In this extraordinary and very accessible new book, Paul Davies, acclaimed author of The Mind of God, examines the deep mysteries of time, explores the consequences of Einstein's relativity theory, and reports on the latest theories at the forefront of research.
The traditional association between time and creation is at the heart of science, cosmology, and religion. When scientists began to explore the implications of Einstein's time for the universe as a whole, they discovered that time is elastic, and can be warped by rapid motion or gravitation, that time cannot be meaningfully divided into past, present, and future, nor does time flow in the popular sense. And they made one of the most important discoveries in the history of human thought: that time, and hence all of physical reality, must have had a definite origin in the past. There can be both a beginning and an end to time.
But important though Einstein's theory of time turned out to be, it still did not solve "the riddle of time," and the search for a deeper understanding of time and its relationship with the rest of the physical universe remains at the top of the scientific agenda. From black holes, where time stands still, to the bizarre world of quantum physics, where time vanishes completely, Professor Davies finds evidence that our current theories of time simply don't add up. Why, for instance, does the universe appear younger than some of the objects within it? And how does the concept of time emerge from the timeless chaos of the big bang? Is the passage of time merely an illusion? Can time run backwards? Is time travel possible?
Professor Davies claims that dramatic new discoveries about time can be expected soon, and Einstein's revolution, which swept away the commonsense notion of time near a century ago, remains tantalizingly unfinished.
Editorial Reviews
"In this daring book, Paul Davies performs a feat worthy of Zeno. He catches the arrow of time in midair, examines it with his formidable intelligence, and then sends it back on its way, possibly in a promising new direction. As we read his admirably lucid and engaging account, we gain a real appreciation of the scientific embarrassment in the face of the mystery of time and also of Einstein's resilient genius." --Georg Feuerstein, Ph.D., author of Structures of Consciousness
"It's about time someone wrote the definitive history of time and man's efforts to tease apart its delicious paradoxes. I can think of no one better to write this history than Paul Davies, who has set the standard for writing in a clear, lucid, yet always witty and entertaining style. Einstein himself would have been pleased. Perhaps some young scientist reading Davies's book about Einstein's unfinished revolution will be inspired to finish it!" -- Michio Kaku, author of Hyperspace: A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universe, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension
About the Author
Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed theoretical physicist and the author of The Fifth Miracle, About Time, God and the New Physics, The Mind of God, and many other popular books. In 1995 he won the prestigious Templeton Prize for his work on the philosophical meaning of science and was recently awarded the Kelvin Medal by the UK Institute of Physics. Davies lives in Australia and frequently travels, teaches, and lectures in the United States.
