The Arrow Of Time: A Voyage Through Science To Solve Time's Greatest Mystery - Softcover

Roger Highfield; Peter Coveney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449907236 ISBN 13: 9780449907238

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1992

Synopsis

In our century, the subject of time has become an area of serious inquiry for science. Theories that contain time as a simple quantity form the basis of our understanding of many scientific disciplines, yet the debate rages on: why does there seem to be a direction to time, an arrow of time pointing from past to future?

In The Arrow of Time, a major bestseller in England, Dr. Peter Coveney, a research scientist, and award-winning journalist Dr. Roger Highfield, demonstrate that the commonsense view of time agrees with the most advanced scientific theory. Time does in fact move like an arrow, shooting forward into what is genuinely unknown, leaving the past immutably behind. The authors make their case by exploring three centuries of science, offering bold reinterpretations of Newton's mechanics, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and advancing the insights of James Gleick's Chaos.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"A whirlwind tour of relativity, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, chaos and more...The book proves to even the scientifically ignorant that science itself can be a labor of love."

The Boston Globe

"[An] extraordinary book...A work of theoretical synthesis, imaginatively written for an intelligent lay audience, that comes to a brain-wrenching conclusion."

The Washington Post Book World

"Straightforward...Scholarly...Intellectually rich...The book manages to capture the excitement and puzzlement of time."

San Francisco Chronicle

"This is an important book....I heartily commend this volume."

John Laurent

New Scientist

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

From the Inside Flap

ry, the subject of time has become an area of serious inquiry for science. Theories that contain time as a simple quantity form the basis of our understanding of many scientific disciplines, yet the debate rages on: why does there seem to be a direction to time, an arrow of time pointing from past to future?

In The Arrow of Time, a major bestseller in England, Dr. Peter Coveney, a research scientist, and award-winning journalist Dr. Roger Highfield, demonstrate that the commonsense view of time agrees with the most advanced scientific theory. Time does in fact move like an arrow, shooting forward into what is genuinely unknown, leaving the past immutably behind. The authors make their case by exploring three centuries of science, offering bold reinterpretations of Newton's mechanics, Einstein's special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and advancing the insights of James Gleick's Chaos.

Reviews

The authors delve into physics, biology, mathematics and quantum mechanics in their complex, stimulating reinterpretation of the concept of time. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0449907236
• ISBN 13: 9780449907238
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 377