The Order of Time

Physics, Metaphysics, and Poetry. I read the Audible version of this while driving to my hometown in another State (a solid book for such a mid-distance, 6 ish hr drive) and thus had the unique pleasure of having Alan Turing himself (as played in The Imitation Game and read here by Benedict Cumberbatch) lecture me on theoretical physics, metaphysics, philosophy, and poetry. If you're looking for a more concrete look at the exact theoretical physics at hand... this isn't the book you're going to want to pick up. If you're looking for more of an easy-read, high-level, pop science level look at whether or not time exists... this is a very good book from that perspective. And indeed, ultimately the text is all about perspective. At the most distinct levels, time simply does not exist, according to Rovelli. And yet obviously we humans experience time. So how can these two prior statements be resolved? Read this book for Rovelli's solid examination into the question and attempt at resolving this seeming paradox. Very much recommended. Particularly the Audible. :)

Wonderful book - Carlo Rovelli sure knows how to frame a narrative around serious contemporary physics concepts. Masterfully explained, very engaging. I picked this up from an art exhibition about Time, was quite a random buy but one of the most surprising reads.

I was reading this for the science and was disappointed. There is a lot of philosophizing here, chapters and chapters of it.

The first part of the book is horrifying. Rovelli details how time does not exist. Them he turns around shows that time doesn't matter.

But the second half, where I guess he's trying to explain what that means for time or time sensing humans, is garbled philosophical ramblings. Maybe the meaning is lost in the literal translation, but I didn't find any comfort or meaning to account for how we perceive time passing yet time doesn't exist.

Aaarg.

My bad for expecting more from a physicist. The limits of science as only measuring the portion of reality that can be measured is a massive constraint and no more so than for physicists. Expecting a revolutionary insight on time from one is hopeful but dumb.

Carlo Rovelli first takes apart our Newtonian and instinctual concept of time, and then builds it back up based on quantum and thermal time. He shows us how time is not (necessarily) a variable in our world, but how time -and space- emerge from the relations between quantum events. There are some hard to grasp metaphysical leaps once in a while, but mostly the book is beautifully written, philosophical and lyrical exploration of time.

There's a special kind of magical state one enters when listening to a metaphysical book on audio on headphones, while walking through our world full people and objects and all its mundanities. Especially when the audiobook is narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch with a beautiful voice and much grace.

I did listen to the audio book twice, attempting to pay better attention to the details on the 2nd time around, but all the metaphysical talk really invites me to get distracted with daydreaming. I was very intrigued with thermal time but won't even attempt to describe it here. I might have to get a hardcopy to be able to fully dig my teeth into that.

An intriguing book about the true nature of time (or lack thereof), I enjoyed it. Toward the end the author derails a bit into rambling jargon and then, apologetically, lands on an overview of his general life philosophy. Overall though, a good, relatively fast read.

Audiobook note: I don't like Benedict Cumberbatch as a narrator for this book.

Explains why time doesn't exist on a macro and micro scale and written so well I definitely am almost certain I could explain some of it to someone kind of.

The only section/metaphor I still can't fully understand is his comments on entropy only being in place due to the random shuffling of atoms at the beginning, I don't get how that isn't just a redefinition of time and clear proof of times arrow going one way.Overall, a brilliant read that has convinced me time doesn't exist except in my own head - turns out LSD was telling the truth all along.I spent way too long trying to understand that part and none of that paragraph would make sense unless you've read the book but I just wanted to share my confusion in case anyone else also felt dumb while reading that part

বইটা বিজ্ঞানের, লেখক বড় মাপের কোয়ান্টাম ফিজিসিস্ট। তথ্যে, তথ্যের উৎস বিষয়ক কেয়ারফুলনেসের স্বাভাবিক ভাবেই ঘাটতি নেই। তবে স্পেকুলেশনগুলো কেবল বৈজ্ঞানিক না, অনেকক্ষেত্রে ফিলোসফিক্যালও ছিল। হাইজেনবার্গের ‘ফিজিক্স অ্যান্ড ফিলোসফি'র এই আরেকটা বই, যেখানে ট্রাডিশনাল ফিলোসফির সাথে সায়েন্সর মিথস্ক্রিয়া দেখলাম।

A very enjoyable listen. Rovelli's words are great, love how he spoke of Einstein and other notable figures. Of course mentioned Proust, will have to sample him sometime.
Cumberbatch's narration was excellent and at times reminded me of Neil Gaiman.

Not sure how much of this will stick, but it was a pleasure to listen to. Added some quotes to help retain some more of it.

I really liked when he talked about Buddhism and its views on suffering.

Il libro inizia con qualche breve considerazione fisica sulla natura del tempo, per poi perdersi totalmente in uno stentato filosofeggiare sulla natura della realtà tutta.
Non voglio sembrare il tipico giovane che guarda con sufficenza anziani scienziati che si dilettano nel mondo della filosofia ma, da fisico e amante della filosofia, credo sia bene sapere come usare le citazioni filosofiche e i vari autori e filosofi del passato.
Quasi ogni paginetta del libro è zeppa di citazioni sparse su molteplici secoli, da Platone ad Agostino e da vari testi religiosi indiani. Ma, e questo penso sia un grande errore e punto debole di questo libro, nessuna di queste citazioni è contestualizzata. Bisogna ricordare, per quanto si voglia argomentare che il tempo non esista, che gli esseri umani vivo nel tempo in tempi diversi. Perciò, quando si cita un filosofo o uno scritto religioso, bisogna ricordare, per quanto tali citazioni possano sembrare carine e appropriate per i propri scopi, che sono argomentazioni nate da persone che vivevano in un certo periodo storico-sociale. E non credo che l'autore sia ben conscio di ciò e si aspetti che i lettori siano capaci da soli di contestualizzare le citazioni. In primo luogo perché si tratta di un testo di divulgazione scientifica e non rivolto a esperti filosofi e di storia delle religioni e secondo, basta prendere una frase delle tante dal libro per comprendere che l'autore non ha questo in mente:
“nel libro XI delle Confessioni, Agostino si interroga sulla natura del tempo - anche se interrotta da esclamazioni in stile predicatore evangelico che io trovo assai noiose”. Basta questo pezzo per comprendere la gravità del problema ossia l'idea di leggere non un libro di un fisico che spiega cosa ci può dire la fisica sul tempo oggi bensì una serie di pagine di citazioni disconnesse di pensieri del tutto personali e difficilmente condivisibili.

I picked up this book hoping to gain new insights on the belief (one that I take sides with) that time isn't a dimension, that it isn't something we traverse on, especially not in a commutative manner (i.e. time travel). Carlo Rovelli accomplishes this with his equally poetic and mathematical narrative, but not before taking me on a journey of existential romanticizing, confusion, doubt, bewilderment and sympathy, in this order.

There were some radical jumps in the definition of time which went from independent entity → human construct → gravitational field that is both subjective and independent of perception (Einstein's resolution of Aristotle time and Newtonian time) → emotions. By this point Carlo has explained elegantly the mathematics of his new notion of time and succumbs to an elegy of the beauty of all its implications.

The parts where I felt least convinced were some analogies that I felt were weak (e.g. mixing of all things = growing count of disordered configurations = collapsing mountain = crumbling structure) and similarly how some concepts were interpreted (e.g. “The difference between things and events is that things persist in time; events have a limited duration.” - the logic would have been more elegant if he had instead said “events create time”) though this could also be a liability of translation as it is originally in Italian.

I had expected something along the lines of a rationalization of the belief that time is artificial, that it is nothing but a human invention necessitated by our need for organization, to map out what we learn and understand and operate with, and that which is constructed around the regularity of phenomena (e.g. day-night cycle). While the book does lend affirmation to this, it also introduces a completely new and mind-blowing concept. The concept is a set of concepts, and because it's unintuitive and unobservable by human senses, it's naturally not easy to maintain in one's thought process (especially because he somehow uses the word “time” in colloquial phrases that contradict what he has revealed - though it could be because he is limited by conservative language, we have yet to develop the language that more accurately expresses the seemingly abstract concepts of quantum physics), thus requiring some muscle memory to be built which you will realize after it's been referred to enough times throughout the chapters. The concept needs to be learned as if learning a new grammar, but Carlo writes his book in a way that makes this easy for the reader with a kind of spaced repetition of the unfamiliar terms (or their contexts). This is the first reason why I think he is just the right spokesperson for such disruptive concepts of quantum physics.

The second reason is that by the third chapter he circles back to justifying why we perceive time the way we do despite the disruptive nature of the novel theory. This saves the readers from falling into a pit of existential dread, some possible dissociation, alarm, or even blunt rejection of the new notion of time. What the book guarantees though is a complete upheaval of perspective, and you walk away with new questions to brew, or new sensibilities to nurture.

The third reason is he writes the book for a broad audience, while still satisfying the more inquisitive readers with superscripts and optional technical chapters (he gives permission to skip two chapters but I think it's worth the pain of sludging through as a non-technical reader).

In the last section ‘Sister of Sleep' he goes off on a more personal soliloquy, waltzing us along a personal stage of his thoughts, revealing his sentiments on the finality of his life, of his experience of time and that now he is ready for death, having already “drunk deep of the bittersweet contents of this chalice.”