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Nov 24, 2011

Tony rated it:

Time is both a simple and yet complicated scientific question. I looked up books about time after seeing one of the Through the Wormhole shows on Science Channel. This is actually a really well put together book. Most of the book is about entropy and the evolution of the universe, so it makes sense that the content itself goes from the very simple to the very complicated, bring you along the way without making you feel like an idiot. The equations and explanations are also done in a way to reall More...

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Nov 18, 2011

David rated it:

This is a very well-written, and entertaining book on our understanding of the arrow of time. Entropy is a key concept, which deserves (and gets) lots of attention. The second law of thermodynamics states that, in a closed system, entropy can either stay the same or increase--it cannot decrease. Sean Carroll shows why the reversibility of physics at the particle level gives rise to a seeming paradox; if the physics of particles is just as correct with time switched backwards, why can't entropy d More...

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May 30, 2011

Bob rated it:

If I am tracking his argument accurately, Carroll is saying in this book that change, as time, is eternal.

The so-called arrow of time flows one way as energy dissipates from low entropy to high entropy states. The problem in physics that Carroll needs to address is the big bang theory which states that time (space-time) begins with the initial 'bang' and is expanding space-time outward (i.e., not moving into pre-existent space-time; "the universe expands into nothing"). At More...

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Jun 28, 2010

Terry rated it:

Overview: From Eternity to Here is a survey of the thinking and research into a simple question "why is there an arrow of time?". The simple answer is "because the past has low entropy and the future has high entropy", done. Sean Carroll asks the simple question of "why does the past have low entropy?" and spends the book explain what science, both good and bad, points us to an answer. He discusses the idea of temporal chauvinism that our timeline shouldn't be p More...

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May 14, 2010

Daniel rated it:

This book is a through and frequently tedious exploration for a theory of time. Pay close attention to the word "Quest" in the subtitle. This books poses many questions that don't have answers yet and instead focuses on the various theories that currently exist. The book starts with an introduction to possible definitions of what time is, the role of entropy, and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. With that foundation it dives into microscopic constituents, macroscopic systems, and quan More...

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Feb 21, 2010

Srinivas marked it as to-read

Through John Walker.
So far, I have never completely understood what's all the fuss about the arrow of time is. Well, there is the second law of thermodynamics, and there is entropy and it keeps increasing; seems pretty reasonable given the Universe that we are in. Do we even need to bring in the arrow of time here to explain things? I have no idea as of now.

Mr. Walker finds another 'evidence' in support of his favorite 'we live in a simulation' explanation of the Universe; Give More...

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Aug 01, 2010

Todd rated it:

Science and journalism are two very different disciplines and require a different set of skill sets. Those with skill in one area may or may not have talent in the other. I’m not sure about Sean Carroll’s skills as a scientist, but I have little praise for his talents as a writer.

Carroll seems incapable of explaining things clearly. He attempts to illustrate points throughout the book with convoluted examples that appear to be intended to confuse rather than illuminate. He even manag More...

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May 25, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

This wonderful non-fiction book is full of physics information, but it is designed for people who are non physicists, or anything near scientific. In everyday language (which only occasionally goes above one’s head), the author delves into the question as to why, if classical physics processes are reversible, one can break an egg and scramble it, but one can’t unscramble an egg and turn it back into an unbroken egg. (The footnotes are well worth keeping track of in this book as well; they are ch More...

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Dec 09, 2011

Gregg rated it:

There's a certain circuitous audacity to any scientific conjecture that posits the possible existence of baby universes birthing out of quantum fluctuations in eternal empty space, going through their own inflationary Big Bangs, then proceeding to spawn black holes and galaxies and possibly infinite, life-bearing planets, where finite minds like mine can wonder what's the whole point, anyway. Carroll demonstrates that the passage of time is due to the second law of thermodynamics, which states t More...

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Sep 23, 2010

Jan rated it:

Mainly what I learned from From Eternity to Here is that I will probably never understand Einstein's theory of general relativity or the concept of spacetime or much of anything at all about quantum mechanics.

Sean Carroll does an admirable job of writing about space, time, the universe and everything in a style that is clear and lively. Unfortunately, I still couldn't get my mind around the concepts and claim that they brought me any real understanding.

I learned tidbits s More...

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Apr 20, 2011

Devon rated it:

In sum: Carroll is concerned that the probability of our observable universe existing is close to nil given our current understanding of physics, which might imply that our understanding is wrong. He is also concerned that the second law of thermodynamics (that entropy always increases) is not time-symmetric, as many people believe the fundamental laws of physics should be.

Carroll brings up and shoots down a number of possible explanations. He moves quickly, making cavalier a More...

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Sep 01, 2010

Steve rated it:

Something about the tone of the first few chapters put me off at first and it took me a long time to get back to this book. Once I did get back to it, though, I read it through quickly and eagerly. Carroll's lighthearted and "geekish" style (which may have been what put me off at first) makes pleasant reading of his voluminous background information so that a casual, non-physicist, reader can get up to some kind of speed, at least, on recent (and not-so-recent) developments in cosmolog More...

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Oct 17, 2011

Scott rated it:

A fun book about theoretical physics and the beginning of time. Sean Carroll does a great job of explaining these often complicated subjects of theoretical physics into everyday language and thought experiments. Much of the book is dedicated to talking about entropy and how to define and measure it. This takes the reader into the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Einstien's Special Theory of Relativity, his General Theory of Relativity, closed timelike curves, quantum mechanics, the arrow of time More...

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Jan 18, 2012

Richard rated it:

Why do we travel relentlessly from the known and static past towards an unknown and seemingly fluid future? Physicist Sean Carroll's answer: every expression of time's arrow, from the impossibility of unscrambling an egg to the absurdity of remembering the future, is ultimately rooted in the (deceptively simple) fact that for any collection of objects, the number of ways in which those objects can be arranged haphazardly, must be greater than the number of ways in which they can be arranged syst More...

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Jul 07, 2011

Nicholas rated it:

Simply the best popular physics book I've ever read. Carroll is amazingly lucid, practical and totally excited about the subject while being conscious of the problems inherent in understanding something that is so fundamental to our existence that we take it for granted: time.

What is time? Does it exist naturally, or is it emergent from some other property of the universe? These are the grand questions that drive From Eternity to Here. In fact, the questions are so grand, and so mon More...

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Dec 15, 2011

Keith rated it:

Sean Carroll’s book is not for the faint of heart. It is a dense, complex tour of physics over the past century and a half. While the book is nominally called “The quest for the ultimate theory of time,” it is really about entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics (that things go from order to disorder — entropy — and not the opposite way). That law essentially defines the direction of time, and thus, to Carroll, time. (You make eggs into omelets, but you can make omelets into eggs.)

More...

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May 15, 2010

Kit rated it:

I didn't find this as compulsively readable as Brian Greene's physics overviews, but it was a really good running start at a topic as big as cosmology. I had a hard time reading on Kindle because the diagrams showed up on my screen *after* the explanation that you were intended to read while glancing at the diagram, but once I got used to this it wasn't too distracting. The metaphors were helpful, I got lost in the math, and overall I learned something - although I'm not sure how long I'll remem More...

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Jun 07, 2010

Kristin rated it:

If I could, I would give 5 stars to the first half of this book and 2 to the second. For the first 500 pages or so (in the iBook version), I was enthralled by Carroll's exceptional ability to lay down the fundamentals of physics and cosmology in clear, straightforward language with simple but highly effective illustrations. This book has by far the best description of general relativity (especially the equivalence principle) for the non-physicist that I have ever encountered. His explanation o More...

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May 30, 2010

John rated it:

The synopsis of this book is a little deceiving: the vast majority of the book is spent discussing various theories in physics, cosmology, and other things most people don't understand in a very understandable way. It's much more about foundational physics questions (to my layman's understanding anyway) than about the nature of "the arrow of time".

It does start out with the question "what is time?", but very quickly this is redefined to mean "what is entropy? More...

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Nov 09, 2011

Jack rated it:

My new favorite pop-physics book. Carroll is a deft and clear writer, and in this book he walks the lay reader through some pretty advanced concepts with remarkably little difficulty. The first big step Carroll takes is in attributing the arrow of time - the difference between past and future in a universe where the underlying particle physics is all time-reversible - to the fact that the observable universe began in a low-entropy state. He then tackles the question this situation raises: Wh More...

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Sep 03, 2010

David rated it:

When presenting a difficult, dense topic -- that of time, entropy, quantum mechanics, mathematics, physics, relativity, etc. -- the challenge of effectively communicating with the average reader becomes the author's ultimate hurdle. Early in chapter one, it was quite evident Sean Carroll was not going to live up to the challenge.

Dr. Carroll, though clearly brilliant in his field of physics and full of elegant, probing ideas, is not a writer (I will concede he is an academic writer, a More...

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Jan 23, 2010

Chase rated it:

this boook is extremely interesting, and i have already learned much about space and time, nad how they are linked.
the rest of this book was equaly fantastic, while the aithorSean Carrol doesnt make his book too understanable to people who are not theoretical physicists, and i felt my comprehension of it was low,...i still really enjoyed this book andi have never learned more in one sitting about the universe than when i learned about our solar system.
from quasars-balck holes, to t More...

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Mar 11, 2010

Terence rated it:

Unlike my usual practice since joining GoodReads, I very deliberately did not take notes while reading From Eternity to Here. I wanted to enjoy myself with an interesting topic (cosmology) and not be overly concerned with learning anything - the nonfiction analog of the fictional brain candy I read.

But this is the post-GoodReads era of my life so am compelled to offer some note to the interested reader. Thus:

The problem under discussion here is the "arrow of time" More...

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Feb 07, 2011

Asymmetrical rated it:

I burned my way through the first hundred pages or so, fascinated by the notion of entropy as an explanation for the arrow of time. It's one of those questions it would take a scientist to even think of: why does time, to all appearances, "move" forward at a steady pace? I had to think about it for awhile to even realize how clueless we are about this very basic question. I knew Carroll as Mr. Dark Matter/Energy for the Teaching Company course Kid B and I took, so I was bullish abo More...

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Nov 03, 2010

Matthew rated it:

The writing is just not interesting enough. This is a survey book, not a scientific study, and I guess I have been spoiled by all of the great humor, wit, and presentation that modern science survey writers have brought to bear on this type of work. The material here is not new to me, though, to be sure, some of the concepts I have never fully wrapped my head around. Nevertheless, if I'm going to read a survey book like this I want the material within to be presented in an entertaining manner More...

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Mar 10, 2010

Gendou rated it:

A very good survey of statistical mechanics, entropy, and the arrow of time.
The ending chapter is foolishly preachy. The author has a distorted and incorrect sense of the philosophy of science.

Don't buy into that "it's OK to not be falsifiable" bull-poop!

I wouldn't read this until you get a good sound grounding in the philosophy of science, first.
Read some Feynman, Sagan, Smolin, etc. first.

I am now reading Seth Lloyd's Programming The Un More...

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Apr 10, 2011

Humbleopinion rated it:

This is more of a layperson's book than I expected. The first 3/4 of the book rehashes your high school and college physics, and then it proposes some speculative ideas to explain the low entropy of the early universe. However, the speculative ideas (I'm trying avoid spoilers) are not new. That would be fine, if there were some evidence to support them, but there was none. I was disappointed.

It's a quick read though.

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Aug 10, 2011

Scott added it

This book bills itself as a theory of time, but the reality is that it's a study of entropy. Had the author been more clear about that, though, far fewer people would buy his book. Even though entropy is just as interesting a topic, which this book dives into better than any I've yet read for the layman interested in understanding the fundamental of nature itself.

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Nov 26, 2011

Eric rated it:

I really should give this book 2.5 stars. I really enjoyed the first few chapters, but it soon got a little to technical for me. I would not recommend this book to someone who didn't have a background in science. The explanation of entropy was great, but after that, the author spent so much time discussing entropy that I started to get frustrated with the concept. I guess I should expect that from a book that spends 375 pages discussing a single topic. His writing wasn't interesting enough More...

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Jan 15, 2012

Sal rated it:

Summaries of the book are all over the place - you don't need me for that.

AS an audio book, narration was very good, and the subject matter was well presented in a didactic way. Even with that, I suspect most folks will need a few listens to really understand the material (I did, anyway). There were only a few instances where the reference drawings were tedious to visualize. Otherwise (the vast majority), quite engaging and entertaining.

Much of the material one must take More...

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