I had just started high school when I discovered H. G. Wells. My local second-hand book store had a treasure trove of old mass paperbacks—The Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The War of the Worlds and, of course, The Time Machine. I had no idea at the time that Wells’ 1895 book on time travel was so ground-breaking. Having been raised on Back to the Future, the idea of time travel was a common trope. It wasn’t so for Wells. In fact, the expression “time travel” first occurs in English only in 1914, inspired by Wells’ story. “When Wells in his lamp-lit room imagined a time machine, he also invented a new mode of thought” (5).

James Gleick (author of The Information) chronicles the history of time travel from its birth in H. G. Wells’ mind to current-day cyberspace. He is equally adept at exploring hard science, metaphysics, and popular culture. Gleick moves from Einsteinian relativity to questions about determinism and fatalism to Robert Heinlein’s fiction without skipping a beat.

Time Travel is a fascinating and diverse survey of a wildly popular idea. Although still firmly in the realm of science fiction, Gleick shows how the dream of time travel inspires human thoughts and dreams.

Gleick, James. Time Travel: A History. Pantheon, 2016.