I have been fascinated by the concept of time for a long time, long before I wrote Room Nineteen, and I find it unbelievable that, although it is something that controls our every action, it always manages to remain just beyond our grasp, flickering on the edge of what is known (and understood) and what is unknown (and not understood). Is it cyclic or is it linear? Is there a long line (not necessarily straight) made up of a past, a present and a future, or are there simply a lot of 'nows' moving around each other in no particular order? Is there one 'universe' or are there many, parallel, universes? As part of my research for the book, I read a number of books on time, among them: From Eternity to Here by Sean Carroll, and The Death of Forever by Darryl Reanney - both of them extremely interesting. Other authors, among many worth looking at, are Julian Barbour ("People are sure time is there, but they can't get hold of
it. My feeling is that they can't get hold of it because it isn't
there at all."), Stephen Hawking, Paul Davies (who, unfortunately, died recently) and even Meister Eckhart ("There exists only the present instant... There is
no yesterday nor any tomorrow, but only Now... ")
