Time Travel: A History by James Gleick review – from mechanical to mental

This roving study of our enduring fascination with time travel covers well trodden ground but finds the concept constantly evolving

Are we trapped in the present, free to move in space yet unable to travel in the fourth dimension? Or is there a chance, a glimmer of a possibility, that the past and future could unfurl to our physical experience at will? Despite the punchline being apparent from the off - lest we forget, such journeys are impossible - James Gleick's latest offering sets out to question the questions, probing how the idea of time travel emerged, gripped our imaginations and shaped our society.

Our relationship with the slippery concept of time is far from static: technology continues to shape our view, even now