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More copies of this ISBNThis title in other editionseBook editionsFrom Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Timeby Sean Carroll
Review-A-Day"Stars as well as human beings are born, grow old, and die. In the 19th century scientists proposed the dismaying notion of the "heat death" of the universe, according to which every hot thing becomes tepid while all cool things become warm, so that in the end all matter exists at the same middling temperature and the future is an eternal unchanging tedium. Physicists have a word for this general tendency toward decay and dissipation: entropy. And entropy, as Sean Carroll, a physicist and cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology, ably explains, is all about the directionality of time. The onward march of time fundamentally derives from something peculiar about the way the universe was born, and that's the puzzle Carroll attempts to resolve." David Lindley, The Wilson Quarterly (read the entire The Wilson Quarterly review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A rising star in theoretical physics offers his awesome vision of our universe and beyond, all beginning with a simple question: Why does time move forward? 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 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 spacetime 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. Review:"No one is better equipped to take readers on a rollercoaster ride through time, space, and the origins of the universe than Caltech theoretical physicist Carroll, cofounder of Cosmic Variance, one of the top science blog sites. 'We're not thinking small here,' Carroll announces with glee before launching into his topic. Time is a medium we move through and a way to sequence events. But the 'Arrow of Time' is also the only feature of the universe with one irreversible direction: time goes forward. This fact plays an important role in the second law of thermodynamics: the entropy (disorderliness) of an isolated system either remains constant or increases with time. This has implications for our understanding of the 'Big Bang' origins of the universe. We may not be able to travel back in time, but we can find ways to peer back across it and see clues to how the universe evolved, thanks to such discoveries as quantum mechanics and relativity theory. Carroll writes with verve and infectious enthusiasm, reminding readers that 'science is a journey in which getting there is, without question, much of the fun.' Illus." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Carroll....takes his readers on a fascinating and refreshing trek through every known back alley and cul de sac of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology and theoretical physics. The best way to grasp the rich mysteries of our universe is by constantly rereading the best and clearest explanations. Mr. Carroll's From Eternity to Here is certainly one of them." Wall Street Journal Review:"Unifying cosmology, thermodynamics, and information science into a refreshingly accessible whole, From Eternity to Here will make you wish time's arrow could fly in reverse, if only so you could once again read the book for the first time." Seed Magazine Book News Annotation:Why does time seem to go only one way? And what is time, anyway? A
professor of theoretical physics and astrophysics at Caltech, Carroll
is well placed to answer these questions, and (luckily for most of
us) to do so in language that a non-scientist can understand. In
considering the nature of time, he helps readers consider what
happened before the Big Bang, and grapple with the question of
whether our counterparts in another universe experience time running
in a different direction (and, if so, why?). Firmly in the tradition
of books by science popularizers such as Carl Sagan or Stephen
Hawking, this book by Carroll should have wide appeal.
Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) About the AuthorSean Carroll, Ph.D., is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology. After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University, he pursued his research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, and the University of Chicago. He has published papers on dark matter and dark energy, the physics of extra dimensions, and alternative theories of gravity as well as the graduate-level textbook Spacetime and Geometry. Sean Carroll is one of the founders of the group blog cosmicvariance.com, named one of the five top science blogs by Nature. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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