From Eternity to Here

The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time

By: Sean Carroll

Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt

Time moves forward, not backward---everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here, Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself---a period of modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed.

Increasingly, though, physicists are going out into realms that make the theory of relativity seem like child's play. Carroll's scenario is not only elegant, it's laid out in the same easy-to-understand language that has made his group blog, Cosmic Variance, the most popular physics blog on the Net. From Eternity to Here uses ideas at the cutting edge of theoretical physics to explore how properties of space-time before the Big Bang can explain the flow of time we experience in our everyday lives. Carroll suggests that we live in a baby universe, part of a large family of universes in which many of our siblings experience an arrow of time running in the opposite direction. It's an ambitious, fascinating picture of the universe on an ultra-large scale, one that will captivate fans of popular physics blockbusters like Elegant Universe and A Brief History of Time.

©2009 Sean Carroll (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

Carroll writes with verve and infectious enthusiasm, reminding readers that science is a journey in which getting there is, without question, much of the fun.( Publishers Weekly)

Great but looks for the keys under the streetlight

This book deserves a high rating simply because of the sheer quantity of interesting information and questions it clearly presents along with the pleasant narration. Most of the book focuses on the facts and questions related to our understanding of time followed by some relatively brief speculations. When speculation occurs it is clearly labeled as such. It is unfortunate that a PDF is not available for the figures discussed. There were, however, a few weaknesses. The book is largely from a general relativity point of view, only mildly addressing quantum effects. Particularly in the description of the hints we see in experiments regarding time, Carroll focuses a lot on the unexpectedly low entropy of the recent past (which is important) but then glosses over several other equally important hints such as the Bell/EPR results, Space and Time not being fundamental, and the information density enigma, he also speaks about the wave function as if it is fundamental while there are very good reasons to believe it is not.

The author basically admits although space and time being non-fundamental increasingly appears to be the case, he is unable to say anything interesting about this, so instead proposes solutions to the low entropy problem in a fundamental space-time context. This is a bit like looking for your keys under the streetlight because the light is better over there. Although speculation is an important aspect of science, successful speculation will illuminate by addressing several of the outstanding hints before us. Although the speculation was mildly interesting, the focusing on just one of the outstanding enigmas along with non-testability left it ultimately un-illuminating.

The author also indicates his preferred interpretation of quantum mechanics is the Multi-World interpretation. Although Carroll seems to point out QM having so many interpretations is odd (and likely another hint) instead of rejecting all the interpretations he seems to settle for one.

The key benefits of this book are the enigma and questions it raises. The author highlights most of the important enigmas giving us hints towards a fuller understanding of time; unfortunately he does follow most of the hint presented. For example the author points out the strong correspondences between information and entropy, even seeming to conclude that the information viewpoint is clearer and more fundamental, yet then proceeds to ignore the information viewpoint for the rest of the book.

Although the author does a pretty good job describing how classical entropy works, I am not sure I would have fully understood it without having listened to Penrose???s (long, detailed and daunting) description in Cycles of Time.

A very good teacher…

Very good foundation presentation for me as a non physicist. He made some more of the story come to life!

Sean Carrol is great but ...

I wanted so much to like this book, but it’s too technical for me. It’s a level or two above my ability to comprehend. Maybe I should have listened to it without doing other things.

great listen well worth it.

Carol does a great job relating universal time to a somewhat more understandable human scale.

Great listen

Full of insight into the history of cosmology, not just what we know but also how we know. Good for cozy bedtime pondering

Best summary of modern cosmology yet, but....

Ponderous, yes. Comprehensive, yes, yes. Up to date--wow. Carroll is a genius at seeing the links between critical ideas. I have heard him lecture on physics through the Teaching Company, and this book is far superior. But it is hard going, and sadly the publisher has not provided the figures to go with it, so it is difficult to follow some of Carroll's arguments. I recommend the first section to get your feet under you, the last section to review, and in between just listen and be amazed. This book will change your perspectives on both time and the universe. And you will get lots of exercise in the process.

I will read anything Sean Carroll writes

Sean Carroll is my favorite physicist and science writer. I didn't love the first half of this book, including discussions about time travel, as much as I loved the second half of the book; which discussed black holes, bubbles, pocket universes, and a provided a more in depth look at the low entropy state of the early universe. I read as much as I can about black holes and am always looking for authors who can make the material extremely relatable . Sean Carroll is by far the best at taking complex subjects and breaking them down for his reader. He includes information that others authors assume the reader should already know. And yet, he does it done in a way that does not bore the reader who already has knowledge of the subject at hand. I suggest reading this book and then following it up with an amazing talk by Ouellette and Carroll on black holes firewalls, which can be found on YouTube.

Deep without being confusing

I'm an engineer, so my experience may not reflect everyone's. Still, connecting cosmology to thermodynamics and focusing on the problems, and only then getting to solutions, this book helps build understanding rather than just presenting pop science.

I wish Sean Carroll narrated it himself, but I guess he's too busy trying to figure out fundamental laws of physics.

Good, but Flawed

I love Sean Carroll, but found this book frustrating. The key lies in the epilogue: as Carroll says, he spent far more time discussing the problem of time, while spending just one chapter discussing all possible solutions. I understand why he made that choice, but it often leaves the book feeling like "a thousand and one ways of saying we don't understand why entropy was initially low." Time then is just increasing entropy under the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Nevertheless, the heart of this book in Part 3 is excellent and provides a super clear explanation of entropy. The chapters before and after that feel like beating around the bush until the "solutions" chapter.

Probably best to read.

I had to replay a lot. Usually driving. When I had to give my attention to the outside world, I would loose the thread, and have to go back.
Worth it though.