Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point
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Review
splendidly provocative ... enjoy it as a feast for the imagination (Sunday Times )
a useful addition to the literature on time, particularly as it reveals the influence of modern science on the way a philosopher thinks (New Scientist )
the author has done physicists a great service in laying out so clearly and critically the nature of the various time-asymmetry problems of physics (John Barrow, Nature )
a useful addition to the literature on time, particularly as it reveals the influence of modern science on the way a philosopher thinks (New Scientist )
the author has done physicists a great service in laying out so clearly and critically the nature of the various time-asymmetry problems of physics (John Barrow, Nature )
New Scientist
"a useful addition to the literature on time, particularly as it reveals the influence of modern science on the way a philosopher thinks"
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
SAINT AUGUSTINE (354-430) remarks that time is at once familiar and deeply mysterious. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
SAINT AUGUSTINE (354-430) remarks that time is at once familiar and deeply mysterious. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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18 reviews
46 of 50 people found the following review helpful
It's about time
1 Mar 2000
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the hardest books I've ever read. It was rewarding, though. Price wrote the book explicitly for philosophers and physicists. Frankly, it was nice to see a book written thus with all the condescending attitudes that these two (?) spheres of knowledge have had towards each other in this day and age. This book belongs in the same prestigious realm as the books on physics & philosophy that were written by Werner Heisenberg and Sir James Jeans earlier this century. I would like to see more books of this type in the future.
As you might have guessed, the book deals with the nature of time. It is HIGHLY recommended that anyone attempting grapple with this intellectual Godzilla have a general understanding of quantum mechanics (if, that is, anyone really DOES understand QM) and some background in thermodynamics and relativity would not hurt, either. This book is not for those who think of books by Danielle Steele as intellectually stimulating.
The book deals with the entropy "problem" of how it is that matter ever got to its low entropy state after the big bang, since (apparently) high entropy (heat death) is its natural state. Price tours some potential (although sometimes far fetched) answers to this query.
For me, the most fascinating facet of the book was its discussion of the idea of advanced action as a solution to the nonlocality "problem" in QM. It's amazing for me to think that two entangled photons could already KNOW that the other's spin is going to change at such-and-such a time due to their travelling at the speed of light. Although Price did not invent this concept, he supports it (compellingly) and also objects to the normal criticism that either we can have relativity or free will, but not both. A truly fascinating concept for physicists and philosophers alike.
So, if you want a wild and engrossing intellectual ride, this book is for you.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A challenging, dense but enjoyable read
2 Mar 1999
Format:Paperback
This is not a book for the faint of heart, especially if, like me, you are neither a physicist nor a philosopher. I suspect that students of quantum mechanics will get much more out of the book than interested bystanders such as I (who have never taken a physics class and would probably have flunked had I tried).
You cannot skim this book or read it with half a mind. You must engage yourself with the author, pay attention to each and every sentence. I recommend reading the introduction and conclusion first (this is, after all, a book about the asymmetry of time), then the beginning and end of each chapter before digging in. Luckily, Price divides each chapter into bite-sized sections. He also repeats himself quite a lot, but I think he does so because he knows how difficult his subject is and hopes that if you don't understand something the first time, you will by the third or fourth time or just by an example with a slightly different twist.
The lack of a physics background will not only make the subject harder to understand (of course) but will also make the argument harder to evaluate. His points are very interesting and seem well-reasoned, but I don't know enough about the subject to evaluate them.
Still, if you're interested in the subject and are prepared to work at it, the book will reward your time and energy.
28 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Time For A Drink
11 Jan 2001
Format:Hardcover
This is heady stuff-Perhaps if you're a theoretical physics professor at CalTech it might make for light postprandial enjoyment.-But for the rest of us...Beware!...Part of the problem is terminology(micro) or (mu) innocence for example....Oddly, I read this book for the same reason I read Proust-I'm fascinated with Time!-But be forewarned that, though this book has far less than Proust's 3,000 pages, unless you are the aforementioned professor, you have an extremely tougher row to hoe in reading this book, even though the author goes out of his way to make things understandable to the lay reader. -The basic idea isn't that hard to understand: we are captives of our position in time and that captivity affects our observations of physical (particle, wavicle, whatever) behavior. What the author eventually advances (after ploughing through many other concepts and alternative explanations) is something called "advanced action theory." This theory entails, as far as I can make out, very simply, that there is a "common future" as well a "common past" that influences what we call the present but that we are unable to perceive this common future because our nature as AGENTS (he uses this term over and over)precludes us from perceiving this common future.-I kept on thinking of a spatial analogy of a person tied to the back of the caboose of a train facing backward. He can see where the train has gone, but not the vista ahead, which is certainly just as real. But if he has been in this position his entire life, he would have no idea what you meant by saying "See that mountain up ahead!" How could you know? It's as if one of us were to state, "See that assassination attempt tomorrow!"- Archimedes' Point for Mr. Price would entail an observer standing by as the train passes observing both where it's been and where it's going.-This is the simplest way I know to explain what this book is about, though it may just make more of a muddle of things for all I know....But the physicists Mr. Price describes seem to have done a pretty good job of that already.-Anyhow, that's enough explanation for a review like this one. If you are intrigued, go ahead and buy it.-But be prepared for hard, hard work.-Unless, of course, you've already figured all this out.-In the former case, a pint down at your local pub is the fit epilogue to this mindbending work!
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