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    Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
    Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
    Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe
    Audiobook10 hours

    Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe

    Written by Lee Smolin

    Narrated by Sean Pratt

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    What is time?

    This deceptively simple question is the single most important problem facing science as we probe more deeply into the fundamentals of the universe. All of the mysteries physicists and cosmologists face-from the Big Bang to the future of the universe, from the puzzles of quantum physics to the unification of forces and particles-come down to the nature of time.

    The fact that time is real may seem obvious. You experience it passing every day when you watch clocks tick, bread toast, and children grow. But most physicists, from Newton to Einstein to today's quantum theorists, have seen things differently. The scientific case for time being an illusion is formidable. That is why the consequences of adopting the view that time is real are revolutionary.

    Lee Smolin, author of the controversial bestseller The Trouble with Physics, argues that a limited notion of time is holding physics back. It's time for a major revolution in scientific thought. The reality of time could be the key to the next big breakthrough in theoretical physics.

    What if the laws of physics themselves were not timeless? What if they could evolve? Time Reborn offers a radical new approach to cosmology that embraces the reality of time and opens up a whole new universe of possibilities. There are few ideas that, like our notion of time, shape our thinking about literally everything, with huge implications for physics and beyond-from climate change to the economic crisis. Smolin explains in lively and lucid prose how the true nature of time impacts our world.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 28, 2013
    ISBN9781452684635

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    Reviews for Time Reborn

    3.5/5

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    • 5/5
      A great read in a genre that is quickly becoming the domain of airport paperbacks. Smolin presents a truly pluralistic world view that does away with the infinites present in scientific eternalism. He does not patronize the reader with useless anology or bore with formulae, a fine line to walk. I don't think I could explain his conception of space time to a friend, but I could certainly talk about a universe in which time is an essential force that shapes and defines our experiences.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Excellent book on a fundamental cosmological debate. The critiques of other reviewers betray their unfamiliarity with the topics and passive absorption of popular but inaccurate crowd-think opinions—one complains a book on quantum physics and temporal naturalism was too focused on esoteric physics and metaphysical thought, one complains that the argument’s veering into philosophy and metaphysics hurt its validity (meanwhile, the book is literally intended as science-informed natural philosophy—Smolin is a philosopher as well as physicist), and so on. The only ‘problem’ with the book is that it intervenes in an ongoing conversation and perhaps does not do enough to clue in its readers just how vastly divergent and socially determined the sides of that debate are, leaving readers to carry their preconceptions through to the boundaries of Smolin’s context-setting.

      Regardless, this book is best read along with the collaborative book between Lee Smolin and Roberto Mangabeira Unger on the singular universe and the reality of time. If you haven’t got the time to make it through two dense books, consider searching for Lee Smolin interviews on Apple Podcasts and giving them a listen, or check out his lecture materials, recorded talks, and short-form popular writings on the topic (either on his website or on Google).

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I'm not a scientist, but I keep thinking that the more science books I read, the more I'll eventually understand (and so far, that's been true). Having just finished The Grand Design I wanted to explore more on a similar topic and this seemed like it would address many of my questions, and to a certain extent did.

      The first half I enjoyed quite a lot, a run-through of "established" science, and then the book turned into his apparently unorthodox repositioning of established truths. It seemed to me he made a lot of unsubstantiated claims (e.g. time must be real because we can feel it passing, say), and while my gut agrees with him (I can't help but suspect the fixed space-time orthodoxy is missing something) I don't think he makes his case. After a few chapters of samey-samey, I stopped reading and picked up an 80s mystery in stead.
    • 3/5
      Smolin has a point: this business of timelessness needs a re-think. At the risk of sounding arrogant, his community shrinks because of his argument. I'm one of those curious, who likes to think i can appreciate what the serious thinkers think. I didn't say understand; i'm not that arrogant. But I think I'm clever enough to appreciate what's at stake. A recent reading of the Tao of Physics resurrected any recollection I had that quantum physics now tells us that time is an emergent property, rather than fundamental. At least according to the largest part of that community. I think many (most?) well-read people would find that a novel idea. So do I. So, I start this book in sympathy with where Smolin is going. He carefully lays out his plan. To paraphrase "First, let's see how time lost it's unquestioned status as fundamental", then he says he'll see why that has to be rethought. This is an honest approach for a scientist. "I'm with you, Lee". And he's thorough. By the end of Part I, he's taken us from Newton thru Einstein and Bohr, when in the 20's (I guess) "time" lost it's place in the equation's denominator.His restoring time on scientific grounds comes from cosmological questions: Einsteins forsaking the cosmological constant, and since his death, the need to insert it back to explain newer observations. I can appreciate (recall, not the same as understanding) that now, dark matter and dark energy explain the need for a cosmological constant, and help to model the observations. Smolin argues that physical laws have evolved in this universe to explain the measured changes in the distribution of the universe's constituents: photons, stars (matter), energy, and the dark versions. And evolution implies passage of time. The initial conditions and the "selection" of fundamental constants receive pro and con arguments. So too, the possibility of multiple (infinite numbers of) universes, and a single infinite universe. As his scope widens, his audience narrows. The problem he's trying to solve matters to fewer and fewer people. He confesses his real motive in the epilogue, where he sums up his argument as the need for a new philosophy. I suspect literary critics could easily tease out the circularity of his reasoning. To me, it's not unlike a local pastor of my witness who complains about those who complain, failing to see himself in that club. I rationalize my rating of 3* on my belief one's ratings should be a binomial distribution. Since the lowest I will go is 2.5, and I only allow a handful of books at that rating, this book is not one of those.
    • 3/5
      Time is both everywhere and nowhere. It is force we deal with everyday in a metaphysical sense as well as a phantom object. In the physics world, it has no real definition aside from what other theories and variables give it. After Einstein’s theories, it became relative; what was perceived as a certain time to one person could be different to another. Lee Smolin’s Time Reborn seeks to wrestle the relative and vanishing concept of time away from the quantum mechanical model and give it a physical presence in the universe. He wants to make time real.Separating space and time, and making time real in the process, is a very heady goal. There’s a reason it’s always referred to as “space-time.” They are inextricably linked. While I liked all the interesting new physics Smolin discussed, I’m not entirely sure he accomplished his goal with the clarity he wanted. Metaphysics and philosophy tend to creep into his argument and thus create flaws in his quest to quantify time as a legitimate, whole, and distinct entity. A lot of the standard physics theories tend to break down when trying to isolate time in a concrete sense. That being said, Smolin’s history of physics was engaging and slightly more refreshing than the rote stuff you get from other texts. And this book will get you thinking about the larger concepts of the universe, which is never a bad thing. It has kind of a physics class feel to it as his illustrations look like they were drawn with a dry-erase marker (I liked that). If you’re interested in a different perspective on contemporary quantum physics, then dive right in—if you have the time, of course.