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The Order of Time
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
From the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, a concise, elegant exploration of time. Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. For most readers this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it remains. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where at the most fundamental level time disappears. He explains how the theory of quantum gravity attempts to understand and give meaning to the resulting extreme landscape of this timeless world. Weaving together ideas from philosophy, science and literature, he suggests that our perception of the flow of time depends on our perspective, better understood starting from the structure of our brain and emotions than from the physical universe. Already a bestseller in Italy, and written with the poetic vitality that made Seven Brief Lessons on Physics so appealing, The Order of Time offers a profoundly intelligent, culturally rich, novel appreciation of the mysteries of time.
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review
TheKidUpstairs
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

An interesting read. Rovelli brings a sense of poetry and playfulness to a complex topic that makes it engaging and accessible. I think I'd still need another listen (or five) to begin to grasp some of the strands here, but it is worth exploring. (And with Benedict Cumberbatch narrating the audio, I don't mind spending extra time listening!)

#AuldLangSpine @Sapphire @monalyisha

monalyisha I‘m sure I‘d feel similarly! 3mo
Sapphire I agree about Benedict Cumberbatch! I found this book originally because one of my favorite authors recommended it on her fb page - Mary Doria Russell. 3mo
TheKidUpstairs @Sapphire I've always looked Rovelli's books at the library and then passed them over, too intimidated, so I appreciate the push to try. I'll definitely read others now. I've never read any of Russell's work either, which is your favourite? 3mo
Sapphire The Sparrow is my favorite and had the most impact on me personally. But Dreamers of the day is timely now with all going on in the Middle East. I loved Doc as well. Each of her books is very different. The sparrow has been called “Jesuits in space” but is also probably the truest to her roots as an anthropologist. 3mo
rabbitprincess Hahaha the Benedict Cumberbatch narration is the reason I have this book 😂 3mo
61 likes5 comments
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La_Cori
L'ordine del tempo | Carlo Rovelli
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🇬🇧 “A stone is a prototypical “thing”: we can ask ourselves where it will be tomorrow. Conversely, a kiss is an “event.” It makes no sense to ask where the kiss will be tomorrow. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬.”

Clare-Dragonfly That is lovely. Thanks for sharing. 7mo
50 likes1 comment
blurb
La_Cori
L'ordine del tempo | Carlo Rovelli
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#WeekendReads @rachelsbrittain

A nonfiction kind of weekend for me.. 📚🤓

⏰ The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli
🦋 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

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Sapphire
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli

All the ambrosia and all the gaul of life.

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Sapphire
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Listening to this mind bending book on our drive from DC to NY today. Reminds me of Dali‘s melting clocks. “The only time the arrow (directionality) of time appears is when there is heat”.

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Sapphire
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Do we exist in time or does time exist in us?

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Pinta
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Mehso-so

Leaves physics quickly for philosophy and pop psy, but that‘s easiest to grasp. Time is local, time is entropy, time is heat transfer, time is perspectival. World is made of events, not objects.

Does time “flow” in one direction? From human perspective, yes. A common present throughout the universe does not exist.

Somewhat stilted language—trans or original? Friend chided me for not getting Cumberbatch audio. Guess I‘m rereading! Trans. 2018

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anokokona
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli

But it isn‘t absence that causes sorrow. It is affection and love. Without affection, without love, such absences would cause us no pain. For this reason, even the pain caused by absence is, in the end, something good and even beautiful, because it feeds on that which gives meaning to life.

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shayjackson3
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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This book takes a very interesting, mind opening approach to time. The first few chapters were great and then it got a bit too far fetched to me. Still, always learning a new way of thinking!

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RedJhon
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
Pickpick

An amazing summary of our understanding of time. Without using any equations, Rovelli drives home the nature of universe (as per the current understanding) and how different fields impact one another resulting in the so called passage of time.

There were a couple of tough paragraphs that could do your head, nonetheless a great read.

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RedJhon
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli

It's an amazing read on the concept of time... Time and time again, our understanding of time has been questioned and put to test.

Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist himself debunks the myths of time. When we talk about present, what does it mean? Will there be a common present for two people?

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KimHM
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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“The world is made up of networks of kisses, not of stones” (98).

#poetrymatters and so does physics

📚❤️📚💜📚💙📚💚📚🧡📚💗

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KimHM
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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“With a tremendous beat of his wings, Einstein understands that Aristotle and Newton are both right” (77).

📚💚📚❤️📚💙📚💜📚💗📚🧡📚💛📚🤎📚

review
BillBlume
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

I found this book fascinating, but I made the mistake of breaking up my reading of it. Given the technical nature of the topic, that made the latter half of the book a lot harder for me to follow. Overall, Rovelli does a great job providing examples or analogies to make it easier to grasp the ideas he‘s working with. Definitely recommend it but with the caveat that it‘s best if you read it straight through without taking breaks for other books.

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BillBlume
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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I‘m catching up on my unfinished reads of 2019, and I love this quote I just came across in Carlo Rovelli‘s THE ORDER OF TIME. #Time #Music #bookquote #CarloRovelli

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BillBlume
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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I love this quote from Carlo Rovelli‘s The Order of Time, because it shows that the scientific pursuit of knowledge isn‘t dispassionate. The search for the answers that explain our universe is driven and defined by the emotions that make us human.

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BillBlume
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Started The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli a couple days ago, and it‘s really blowing my mind. In a weird bit of chance, my holds for the ebook and audiobook came in at the same time, so I‘m doing both. I‘m essentially going through this entire book in both formats to help me better absorb the information. I‘d recommend the print book/ebook over the audiobook, even though Benedict Cumberbatch does an excellent job reading the material.

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slightlyfoxed
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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I have become the worst at all forms of social media, but I‘m getting to be pretty effing strong at the gym.

Also, listening to this audiobook (yaaaas, Benedict Cumberbatch narrating) has me going “Okay, yes, got it, makes sense............... Wait, what? 🤯🤯🤯”

BillBlume Agreed about the audiobook. Got lucky and was able to borrow the ebook and audiobook at the same time. It‘s helping me a bit with absorbing this. Loving it so far! 4y
13 likes1 comment
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ReadingEnvy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

My first read of #scienceseptember was a bit of a mind blowing experience, with physics meeting philosophy for a discussion of time. I barely grasped the concepts that were already dumbed down for a layperson - the absence of a "present," how time and entropy relate, equations without time, etc. But I did meet my goal of reading more than just nature stuff for the theme!

BillBlume I‘ve gotta read this. 5y
Lindy I think I had to read this through twice and still felt that I didn‘t have a firm grasp on all of the concepts by the end. 5y
BillBlume So glad you mentioned this book. I‘m reading it now, and it‘s so damn good! 4y
ReadingEnvy @BillBlume I still think about it a lot 4y
73 likes4 comments
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Briary
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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So, it has come to pass that my relationship with my regular bookseller of 10 years has come to an crash and burn-end. They increased prises for about 40 % and it took longer and longer to get your books, I waited my latest order for a month. And the customer service basically said f*ck you.

So now on I am in a polyamorous relationship with Amazon (😑), Waterstone, and Bookdepository. 👾

14 likes1 stack add
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Schwifty
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Mehso-so

Rovelli explains how time outside of human experience does not exist and uses the idea of music as a way to develop human time as a process of memory rather than an experience of a constant present. The last three chapters are the ones worth reading; the rest of the book can be difficult to follow and repetitive at certain points.

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Eyelit
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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This concludes #audiobaking for this lovely Friday evening. Finished cobbler (I made some last minute additions (my initials) to the lattice - and the final result looks way messier than what went in the oven). Now it‘s time to eat some yumminess and pick up a physical book (I have a couple books that are due back to the library soonish) 😃

Lindy 👏👏👏😋 5y
readordierachel Looks wonderful! 5y
See All 7 Comments
Lmstraubie Yum! 5y
Soubhiville Mmmmmm! 5y
RealBooks4ever Now I'm hungry! 😋💜 5y
RealLifeReading Yummy! 5y
84 likes7 comments
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Eyelit
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Not too shabby, my first attempt at lattice work 😂
Into the oven... #audiobaking

Btw, I‘m loving this audiobook. It‘s very interesting and of course the narration is top notch 😄

RamsFan1963 I just started listening to this also, it's hard to beat Cumberbatch's amazing narrative. 5y
valeriegeary Yes please 🤤🤤🤤 5y
Tamra A beauty! 5y
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llwheeler That looks delicious! 5y
MaleficentBookDragon That looks amazing! 5y
WhatWouldJaneDo That looks amazing! 5y
74 likes1 stack add6 comments
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Eyelit
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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More adventures in #audiobaking - this time trying my hand at a fancy cobbler (my first time making any kind of cobbler, if I‘m being honest).

Many thanks to @GondorGirl (and my library for the availability) for the heads up on this fascinating audiobook narrated by my boy Benedict. 😍

jpmcwisemorgan This already looks tasty! 5y
coffeewithbooks Can you send me the recipe? 5y
Tadams4 This sounds amazing! I‘m equally enthralled with the book! 5y
See All 6 Comments
GondorGirl Good luck with the cobbler and I hope you enjoy the book (I KNOW you'll enjoy the narrator)! 5y
Eyelit @biblecoffeebooks it‘s strawberry rose water cobbler with lemon poppy seed pastry (edited) 5y
coffeewithbooks @Eyelit okay thank you 😊 5y
73 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
GondorGirl
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

This #nonfiction read was both fascinating and confusing. I'll admit that some of the more sciencey bits went over my head, but the basic ideas and explains of time were thought provoking. ⏳🕰⏱

Plus, it didn't hurt that the audio was narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch...

Eyelit Sign me up for that! Science and Cumberbatch?!? 😍 5y
Crazeedi Sounds like the perfect book to listen to!! 5y
Catt Ooh. There needs to be a “To Hear” button on Litsy! 5y
GondorGirl @Catt Yes! @TimSpalding - there's an idea for you. A "to listen" shelf for audiobooks. 5y
TimSpalding @GondorGirl Added to the pile! 😀 5y
58 likes4 stack adds5 comments
review
scowler1
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

Is time real? Is it only a perception unique to humanity? Physics and philosophy fail to provide any real answers but this book explains a lot about what we do know. Revelatory and mind bending stuff. I enjoyed it very much.

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Angeles
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

Awesome, poetic writing, great science clearly explained, and the beautiful, sexy voice of Benedict Cumberbatch narrating this amazing book. What else could you ask for?

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decaturmamaof2
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Really fascinating - wish I'd been a better student of math and physics.

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GivenLemons
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

A book on time through the study of loop quantum gravity theory! A philosophical book as well as a scientific one, although I wouldn‘t have minded more equations!

8 likes1 stack add
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CampbellTaraL
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

It's weird to finish a book with a peaceful, feel-good sense and not really understand a lot of the content. I don't fault the author at all for this; it's a heady topic that folds philosophy and other subjective concepts into physics. It'll take more than a read through to get a solid grasp, at least for me, but I think it's worth the effort.

Also, the audio version read by Benedict Cumberbatch is really well done.

28 likes1 stack add
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Moray_Reads
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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review
Moray_Reads
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

I love this liminal area between hard science and philosophy. Carlo Rovelli's writing is both clear and poetic and he had a wonderful ability to communicate what scientific theory means to us as ordinary humans, beyond. Here he tells the story of time: its uncertain meaning, its questionable existence. The audiobook is by Benedict Cumberbatch 😍 (I need a heart EARS emoji!) I couldn't resist the second book. Self-help through physics? I'm in.

CampbellTaraL Ear hearts indeed, I can only imagine how lovely this book must sound. I'm looking for it in audio right now... 😉 6y
Moray_Reads @taraWritesSci when I bought it the bookshop assistant got very excited telling me about the audiobook. I couldn't pass up that recommendation! 6y
49 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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Moray_Reads
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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ericas
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

Devoting himself to the study of Time is like "holding in your hand a snowflake". The fascinating development of modern physics which interprets the world in terms of events instead of things, in terms of nets of kisses instead of nets of stones.

7 likes1 stack add
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SW-T
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

Intriguing concepts. Educational and thought provoking read.

#science #time

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Lotta84
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Just in time for the weekend! Can't wait to get started on this book...

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Oryx
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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This book is hurting my brain. It's lucky it is so pretty.

Daisy finds herself unconcerned with the complexities of time, space and physics and whether the concept of now can exist.

whatsthEStorey I'm with Daisy! 😂 6y
87 likes3 stack adds1 comment
review
dissemination
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
Pickpick

Incisive and eyeopening query of time.

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Briary
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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So, I finished up my Goodreads Reading Challenge a wee bit early.. I am a stress-reader and last months have most certainly been stressful, if the number of books read are to be trusted. I read 30 books in June alone.

I haven't been writing reviews or even posting about books, but at the moment I just need all the escapism that books can offer. Thankfully I have a TBR pile reaching to high heavens..

Redwritinghood 👏👏👏👏 6y
sprainedbrain Good job on meeting your goal already, but sorry you have been so stressed. 😩 Books are my escape, too! 6y
15 likes2 comments
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Lindy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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What drives us is not reflecting on life, it is life itself.

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Lindy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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Pickpick

Narrator Benedict Cumberbatch has such a lovely voice that my brain was lulled into a kind of dreamy state while listening to this #audiobook. I gave it 3 stars on goodreads, then decided to listen through a second time & upped my stars to 5. Print may have been a better way to absorb the complex content, a combo of quantum physics, historical overview & philosophy. Some was covered in Rovelli‘s previous works but I don‘t mind—it‘s fascinating.

wanderinglynn Benedict could read the phone book & I‘d listen to every entry. ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
rabbitprincess YES I requested the audiobook from the library solely because he narrated it 😍 6y
45 likes4 stack adds2 comments
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Lindy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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We have shaped our idea of being a human being by interacting with others like ourselves. I believe that our notion of self stems from this, not from introspection.

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Lindy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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What are we, as human beings? Entities? But the world is not made up of entities. It is made from events that combine with each other. So what, then, am I?

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Lindy
The Order of Time | Carlo Rovelli
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It isn‘t absence that causes sorrow. It is affection and love. Without affection, without love, such absences would cause us no pain. For this reason, even the pain caused by absence is something good, and even beautiful, because it feeds on that which gives meaning to life.

43 likes1 stack add