The Order of Time

 The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

Time - I love reading theories about time. I've always felt it to be the strangest aspect of human existence, so listening to scientists and philosophers explain what they think it is fascinates me. I don't profess to understand all they're saying, but when I read these books I come away with a wider perspective and more open to the idea that things may not be the way I've always thought they were. It's heady stuff. 

I can't begin to explain all he says but he talks about time being a measure of change, about the present not existing, about the "quantum intersections of time and speed", and about entropy. Maybe it will tell you more if I list the chapter headings: 

• Perhaps Time Is The Greatest Mystery
• Part 1 - The Crumbling of Time

    1. The Loss of Unity

    2. Loss of Direction

    3. The End of the Present

    4. Loss of Independence

    5. Quanta of Time

• Part 2 - The World Without Time 

6. The World is Made of Events, Not Things

7. The Inadequacy of Grammar

8. Dynamics as Relation

• Part 3 - The Sources of Time

9. Time is ignorance

10. Perspective

11. What Emerges From a Particularity

12. The Scent of the Madeleine

13. The Source of Time

• The Sister of Sleep    

The audio book took 4 hrs 19 mins so it isn't terribly long, and it's a good thing because there's a lot packed into it. Some of it was beyond me, but Benedict Cumberbatch's narration was a huge help. He made it feel like a personal conversation rather than a lecture and he knows just when and how to slow down or add intensity to his voice to keep you mesmerized. This is one of the best narrations I've ever heard. 

It's a fascinating subject with outstanding narration.