About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution

I bought this book in 1999, as I graduated from college; somehow I never quite got around to reading it until this month, over a decade later. So I've hauled it from home to home and state to state, through a Ph.D. program and childbearing and all sorts of other changes. I'm glad I finally read it.

About Time is engaging and thought provoking. That Ph.D. is in English literature, so I am ill-positioned to comment on the quality of the science and analysis here (aka, is it true/correct/accurate?). And I'm sure the going knowledge about time within physics has changed a ton while that poor little paperback sat on my bookshelf and in various boxes. But what I wanted--and what I got--was a book that would raise interesting questions about show more how time works and about what my own experience in/of time means. (And nudge along my teensy but fascinated understanding of (post)modern physics.) The book also expresses fascination with the universe and time and their quirks, which I dig.

A few annoyances: the author compulsively encourages readers to seek out his other books. Dude, that's what endnotes are for--if they're where you mention OTHER people's relevant work, that where you mention YOURS. More substantively, I was often taken aback at Davies's assumption that it's so great we exist--that we're so lucky to be here--that 'fortunately for us' such-and-such happened to make human life / sentience / etc. possible. If we weren't here, how would that be experienced as a misfortune? I like being alive as much as the next person, but that line of reasoning feels oddly human-centric and unfounded (irrational?) to me. Finally, I find it depressing to read a book whose narrative about knowledge creation is entirely about men but doesn't acknowledge that. I'm finding myself admiring women in physics and other male-dominated fields even more, though :) show less

Mi autor favorito (empatado, pero el favorito) hablando sobre mi tema favorito, la naturaleza física del paso del tiempo. Este libro es para leerlo y releerlo. Se adentra en la física lo más que puede y luego complementa desde la filosofía. Muy recomendable.

The value of Paul Davies's books lies in his talent for the presentation of challenging theory in a form that respects his audience.