| Title | : | The Time Illusion (Kindle Single) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 35 |
| Publication | : | Published July 31, 2016 |
Drawing on the latest ideas from both relativity and quantum theory, award-winning science writer John Gribbin (In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat) addresses the questions that have baffled philosophers since antiquity and Zeno’s arrow paradox. Along the way, we find that in the quantum world it is literally true that a watched pot never boils, and learn how physicists have come to terms with the idea of the four-dimensional block universe as an explanation of the distinction between past, present and future.
Why do eggs break when we drop them, but never unbreak? The Universe as we know it began in a Big Bang, which in some sense marks the beginning of time. Is it possible that we need to invoke the Big Bang to explain why we never see unbroken eggs? This idea glories in the name “the past hypothesis”, but many physicists regard it as no more than an attempt to sweep the problem of the arrow of time under the rug. Read The Time Illusion and see if you agree!
The Time Illusion (Kindle Single) Reviews
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Great essay which covers a brief history of theories of time and, fundamentally, physics, starting with an introduction to the pointing arrow argument by Zeno of Eleatic philosophy and leading up to the quantum Zeno effect ("a watched [quantum] pot never boils"). It's a short read but leads to many interesting questions and also has references to other books I shall now read, such as "Fabric of Reality" by David Deutsch. My favourite part is where he builds up some intuition about spacetime, and how when space expands, time shrinks, by referencing Minkowski's comparisons between 3D (length by Pythagoras' Theorem) and 4D ("extension" with the add'l speed of light and time interval element).
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The Hungarian Nobel prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi put it: "Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest".
I'm convinced that review writing is essential essence of every reading -that is giving me a closure. Review may help the reader appreciate a book as it was in my case with "The Time Illusion". If can't figure where to start from I'll every time resort to Mr. Cicero's quote "docere, delectare, et movere". I'll be honest, without thinking about devising a review, I'd miss an excellent book! I think that one of Mr. Gribbin's goals was to keep it concise, no idling, no wasting of readers time and efforts. This is the reason one may got an impression of shortness and crowdedness. But, that's illusion as well. I've got the maximum during the review combined with brief second reading.
Lets see the subject and that something what could I not resist to:
Time alone and not the Spacetime, how I was used to think about. (in scientific way)
Lets put a side the space and focus on time! Is the time real?
Does anything or anybody else, except us in the vast cosmos, care for it? One is for sure - we do! So, time is real in a degree we are real.
Are we, real?! As the Hungarian Nobel prize winner Albert Szent-Györgyi put it: "Life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest". So, according to that, electrons truly are what makes life go round. Can you recall what Niels Bohr said about the quantum world? "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.", and he added: "If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet."! According to Schrödinger's definition of life, life is something that defies the entropy. And there is a physicist's nightmare - the measurement, the action without we can't postulate our realm, but an action that alters the subject of our measurement. So, here we are at Second Law where the process of disintegration plays quintessential role. Falling apart toward maximum disorder is the realm where the matter of the highest order known in Cosmos, the human brain, is continuously coming into existence...from ghostly particles or from field disturbances that are rather unreal than real. So, where time comes in? Does time have essential role in our realm where everything is infinite..except us? Is this short book is the one that will answer your question after reading about time? I don't know that! But, one I know, this book made me devise, new (for me), great, exciting questions! Asking clever questions leads us to a new discovery endeavors! "The time illusion" is the book that's gonna make your imagination soar - just give it a chance. Cheers! -
Oh, time! You are surely wasting some while reading this. But this book remind us that the universe is so vast + reversible making time an illusion. A very vivid illusion for short-life carbon-based machines living in funny societies, though... no time to finish this review, read the dawn book!
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What is time? Why is it that we are so conditioned and entrapped to yesterday, today and tomorrow? Do they really exist?
From a scientific point of view (which is what this book is about) you have some weird equations (for the brain I have cannot understand or grasp) from the most respectable scientists of all time but "according to spacetime physics, the openness of the future is an illusion, and therefore causation and free will can be no more than illusion as well...in reality, we make no choices. Even as we think we are considering a choice, it's outcome is already there, in the appropriate slice of spacetime, unchangeable like everything else in spacetime, and impervious to (unable to be affected by) our deliberations." (Deutsch)
By reading this lines I wonder what's the outcome of that blue dot in this infinite spacetime?
In a letter of condolences to Besso's family (Einstein's old friend) he said: "Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion. But our language, which has built in to it our subjective feeling of time passing, struggles to deal with this concept." Few weeks later on 18 of April 1955 Einstein died leaving behind this illusion in which we all remain. -
Time, time, time...
The science ultimately seems to complicate what is a matter of individual and collective perception but is nonetheless compelling a read. That is ultimately it is each and all of us in our witness state that can attest to the vagaries of time but our collective drive over the last couple of hundred years has been to tie down this knowledge to a series of objective observations , the very endeavour which quantum events seem to defy. Even so as far as one can deduce, Gribbin is in harmony with the great souls that time, as past present future, is illusory but the present has a special relation to our perception.
Though there remains the danger that Now is not seen as a coordinate in (space)time while the capacity of the present to open into a dimension beyond time, the eternal, is of so little consequence in the scientific survey of the topic. A very enjoyable and informative treatise, while always worth remembering it's just another way of looking at something we all have intuitive access to. Will read it or similar again. -
(3.5 stars) This short book by the prolific science writer John Gribbin sketches out some of the theories of time that have been propounded in philosophy and science. While succinct, he does not talk down to his readership, making this a handy overview and entry point into ideas from relativity and quantum theory. It is broad-stroke writing, enticing us to consider the different ways of imagining time, whether Zeno's arrow-splits or the moving trains and veils of relativity. Once inside this box, we need to think our way out of it or around it, seeing what others have done, deciding to what extent we want to consider the transversal leaps into other dimensions or planes. Or go inward, or moving into nano worlds. Either way, this is a good use of this format as a way of whetting the appetite of a certain kind of reader, giving them enough of a guidebook to go searching for larger works.
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After reading "before the big bang" I had to try another of John Gribbin's books, and this one didn't disappoint. The whole aspect of time is laid out over the 35 pages that this book consists of, and for such a small book it is very detailed and very well written.
From explanations of everything from the standard "arrow of time" that is referred to often in books like this to how we actually define time, the passage of things into a higher state of entropy all up to how it doesn't really matter, or exist, in a quantum world.
Just like his other work this is very well when and presented, I had a bit of an issue trying to get my head around the experiments about things not happening when they are observed, but to solve that problem you need to evaluate your definition of "observe".
Well worth a read and well recommend. -
Time is one entity which has fueled a lot of fantasy and interest from long since ( how paradoxical is this statement!). Many so called 'science' fictions have been raved and rated. Many philosophies and religions tried explaining and thriving on that.
A transforming essay that bursts the myth of time as continuous flow that we are so conditioned to think. This breaks the philosophical logjam that one way or other end up in a knot trying to unravel the mystry of time reversal. Right from Zeno and Newton to Einstein, and quantum physics, Gribbin breaks the bubble to reveal the scientific basis of how time is not sequence but a discrete affair. A nice primer to delve more. Certainly interesting. -
This is more of an essay than a book. Quantum physics shows that time doesn’t flow the way we generally perceive it to. Instead, it‘s closer to a block concept of the universe where past, present, and future all exist at once and are set and unchanging. What does this say about free will? Fascinating stuff.
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“Is the future “already there” and is the past “still there”, even though we are only aware of a single moment of time?”
If you have any interest in “time” and how we experience it and would like a better understanding of quantum theory then I highly recommend this essay.
(Note: If you have an average or above understanding already then I’d consider this to be more of a beginner’s guide) -
Wow, I found some experiments done on quantum systems that I'd never even heard about. Fascinating! I don't know that I'm convinced of Gribbin's view on time, but he certainly makes a compelling argument. I won't spoil it. I'll just say that if you're into the nature of time, read this with an open mind peppered with some skepticism.
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This book really dug deep into the quantum states of time. There was a lot I learned including the Quantum Zeno Effect which has to do with the observation of time in the quantum state. This was well written, although a bit deep for a simple physics enthusiast like myself with no formal education on the subject. I look forward to learning more.
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One of many in this genre of scientific treatises. Interesting arguments but I am not sure I buy all of them, including the concept that there is no such thing as motion in an instant. Perhaps the arrow is moving along a planck length in the instant of time. Worth a look.
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I just never know where I am
The author in this short read introduces a number of new concepts to me for which I am grateful. I only wish that he made use of illustrations/drawings here and there to underline his statements -
Really interesting read on the question of what is time and quantum physics. Just mind boggling stuff that really makes you think outside the box but at times was a little to scientific. Enjoyed it though.
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It's about time
It's literally about time and it's about time someone wrote about time in a comprehensive and articulate manner. I especially liked the story of Fred and the pigeonhole analogy. -
Interesting but it ends just when it gets really good.
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That was/is/will be a trip
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se eu entendi 40% do livro foi muito, mas mt interessante. 3 estrelas pela referência a doctor who
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Quantum Emergent Time
Interesting essay on time from the quantum mechanical viewpoint. Time appears to be on emergent macro property resulting from quantum state changes. -
Tackling the difficult question of what is time, the book runs through various theories, from Zeno's paradox, to Boltzmann' entropy, and finally Hoyle/deutsch/Barbour block state.
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Tre tre mallonga. aldonas nenion novan. Malŝparo de mono.
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Excellent. Based on what you personally see and observe it would seem obvious that the Earth dows not move and that the sky and Sun moves around the Earth. Think again!!! Based on what you personally see and observe it would seem obvious that time flows. Think again!!! Time is not what it seems!
