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Spooks Again
Apr. 22nd, 2020 04:46 amLooks like I had another binge watch night of watching too many Spooks episodes but at least it is one of those gripping dramas in which you just want to watch the next episode.
Apr. 22nd, 2020
Carlo Rovelli "The Order Of Time" (Penguin)
It is a commonplace of accounts of physics, especially quantum physics, that the world is not exactly the way we think it is. After all, contrary to appearances, the earth actually circles the sun rather than vice versa. And gravity turns out not to be as simple as an apple falling from a tree. But in all the disorder brought to our view of the universe by physicists, at least time, one damn thing following another, has stayed fixed in place. Right? Wrong. Time, it turns out, is just as illusory as everything else, at least when seen without the myopic eye of “ordinary” experience. Seen clearly, time does not exist. And yet…
Carlo Rovelli masterfully explodes our preconceptions about space and time before gently reconstructing the world anew. It’s a fascinating account drawn directly from the physics of the 20th and 21st century. Rovelli is no journalist hyping the confusing world of the quantum. He’s a well-respected quantum loop theorist who brings healthy regard for clarity to his subject. You never feel patronized when reading Rovelli. On the other hand, like me, you may feel a bit inadequate. So I’m glad there are people out there like Rovelli who do seem to understand both the equations and their implications.
Rovelli writes with patience but not condescension. He is at his best when discussing the subject in which he specializes — quantum physics. And his references to analytic philosophers (in the endnotes) all seem entirely apt. I marvel at his breadth. When he strays outside this core his writing becomes more florid and the philosophers he cites switch from analytic to continental, possibly tellingly. But he doesn’t linger in the long grass.
Very likely you’ll want to read this book more than once. I’m sure I would get much more out of it on second reading.
Highly recommended.
It is a commonplace of accounts of physics, especially quantum physics, that the world is not exactly the way we think it is. After all, contrary to appearances, the earth actually circles the sun rather than vice versa. And gravity turns out not to be as simple as an apple falling from a tree. But in all the disorder brought to our view of the universe by physicists, at least time, one damn thing following another, has stayed fixed in place. Right? Wrong. Time, it turns out, is just as illusory as everything else, at least when seen without the myopic eye of “ordinary” experience. Seen clearly, time does not exist. And yet…
Carlo Rovelli masterfully explodes our preconceptions about space and time before gently reconstructing the world anew. It’s a fascinating account drawn directly from the physics of the 20th and 21st century. Rovelli is no journalist hyping the confusing world of the quantum. He’s a well-respected quantum loop theorist who brings healthy regard for clarity to his subject. You never feel patronized when reading Rovelli. On the other hand, like me, you may feel a bit inadequate. So I’m glad there are people out there like Rovelli who do seem to understand both the equations and their implications.
Rovelli writes with patience but not condescension. He is at his best when discussing the subject in which he specializes — quantum physics. And his references to analytic philosophers (in the endnotes) all seem entirely apt. I marvel at his breadth. When he strays outside this core his writing becomes more florid and the philosophers he cites switch from analytic to continental, possibly tellingly. But he doesn’t linger in the long grass.
Very likely you’ll want to read this book more than once. I’m sure I would get much more out of it on second reading.
Highly recommended.
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