Synopses & Reviews
andquot;If you are looking for a bracing alternative vision of physics built from the ground up, Smolin's Time Reborn will take you to the mountaintop.andquot; andmdash; NPR
What is time?
Itandrsquo;s the sort of question we rarely ask because it seems so obvious. And yet, to a physicist, time is simply a human construct and an illusion. If you could somehow get outside the universe and observe it from there, you would see that every moment has always existed and always will. Lee Smolin disagrees, and in Time Reborn he lays out the case why.
Recent developments in physics and cosmology point toward the reality of time and the openness of the future. Smolinandrsquo;s groundbreaking theory postulates that physical laws can evolve over time and the future is not yet determined. Newtonandrsquo;s fundamental laws may not remain so fundamental. Time Reborn serves as a popular primer and investigation of time, both what it is and how the true nature of it impacts our world.
andquot;He challenges not only Einsteinandrsquo;s relativity, but also the very notion of natural laws as immutable truths.andquot; andmdash; Economist
andldquo;One of the essential books of the twenty-first century . . . Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy.andrdquo; andmdash; Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget
Review
"[Smolinand#8217;s] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative." and#8212;
The New York Times "Provocative, original, and unsettling." and#8212;
The New York Review of Books "Brilliantand#8230;Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen." and#8212;
Popular Science "Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy.
An essential book for physicists and non-physicists alike, Time Reborn offers a path to better theory and potentially to a better society." and#8212;Jaron Lanier, author of
You Are Not a Gadget and
The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity "
Applying his deep mastery of cosmology, quantum mechanics, general relativity and all the diverse attempts at quantum gravity, in Time Reborn Lee Smolin weaves a convincing and entirely new view of reality. He shows us how contemporary physics eliminates time and argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and and#8216;nowand#8217; fundamental." and#8212;Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, author of
At Home in the Universe "
Smolin is an excellent writer, a creative thinker and is ecumenical in the way he covers so many different branches of thought. Even as I mentally argued with this book, I kept on ploughing through to see how Smolin dealt with the objections. I would love to sit down with him over a drink and debate the ins and outs of his theory. And that is how this book should be read: as an account that makes you ask questions." and#8212;
Nature "An entertaining, head-spinning and, yes, timely blend of philosophy, science, and speculation to put the Now back into physics." and#8212;
The Telegraph "An energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world." and#8212;
Publishers Weekly "A thoughtful, complex re-evaluation of the role of time in the universeand#8230;A flood of ideas from an imaginative thinker." and#8212;
Kirkus "With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theoryand#8230;A thrilling intellectual ride!"and#8212;Booklist (starred review)
Synopsis
Nearly everyone is familiar with holograms—three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Two of the world's most eminent thinkers believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. University of London physicist David Bohm, a protégé of Einstein and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, an architect of our modern understanding of the brain, have developed a remarkable new way of looking at the universe. Their theory explains not only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near-death experiences, "lucid" dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings.
Now featuring a foreword by Lynne McTaggart, Michael Talbot's The Holographic Universe is a landmark work whose exciting conclusions continue to be proven true by today's most advanced physics, cosmology, and string theory.
Synopsis
Firmly rooted in the best scientific traditions, The Holographic Universe explains the bold new theory advanced by University of London physicist David Bohm and Karl Pribram, a neurophysiologist at Stanford University. Drawing together modern science and ancient religious and shamanic teaching to further explore the evidence that ours is not the only reality, Talbot changes our view of our role in the universe. Talbot explains the ways in which our concepts of time, personality and even consciousness are altered by defining them as holographic.
Synopsis
"In The Holographic Universe, Michael Talbot argues nothing less than that the universe is itself one giant hologram. Mr. Talbot thus explains out-of-body experiences, quantum-theory problems, the paranormal, and other unsolved riddles of brain and body." -- New York Times
Now featuring a foreword by Lynne McTaggart, The Holographic Universe is a landmark work whose exciting conclusions continue to be proven true by today's most advanced physics, cosmology, and string theory.
Nearly everyone is familiar with holograms--three-dimensional images projected into space with the aid of a laser. Two of the world's most eminent thinkers believe that the universe itself may be a giant hologram, quite literally a kind of image or construct created, at least in part, by the human mind. University of London physicist David Bohm, a prot g of Einstein and one of the world's most respected quantum physicists, and Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram, an architect of our modern understanding of the brain, have developed a remarkable new way of looking at the universe. Their theory explains not only many of the unsolved puzzles of physics but also such mysterious occurrences as telepathy, out-of-body and near-death experiences, lucid dreams, and even religious and mystical experiences such as feelings of cosmic unity and miraculous healings.
Synopsis
"Awake-up call to wonder, an adventure in ideas." —Larry Dossey,M.D., author of
Space, Time & Medicine Now witha new foreword by Lynn McTaggart, author of TheField, Michael Talbots classic treatise on the latest frontiers of physicsreveals a revolutionary theory of reality, explaining the paranormal abilitiesof the mind, the unsolved riddles of brain and body, and the true nature of theuniverse. Lyall Watson, author of Supernature,calls The Holographic Universe “elegant,” writing, “[Talbot] helps tobridge the artificial gap that has opened up between mind and matter, betweenus and the rest of the cosmos.”
Synopsis
One of our foremost thinkers and public intellectuals offers a radical new view of the nature of time, and explores its implications for everything from physics and cosmology to economics and climate change.
About the Author
Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has made influential contributions to the search for a unification of physics. He is a founding faculty member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His previous books include The Trouble with Physics, The Life of the Cosmos and Three Roads to Quantum Gravity.