Now

The Physics of Time - and the Ephemeral Moment That Einstein Could Not Explain

By: Richard A. Muller

Narrated by: Christopher Grove

Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

“Now” is a simple yet elusive concept. You are reading the word now right now. But what does that mean? What makes the ephemeral moment "now" so special? Its enigmatic character has bedeviled philosophers, priests, and modern-day physicists from Augustine to Einstein and beyond. Einstein showed that the flow of time is affected by both velocity and gravity, yet he despaired at his failure to explain the meaning of now. Equally puzzling: Why does time flow? Some physicists have given up trying to understand and call the flow of time an illusion, but the eminent experimentalist physicist Richard A. Muller protests. He says physics should explain reality, not deny it.

In Now, Muller does more than poke holes in past ideas; he crafts his own revolutionary theory, one that makes testable predictions. He begins by laying out - with the refreshing clarity that made Physics for Future Presidents so successful - a firm and remarkably clear explanation of the physics building blocks of his theory: relativity, entropy, entanglement, antimatter, and the big bang. With the stage then set, he reveals a startling way forward.

Muller points out that the standard big bang theory explains the ongoing expansion of the universe as the continuous creation of new space. He argues that time is also expanding and that the leading edge of the new time is what we experience as now. This thought-provoking vision has remarkable implications for some of our biggest questions, not only in physics but also in philosophy, including the ongoing debate about the reality of free will. Moreover, his theory is testable. Muller's monumental work will spark major debate about the most fundamental assumptions of our universe and may crack one of physics' longest-standing enigmas.

Includes a PDF of Images from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 Richard A. Muller (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Mind-blowing…[Muller] posits a theory that seems at once plausible and - surprisingly, for a book with equations - one worth not spoiling." (Time)

"[A] concise master class in understanding the essentials of physics." (Lisa Jardine-Wright, Science)

"Muller has taken a remarkably fresh and exciting approach to the analysis of time. With his usual clarity and wit, he proceeds from solidly established principles - each a fascinating story in its own right - but when he gets to the meaning of the flow of time and now, he forges a new path. I expect controversy!" (Saul Perlmutter, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics)

Great insights in real physics; some "metaphysics"

This audible is definitely worth a listen if you want to gain further insights into fundamental physics. The author, who is a highly-cited physicist in his practice, doesn't go super deep into any one topic, and not all critical topics of relevance are covered; but he does give what I consider to be really good, extensive explanations regarding entropy, quantum particles/fields, quantum gravity, etc.

It might fizzle out somewhat in the end; but it's not because of topics irrelevant to physics. He ends up digging further into borderline-metaphysics than most of his intended audience might appreciate, assuming that audience to be science-minded people who only respect falsifiable hypotheses. But eventually physicists will have to explain the borderline physics that he mentions. Besides, he never suggests pursuing any studies that can't be tested and falsified, so it's not "spiritual clap-trap".

Excellent and accessible review of modern physics

One of the better popular audience books written by active researchers: Muller includes a lot of relevant detail while keeping the narrative accessible and enjoyable. I enjoyed the historical perspective and liberal use of personal anecdotes. The philosophical sections can drag a bit, but cover important epistemological topics that modern scientists often paper over. Overall, an excellent synthesis with broad scope.

No answers

This book goes through a number of scientific areas which are interesting but ends up not delivering the answer to the question of now.

Besides describing time expansion being similar to space expansion, it seemed to me that now is a topic for further study, waiting for someone to come along and figure it out.

BEST PHYSICS BOOK I HAVE READ

What did you love best about Now?

A great summary of the history as well as the latest thinking about time and physics. Great

Bewildering, mind blowing, ultimately enlightening

I'm an artist and writer, very right-brained, sadly inept in mathematics and the sciences. Yet I have always been fascinated by Physics. Physics has remained a bewildering foreign language to me. Over the years, I thought if I listened to enough words spoken in the language Physics, I would suddenly understand it. Until this book, my hope has been unfulfilled. However, about half way through this book, my brain experienced an awakening to the notion of symmetry. I can't explain it, but from that moment forward, I understood, haltingly it is true, how and why Physics reveals and predicts the universe and life. I am going to listen to this book from the beginning again and again.

No. Sorry, Just No

I like Richard Muller and love Physics for Future Presidents. He jumps out on a limb in the book but unfortunately fails to make his case.

The best I can say is that he is clever to a point with semantics but really doesn't open the doors to a great, or as he would say, a more correct interpretation of time. Because entropy is a fluid process that cannot define 'now' is no reason to toss entropy as a means of defining time as best we are able. Really, time is fluid and there is no now. Before you can say now, the time has past. There is not frozen moment of time.

The book is interesting but I would not say it's ground breaking.

Extremely informative....

I now understand why we can't travel to the future and why the past cannot be changed. The author assumes that no one would want to travel to an immutable past but just to see it and be there would be better than anything - yes, even set. The person reading did an amazing job - he read with an understanding of the material that could only be exceeded by the author. Great book!

You can stop reading when Muller mentions "the soul."

Pretty decent book save for a few chapters. The book has insight about modern physics and takes into account recent discoveries, such as gravitational waves recorded by LIGO. However, Muller then goes on to talk about the soul and a lot of other unscientific nonsense. It doesn't get better from there.

Presupposes the existence of souls...

Provides some good examples of experimental results is physics, but cherry picks philosophy and almost completely ignores neurophysical /psychological experimental results that refute or at least bring into question the concept of free-will. Clear bias in the western idea of self, soul, and consciousness. Muller does a good job of writing physics ideas in an easily digestible way for the non-physics reader. Also mostly ignores Multiverses or the many worlds hypotheses.

Great scientific approach to the challenge of explaining Time.

I have read several reviews that in my opinion, unfairly criticize Muller for his inclusion of the soul and mystical type explanations. However, after listening to this book I find many of those critiques unfair.

Muller does a great job of approaching the challenge of understanding Time with an open-handed approach. As an accomplished experimental scientist, he uses thoughtful and logical arguments to make his points. As with most physicalists, their greatest limitation is self-imposed. They simply don’t allow their “brain” to explore all possibilities. Oddly enough, this is why many scientists never discover new physical realities and why a small few of them do. It’s the ones who allow their mind to conceive of both