We went to see the director’s cut of Donnie Darko last night. (Somehow we had missed it the first time around.)

All I can say is, I walked out of there wishing The Philosophy of Time Travel was a real book. I’d love to get a copy of it.

Interestingly, when I checked Amazon to price the DVD, I discovered a companion book, The Donnie Darko Book, which features the script, interviews… and pages from the fictional book. Hmmm….

Update (August 2, 2006): It seems people aren’t reading through all the comments. Just to be clear, The Philosophy of Time Travel is not a real book. It would be a fun read if it was, but it isn’t.

40 thoughts on “Philosophy of Time Travel

  1. esta pelicula me encanto, soy muy dificil para que las peliculas no me aburran… pero con esta… me traume esta genial!! la he recomendado a todos los que conosco; felicidades de antemano y que sigan haciendo peliculas como esta

  2. this is the first time and probly the last time i visit this site dont get me wrong though but there is a book made named “the philosophy of time travel” im trying to find it a friend showed it to me and im tryen to find it again… Hopefully i do…………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………..

  3. everyone wants that book and all i can find is people wanting it where is the book the philosophy of time travel

  4. the philosophy of time trravel is a book yes, i believe this… but the answers we all seek have to found within the confines of our own grasp on time itself… good day

  5. The philosophy of time travel
    G Matthew Gilmore

    1998
    English Book : Microform 1 microfiche.
    Ottawa : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, ; ISBN: 0612248461

  6. I think some people have missed the point:There may be an actual book called The Philosophy of Time Travel, but it’s not the book that was invented for the movie, and only a few pages of that book were actually written.

  7. I’m not sure if a book is out there about time travel, which I’m sure there is, but channel 11 did a great special on portals, time travel, the universe having 16 or 19 dimensions and it was really fasinating. If interested in that kind of stuff I would look into finding a tape of that.

  8. What about the other book that was in the movie? Not the one by roberta sparrow. But the other one that the teacher recommends he reads. What is that one called again?

  9. It is not a book but a short story by Graham Greene “The Desructors” (it’s on the black board behind the teacher)

  10. graham greene’s The destructors is a commonly available short story detailing a gang of post war adolescents descent into creative destruction….a piece of pre planned anarchy……well thought out spontenaiety!!!!
    roberta sparrow’s book is unfortunately a work of fiction also to be found commonly available. love nm

  11. the only thing i know is that that movie was great, and i wish i could get my hands on that book to read, theres so many different angles to look at the movie, but i would like to learn about the philosophy of time travel

  12. There is a book named a philosophy of time travel. I own it, it was the hardest thing ive ever had to find. You can find it online but online its missing 5 chapters that you’ll never be able to see unless you actually find the book.

    P.S. There are less then 25 copies left in the world.

  13. ummm … like Richard Kelly Said to the #1 Donnie Darko’s Fan in front of thousands of people …”hehehe” … there’s no such book … he made it all only for the movie

    P.S. that guy wasted a lot of time of his life searching for the fckin book and at the end there was no book … so dont do the same … search in google for the chapters available (the only ones that exist and will ever exist) … they are fckin interesting tough

    http://www.tonystuff.co.uk/darko-time.htm [edited to point to archive.org]

  14. See, the funny thing is that the book realy does exist. Or will do. And if it ‘will do’, then it always has.
    It will look exactly like you want it to look and say exactly what you want it to say.
    This process is creating the book.
    You are creating the book.
    Its on its way, its already here.
    Create the idea – reality follows.
    Nature abhors a vacuum.

  15. wow there is alot of people who realy like donnie darko .
    so (sherar) why the nasty words mate? . we are all into this and obviously want answers , theres no need to get all hot and bothered .if u want 2 say somthn why not say somthin nice or just say nothin at all ……?
    peace out darko fans if u open the right doors you will find the answers

  16. In the director’s cut of the movie in the commentary, the director says that there is no such book, people have suggested that he make one but he doesn’t have the time. He also said that he never will make the book. Much to the movie’s fan’s disappointment. i’ve found the chapters shown in the movie online like everyone else. the best version of it that i’ve found is:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_Time_Travel

    because it explains each section. i just wish that someone would post the page categorizing what each person is
    “The book ends here, save for a page of notes referencing the cast of the movie, and categorizing them into Receiver, and Manipulated Dead and The Manipulated Living.”

  17. before d.d. gets the book from his teacher you can see a book of stephen hawkins. maybe this is what youre all looking for.

    sometimes we cant see the forrest because of all the trees.
    so maybe there are things happening just infront of you and you,.. where are you? you are a prisoner of yourself, the world you create is just what you want to see? how can you be sure that the world that you see is the world that it is?

  18. The book some people are asking about (the teachers recommendation) is called “A Brief History Of Time” and yes, it is a real book.

  19. hi i need to know if the philosophy of time travel is real .if its real where i could find it thank you

  20. Did you even read any of the comments?

    No, The Philosophy of Time Travel is not a real book (at least, the one from Donnie Darko isn’t). You can’t get it.

  21. The philospohy of time travel was talking about the tangent universe that we live in already, as seperate living time travelers through this forwards dimension. Think of tangent as your ‘my space’ and universe as in the my space ‘home page’. Roberta Sparrow could not have envisinged an alternate universe other than her own state of mind. I hope this helps you all on your journey and saves your head from spinning off into another dimension, and as you drop to the ground, your head falls from the sky and gets forcibly inserted BACK into your anus, along with life line exersize number 1. from Danny Donaldson’s No.1 fan. xx

  22. A good deal of work in the philosophy of time has been produced by people worried about Fatalism, which can be understood as the thesis that whatever will happen in the future is already unavoidable (where to say that an event is unavoidable is to say that no human is able to prevent it from occurring). A typical argument for fatalism is.

    -There exist now propositions about everything that might happen in the future.

    -Every proposition is either true or else false.

    -If (1) and (2), then there exists now a set of true propositions that, taken together, correctly predict everything that will happen in the future.

    -If there exists now a set of true propositions that, taken together, correctly predict everything that will happen in the future, then whatever will happen in the future is already unavoidable.

  23. i just got done watching DD and decided to research for this book “the philosophy of time” and the sonofabitch DOES exist. live in denial if you wish on this matter but just remember that your thought will only effect you. dont express them upon others as a form of force

  24. That Movie was a trip but a good one. It’s funny that the book in the movie is gaining so much attention (since it isn’t real)! It’s fun to read depates about it though.

  25. and unless some poser made his own, there is NO REAL p. of t.t. book. trust me, you’ll be able to track down kelly’s # and ask him before you ever find the ‘authentic’ book. and if you choose not to believe me, then i suggest you do just that; give richard kelly a call.

  26. Gilmore, G.M.
    The Philosophy of Time Travel
    M.A.Dissertation, 1997, Dalhousie University, Canada

    It’s a Masters Dissertation.

  27. The point, of course, isn’t whether something exists with that title. If that were the criterion, this blog post would be enough to qualify. As stated waaaay up in this comment thread, the book portrayed in the movie does not exist in full. Someone’s dissertation doesn’t count unless it’s all about the tangent universe, the artifact, the manipulated living, manipulated dead, etc. and contains the chapters which were used for the movie. Being written by Roberta Sparrow would help.

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