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sammichaan's review against another edition
4.0
“It seems to me that life, this brief life, is nothing other than this: the incessant cry of these emotions that drive us, that we sometimes attempt to channel in the name of a god, a political faith, in a ritual that reassures us that, fundamentally, everything is in order, in a great and boundless love - and the cry is beautiful. Sometimes it is a cry of pain. Sometimes it is a song.”
Rovelli explains time as we know it in as digestible a way as possible, and with a complex understanding that only one who has worked with it and studied it for a long time could. It started off strong, lost me a bit in the middle with the simplified but still dense and complex physics, and then brought me right back in for the final chapters. All of the scientific explanation in the middle section leading to one concise and satisfying interpretation of time. I don’t know if I’ll be rushing to pick up another of his books or books similar to this, but this book certainly educated me a little bit and left me with a smile.
Rovelli explains time as we know it in as digestible a way as possible, and with a complex understanding that only one who has worked with it and studied it for a long time could. It started off strong, lost me a bit in the middle with the simplified but still dense and complex physics, and then brought me right back in for the final chapters. All of the scientific explanation in the middle section leading to one concise and satisfying interpretation of time. I don’t know if I’ll be rushing to pick up another of his books or books similar to this, but this book certainly educated me a little bit and left me with a smile.
jaygrant's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
2.75
Surprisingly poetic, which was wonderful at first but by the end felt like a crutch for not having anything of substance to say. Given that the author’s main field of study has seemingly not panned out, I’m not even sure which scientific things in this book are true and which are false—so I might be dumber than when I started it.
justplainbecca's review against another edition
4.0
I voluntarily read this nonfiction book about physics and time and it blew my freaking mind. Honestly, my comprehension of physics is such that even concepts I could understand still basically felt like fiction to me.
"He exaggerates, of course, because the fact that there are no "causes" at an elementary level is not a sufficient reason to render obsolete the very notion of cause. At an elementary level there are no cats either, but we do not for tho season cease to bother with cats."
"We are for ourselves in large measure what we see and have seen of ourselves reflected back to us by our friends, our loves, and our enemies."
"Husserl reprises Augustine when he describes the shaping of experience in terms of "retention"--using, like him, the metaphor of listening to a melody (the world, in the meantime, has become bourgeois, with melodies replacing hymns)..."
"It takes only a few centuries for the world to change: from devils, angels, and witches to atoms and electromagnetic waves."
"He exaggerates, of course, because the fact that there are no "causes" at an elementary level is not a sufficient reason to render obsolete the very notion of cause. At an elementary level there are no cats either, but we do not for tho season cease to bother with cats."
"We are for ourselves in large measure what we see and have seen of ourselves reflected back to us by our friends, our loves, and our enemies."
"Husserl reprises Augustine when he describes the shaping of experience in terms of "retention"--using, like him, the metaphor of listening to a melody (the world, in the meantime, has become bourgeois, with melodies replacing hymns)..."
"It takes only a few centuries for the world to change: from devils, angels, and witches to atoms and electromagnetic waves."
goddessofwhatnot's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Til;dr Even tho I didn’t grasp most of it, I find this subject (what is time exactly?) fascinating; would like to read again someday
Frankly, I don’t know what to rate this book. I could have just as easily rated it 2.75 stars for all I got out of it - but I think that was my fault.
I was NOT in the right headspace for this! I’ve been reading romance and political history books. My brain was not prepared for poetic science/philosophy!
I honestly can’t remember when a book made me feel more stupid.
Two things stand out:
1.) “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.”
That last sentence shook my guts up, and I never recovered.
2.) I was able to finally focus again (1/3 of the book later) when he was explaining how our perception of time is experienced exclusively thru memory and anticipation.
My mind was blown again and my thinky parts shorted out for the rest of the book.
I would LOVE to read this again someday with a reading buddy, really dig in, and pick thru the theories one by one
Frankly, I don’t know what to rate this book. I could have just as easily rated it 2.75 stars for all I got out of it - but I think that was my fault.
I was NOT in the right headspace for this! I’ve been reading romance and political history books. My brain was not prepared for poetic science/philosophy!
I honestly can’t remember when a book made me feel more stupid.
Two things stand out:
1.) “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.”
That last sentence shook my guts up, and I never recovered.
2.) I was able to finally focus again (1/3 of the book later) when he was explaining how our perception of time is experienced exclusively thru memory and anticipation.
My mind was blown again and my thinky parts shorted out for the rest of the book.
I would LOVE to read this again someday with a reading buddy, really dig in, and pick thru the theories one by one
liuolah's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Wow. I absolutely consumed this book this morning, Carlo Rovelli writes so beautifully and I adore the way he weaves poetry and philosophy, human nature, together with physics. It’s just beautiful. This makes me want to scoop my younger science aligned self and give her a lil smooch on the forehead. I think I’m going to buy myself a copy of this book and give it a lil re-read again in the future.
I love humans.
I love humans.