The light from a star moves at lightspeed. His books have FTL drives. You want to see into the past? Hop a starship away from whatever is of interest and the

The light from a star moves at lightspeed. His books have FTL drives. You want to see into the past? Hop a starship away from whatever is of interest and then have another look. You're seeing it at an earlier time than your original observation. Repeat as many times as you want. (Note, however, that each hop puts you farther away and thus makes it fainter. Eventually it will be too dim for your instruments.)