion that time travel to the past doesn’t violate any of the known laws of physics."

And time travel to the future? Since 1905, physicists have known that that was possible. Nahin shows how it might be accomplished, using the special theory of relativity and a high speed rocket.

Nahin discusses the history of time travel in science fiction, along with explanations of mistakes authors have made and how you can avoid them. He explains the rules you must follow if you want to avoid writing fantasy, plus the theories that make time travel possible, and how you can use them to create your own scientifically sound story.

He explains hyperspace; theoretical time machines already "invented"; block and splitting universes; time as the fourth dimension and how it is shaped and "moves"; folded space-time and wormholes; cosmic strings; the uncertainty principle; and paradoxes--like meeting yourself, changing the past, causal loops, etc. and he tells why most of them are invalid.

Nahin also tells how you can use current scholarly journals in physics to generate new and original story ideas without getting bogged down in the technical details.

This is not an easy book. It requires a fair knowledge of physics and mathematics in order to fully use and appreciate it. But he says not to let the math discourage you, and he explains the general concepts behind the equations.

If you want to write "scientifically respectable" time travel, "or at least sound that way," I recommend this book.

{Published in SF and Fantasy Workshop Newsletter, Nov. 2002.}