Time moves forward, not backward--everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here , Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself--a period of modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed. Increasingly, though, ...
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Time moves forward, not backward--everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here , Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself--a period of modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed. Increasingly, though, physicists are going out into realms that make the theory of relativity seem like child's play. Carroll's scenario is not only elegant, it's laid out in the same easy-to-understand language that has made his group blog, Cosmic Variance, the most popular physics blog on the Net. From Eternity to Here uses ideas at the cutting edge of theoretical physics to explore how properties of space-time before the Big Bang can explain the flow of time we experience in our everyday lives. Carroll suggests that we live in a baby universe, part of a large family of universes in which many of our siblings experience an arrow of time running in the opposite direction. It's an ambitious, fascinating picture of the universe on an ultra-large scale, one that will captivate fans of popular physics blockbusters like Elegant Universe and A Brief History of Time .
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Of the many dozens if not hundreds of books on physical science for the general reader which I have read, this one may well be the very best! The writing is very clear and extremely careful, standing head and shoulders above the norm for the qualifications that are offered for initial brief statements. I do not agree with all the conclusions the author reaches, but in every case the authors reasons for his conclusions are clear and well stated and I understand the sources of our disagreements. On top of all this, the subject is fascinating and delightfully presented! P.S. Don't ignore the notes at the back of the book. They are a treasure.
MikeC
Apr 1, 2010
Despite glowing reviews from well known science authors, this book will leave the reader frustrated and/or bored. It violates Einstein's rule ' that everything should be explained as simple as possible but not any simpler'.
Also, you get the impression quickly that the author, Sean Carroll, could have expressed his ideas more clearly in a 15 to 20 page article versus a 375 page collection of random ideas in cosmology.
