我从小数学就差，想当然，连带其他需要算式的科目也就不会太好，所以物理也让我敬而远之。不过，这倒没影响我喜欢幻想，喜欢看星星的兴趣。长大后，我一度以为自己不喜欢看科幻片，后来才发现，是不喜欢看难看的科幻片。接触了几部不错的科幻电影和小说后，忽然有种感悟：要是，我以前的数学或物理老师能用这些有趣的方法教学，说不定我也能成为科学家？
 
科幻片里的时空机器和太空船操作看起来超简单的。半人马星传来求救信号？没问题：只要推下曲速引擎，几分钟后抵达目的地了。正面临一场无可避免的灾难？没关系：只要回到事件发生前的时间，然后在发生以前阻止一切就可以了。但不幸的是，我们并没有住在科幻宇宙里，这些都只能是突发奇想吗？或着真有可能可以穿越时空或在满天星体中穿梭？
 
现今的尖端物理或许还无法回答这些问题，但它确实提供了一些引人入胜的可能性。无论我们是否能强迫自己接受这些概念， Allen Everett与Thomas A. Roman都在《穿越时光与星际旅行》中带领读者进行一场清楚明了的导览，让我们知道人类目前对时间与空间的了解有多少。两位作者用高中程度以下的数学，为爱因斯坦的狭义相对论做了平易近人的解释，接着再探讨在时间中来回旅行的基本差异以及回到过去和超越光速之旅行之间惊人的理论关连性。他们调查了各种穿越时光与星际旅行的可能性，包括虫洞与曲速泡（warp bubbles）。本书中有一个章节是作者们的创作，他们想像，要是穿越时空是可能的，那这个世界可能会一团乱，因为你可能会错杀了自己的爷爷！
 
《穿越时光与星际旅行》以稳固、最先进的科学扎根，然后交织明亮的语触和对有趣科幻场景的热爱，喜好科学或时空穿越题材爱好读者一定会很喜欢！
 
本书中所演示的关键概念影片请见以下网址： www.press.uchicago.edu/sites/timewarp.
 
好评
"Marvelously accessible." (Chicago Tribune)
 
"Relying only minimally on technical jargon and formulas, the authors open to view the exciting conceptual prospects for designing a time machine capable of slipping backward through the centuries and of riding faster-than-light warp bubbles through the cosmos.... Armchair scientists share the thrill of peeking into the universe's deepest secrets. Penetrating science illuminates humankind's most audacious dreams." (Booklist)
 
“In recent years, a number of books have taken on real science that sounds like science fiction. Unfortunately, most are frothy concoctions that leave the serious reader unsatisfied. This is all the more reason to celebrate the arrival of Time Travel and Warp Drives—a deeply informed, richly detailed yet immensely readable account of science at the frontiers, by two physicists who know the territory. For well over a decade Allen Everett and Thomas Roman have been charting the strange realms of negative energy, twisted spacetime, temporal paradoxes, and travel between universes. In a wonderfully written and especially timely account, they share with us what they’ve learned. Time Travel and Warp Drives deserves a place on the shelf between Greene’s The Elegant Universe and Hawking’s A Brief History of Time.”(David Toomey, author of The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics)
 
“There have been plenty of light popularizations of the puzzling physics of time. This book stands out in its depth and range. Written by two who have done the calculations, followed the field, and thought about what it all means, it leads the reader through the byzantine labyrinths of current theory. I found it enlightening and fun to read. If you have time for one book in this field, let it be this one.”(Gregory Benford, author of Timescape)
 
"I have been searching for years for a book like this. With Time Travel and Warp Drives, Everett and Roman have written an illuminating exploration of the physics of time travel. What sets this book apart, however, is that the authors do not rely on analogies or metaphors. They actually explain the underlying science in a clear and accessible way. My search is over: this book is my new guide to a place stranger than science fiction--our universe."( Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe)
 
"Everett and Roman are physicists who have probed the theoretical possibilities of time travel. Their expertise shines."( Science News)
 
 "Whenever anyone asks me whether time travel is possible, or rapid insterstellar travel via spacewarps is possible, I send them to this book.  It is the best source of answers at a level accessible to nonexperts."( Kip Thorne, author of Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy | Feynman Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology)
 
关于作者
Allen Everett 是塔夫茨大学（Tufts University）的物理学荣誉教授。 Thomas Roman是中康乃狄克州立大学数学科学系的教授。他们两人都在大学里教授穿越时空物理学。