In Search of Time: Journeys Along a Curious DimensionMcClelland & Stewart, 20.10.2009 - 344 Seiten An enjoyable and compelling ride through one of life’s most fascinating enigmas “What, then, is time? If no one ask of me, I know,” St. Augustine of Hippo lamented. “But if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.” Who wouldn’t sympathize with Augustine’s dilemma? Time is at once intimately familiar and yet deeply mysterious. It is thoroughly intangible: We say it flows like a river — yet when we try to examine that flow, the river seems reduced to a mirage. No wonder philosophers, poets, and scientists have grappled with the idea of time for centuries. The enigma of time has also captivated science journalist Dan Falk, who sets off on an intellectual journey In Search of Time. The quest takes him from the ancient observatories of stone-age Ireland and England to the atomic clocks of the U.S. Naval Observatory; from the layers of geological “deep time” in an Arizona canyon to Albert Einstein’s apartment in Switzerland. Along the way he talks to scientists and scholars from California to New York, from Toronto to Oxford. He speaks with anthropologists and historians about our deep desire to track time’s cycles; he talks to psychologists and neuroscientists about the mysteries of memory; he quizzes astronomers about the beginning and end of time. Not to mention our latest theories about time travel — and the paradoxes it seems to entail. We meet great minds from Aristotle to Kant, from Newton to Einstein — and we hear from today’s most profound thinkers: Roger Penrose, Paul Davies, Julian Barbour, David Deutsch, Lee Smolin, and many more. As usual, Dan Falk’s style combines exhaustive research with a lively, accessible, and often humorous style, making In Search of Time a delightful tour through a most curious dimension. |
Inhalt
ALBERTS TIME | 152 |
BACK TO THE FUTURE | 180 |
IN THE BEGINNING | 204 |
BEYOND THE BIG BANG | 225 |
ALL THINGS MUST PASS | 245 |
ILLUSION AND REALITY | 272 |
Notes | 297 |
317 | |
323 | |
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In Search of Time: The History, Physics, and Philosophy of Time Dan Falk Keine Leseprobe verfügbar - 2010 |
Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
astronomers atomic Aveni balls Barbour beam beginning believe big bang black hole brain calendar called century Chapter clock closed timelike curves cosmic cosmos cultures cycle Daniel Schacter David Deutsch earth Einstein entropy equations example experience flow galaxies gravity happened hour human ibid idea illusion imagine interview Julian Barbour known later Lee Smolin Leibniz living look lunar machine Mallett mathematical mechanics memory mental time travel meters million mind months moon motion moving nature Newgrange Newton observer past and future Penrose perhaps philosopher physicists physics picture planet predict present problem quantum theory quoted reason recent Roger Penrose Ronald Mallett says Schacter scientists second law seems seen simply Smolin solar solstice space spacetime special relativity speed of light stars Stonehenge story string theory Suddendorf and Corballis suggested sundial things time's timekeeping tion universe Whitrow word wormhole writes