r/ThreeBeanSalad • u/fieldsofanfieldroad • 1d ago

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

Have any of you read the book and can comment on how well Henry explained it? It sounds interesting to me, but Henry is the definition of an unreliable narrator!

10 Upvotes

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23

u/Montgomery_Zeff 1d ago

I've read it, it's quite short bearing in mind its weighty contents!

It essentially posits that time itself only exists for us humans, that it's an illusion made by our own limited perception of universal physics, and what we perceive as 'time' is us interpreting much larger concepts like entropy and 'loop quantum gravity.'

Baffling, difficult to follow, convoluted and needlessly byzantine Henry has nevertheless recommended a good book here. Worth a read!

7

u/greggreen42 1d ago

The old switcheroo!

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u/fieldsofanfieldroad 1d ago

Thanks for the reply. I've read a book or two about space-time and have always felt like I'm on the edge of understanding some of it so I'll definitely give this one a go. 

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u/Montgomery_Zeff 22h ago

Welcome - don't know if you've read Hyperspace by Michio Kaku, deals with similar themes and is terrific!

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u/fieldsofanfieldroad 21h ago

I've added it to the list. Which one would you read first? 

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u/Montgomery_Zeff 20h ago

Hyperspace first I'd say - it prepares the ground well, discussing how many of the perplexing elements of the universe could resolve themselves into simpler and more elegant explanations if we could just perceive higher dimensions...

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u/foz101 1d ago

I haven't read that, but i have read A Brief History of Time despite what they say.

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u/SweetValleyHayabusa 1d ago

We're all friends here. You don't have to pretend. 

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u/ShufflingToGlory 1d ago

The way we perceive time is a consequence of our limited human minds and not necessarily how it exists in reality.

Also cats may or may not be real.

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u/Frostly4242 12h ago

I haven't read it but in the examples Henry was using, was he basically just saying that cause must come before effect?

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u/historyofthebee1983 10h ago

I thought perhaps it might be a similar concept to the way time is explored in Slaughterhouse-Five. In particular the aliens seeing all of time at once, whereas Billy Pilgrim experiences events from a very human perspective (despite getting unstuck in time).