How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"Right. See, the reason nobody's even tried to send messages back is an obvious one, once you think of it. We can build a transmitter, see, but there's no receiver. Nobody in the past ever built one."
Peterson frowned. "Well, of course—"
Renfrew went on enthusiastically, "We've built one, naturally, to do our preliminary experiments. But the people back in 1963 didn't know about tachyons. So the trick is to interfere with something they're already doing. That's the ticket." (1.76-78)
Let's open this discussion by giving Benford the shout-out he deserves. Most time travel stories just come up with some device that says time travel works and so it does. Benford, however, really took the time to add some scientific rigor and consider how and why a connection could really be made to the past. And for that, we salute you, sir.
Quote #2
Marjorie locked the kitchen door behind her and walked round the side of the house, carrying a bucket of chicken feed. The lawn behind the house was crisply quartered by brick paths, with a sundial at the intersection. (2.1)
Imagery related to time pops up all over Timescape—it's basically the Waldo of the novel. Thing is, the imagery tends to show up in places outside of the laboratory settings, such as the sundial and later Marjorie's mechanical clock. Time may be the realm of physics, but it seems the imagery of time serves as a reminder of how physics is connected to everything else.
Quote #3
Greg smiled at the jibe. "Especially physicist, since we know what's going on. Point is, Einstein showed that two people moving with respect to each other can't agree on whether two events happen at the same time. That's because light takes a finite time to travel from the events to the two people, and that time is different for each person. I can show you that with some simple mathematics—" (5.50)
Yeah, we're willing to bet those mathematics aren't so simple, Markham. But he does make an interesting point in regards to our perception of time, and it's one you can see for yourself. Go out one night and look at the stars. Because those stars are so far away, the light we see tonight left them years ago, so we are, in a sense, looking into the past with every night sky. And we think that's pretty awesome.