The Labyrinth of Time: Introducing the Universe

by Michael Lockwood

Overview

Modern physics has revealed the universe as a much stranger place than we could have imagined. The puzzle at the centre of our knowledge of the universe is time. Michael Lockwood takes the reader on a fascinating journey into the nature of things. He investigates philosophical questions about past, present, and future, our experience of time, and the possibility of time travel. And he provides the most careful, lively, and up-to-date introduction to the physics of time and the structure of the universe.He guides us step by step through relativity theory and quantum physics, introducing and explaining the ground-breaking ideas of Newton and Boltzmann, Einstein and Schroedinger, Penrose and Hawking. We zoom in on the behaviour of molecules and atoms, and pull back to survey the expansion of the universe. We learn about entropy and gravity, black holes and wormholes, about how it all began and where we are all headed. Lockwood's aim is not just to boggle the mind but to lead us towards an understanding of the science and philosophy. Things will never seem the same again after a voyage through The Labyrinth of Time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191622694
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	07/26/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Michael Lockwood is a Fellow of Green College, at Oxford University, where he has taught philosophy for many years. His books include the highly acclaimed Mind, Brain, and the Quantum.

Table of Contents

Two Concepts of Time     1
Time and Space: A Marriage is Arranged     23
Taking Space-Time Seriously     52
From Flat to Curved Space-Time     71
Weaving the Cosmic Tapestry     90
Closed Timelike Curves: Science Fact or Science Fiction?     124
Classical Time Travel: The Toils of Paradox     155
Hamilton's Legacy: Physical Systems and their State Spaces     178
Time Asymmetry and the Second Law     187
Entropy, Electrodynamics, and the Role of Gravity     221
'Drawn through Life Backwards'     233
The Unyielding Past     248
The Emergence of Order     257
From Quantum Jumps to Schrodinger's Cat     282
Schrodinger's Time-Traveller     322
Space, Time, and Quantum Gravity: Physics at the Frontier     331
The Time of our Lives     365
References     383
Index     399

Editorial Reviews

"Michael Lockwood's book The Labyrinth of Time: Introducing the Universe has just appeared. I highly recommend it. It's a wonderful overview of the physics and philosophy of time, crafted extremely carefully and engagingly (yet without compromising any content) for the lay reader, superbly produced and illustrated. Oh, and it's true." —Professor David Deutsch, author of The Fabric of Reality

"Lockwood takes the informed general reader through relativity theory and quantum physics on the large scale as well as the very small, reviewing theories of Newton, Boltzmann, Einstein, Penrose, Schrödinger and Hawking and the notions of flat and curved time-space, closed timelike curves, the paradoxes of time travel, time asymmetry and the Second Law, entropy, electrodynamics, the emergence of order, quantum jumps, quantum gravity, and the role of the human observer in all of it. Lockwood's illustrations are particularly clear and helpful and his references could serve as a model for like works."—SciTech Book News

"Lockwood...accomplishes here what may be lacking in other writings about the physics and philosophy of time...Lockwood is a gifted writer; the book is interesting, challenging and fun."—CHOICE

From the Publisher