The Order of Time (Unabridged)
-
-
4.7 • 20 Ratings
-
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
One of TIME’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade
"Meet the new Stephen Hawking . . . The Order of Time is a dazzling book." --The Sunday Times
From the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, comes a concise, elegant exploration of time.
Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike.
For most readers this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it remains. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where at the most fundamental level time disappears. He explains how the theory of quantum gravity attempts to understand and give meaning to the resulting extreme landscape of this timeless world. Weaving together ideas from philosophy, science and literature, he suggests that our perception of the flow of time depends on our perspective, better understood starting from the structure of our brain and emotions than from the physical universe.
Already a bestseller in Italy, and written with the poetic vitality that made Seven Brief Lessons on Physics so appealing, The Order of Time offers a profoundly intelligent, culturally rich, novel appreciation of the mysteries of time.
Customer Reviews
Interesting Ideas Obscured By Flowery Prose
“The Order of Time” by Carlo Rovelli, attempts to describe the fundamental nature of time. It’s unfortunate that achievement of this objective is hindered by the author’s affinity for purple prose.
Perhaps that’s too harsh. I don’t regret buying the book. It gave me new insights about the nature of time and it confirmed some old insights. It got me thinking about aspects of time that hadn’t previously occurred to me. But the book also frustrated me.
I bought it to gain scientific insight. But much of the text was devoted to philosophy. Clarity of meaning was made subservient to ornate language. Perhaps this has something to do with the original book being written in Italian; but I doubt it. I think it’s more attributable to the author’s preferred style. For example, near the end of Chapter 6, the author is discussing the difference between events and things. He tries to summarize his discussion with this statement, “The world is more like Naples than Singapore.” That’s a flowery turn of phrase, but even Google doesn’t know what it means. I certainly don’t.
To the author’s credit, he doesn’t try to hide his love of ornate language . The book’s Introduction explains that most chapters begin with a verse quoting The Odes of Horace. That's a clear warning that purple prose lies ahead.
Beyond my criticism of style, I enjoyed the book.
It starts with a brief acknowledgment of how Einstein’s theories of General and Special Relativity changed our understanding of time. There’s a discussion of how events are more important than things. The absence of a universal “present” is a recurring theme. Ideas such as the “block universe” and “eternalism” are discussed. The flow of time gets extensive treatment and its connection with thermodynamics is explained. Entropy is compared and contrasted with energy, and the importance of entropy is emphasized. The granular nature of the universe and quantum mechanics are discussed, with brief mention of the author’s specialty: loop quantum gravity. Human physiology and our perception of time receive some attention.
This book will not be for everyone. The style is too pretentious and the subject matter can be confusing. It probably helps if you come to the material with at least a rudimentary understanding of relativity, time dilation, light cones, entropy, etc.. If you have that background and can tolerate the flowery prose, then you may enjoy this read. I did.
Listeners Also Bought