The Order of Time (book)

2017 book by Carlo Rovelli

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The Order of Time

First Italian edition (2017)

Author| Carlo Rovelli
Original title| L'ordine del tempo
Language| Italian
Subject| Physics
Genre| Non-fiction
Publisher| Penguin Books (English edition)

Publication date

| 2017
Publication place| Italy

Published in English

| 2018
Media type| Print, Digital, Audio CD
Pages| 224 (English edition)
ISBN| 9780241292525 (English hardcover edition)

The Order of Time (Italian: L'ordine del tempo) is a book by Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, a specialist in quantum gravity research, about time in physics.[1][2][3][4][5] An audiobook, four hours and nineteen minutes long, was read by Benedict Cumberbatch.[6]

## Contents

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The Order of Time is divided into four sections, covering the theory of relativity, space-time, loop quantum gravity, and thermodynamics. The first section, The Crumbling of Time, opens with Rovelli explaining time, which is considered as a fourth dimension in space-time. He then discusses Ludwig Boltzmann's concept of entropy, which never decreases, and its role in thermodynamics and Bayesian probability theory, which Rovelli described as "the only equation of fundamental physics that knows any difference between past and future", and concluded that the direction of time is lost. In the second part, The World without Time, Rovelli writes that events constitute the universe instead of particles, and introduces the concept of quanta of time in loop quantum gravity. The final section, The Sources of Time, proposes that the apparent flow of time is due to the inability to observe all the microscopic details of the world.[4]

## Reception

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Writing for The Guardian, Ian Thomson praised the "lucid" writing, translation, and compared it to Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, describing it as a "a deeper, more abstruse meditation" but "jargon-free".[2] Cosmologist Anthony Aguirre, in a generally positive review, noted that some portions of the book "occupy a frustrating ground between too technical and not technical enough".[7] Literary Review noted Rovelli's skill for presenting complex and even unexplainable concepts in an accessible form, "the brevity and elegance of which belie its depth."[8]

## Film adaptation

[edit]

Main article: The Order of Time (film)

In 2023, a freely inspired[9] film adaptation of Rovelli's work was released. It was directed by Liliana Cavani, from a screenplay written by Cavani and Paolo Costella in collaboration with Carlo Rovelli. The film tells the story of a gathering of old friends at a seaside villa who soon discover that the world might be ending within the space of a few hours.[10]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Peschel, Joseph (June 22, 2018). "Review | A physicist explains the 'greatest remaining mystery': The nature of time". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
2. ^ a b Thomson, Ian (April 24, 2018). "The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli review – a worthy heir to Stephen Hawking". The Guardian. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
3. ^ Banville, John (May 12, 2018). "The Order of Time review: Where physics and philosophy meet". The Irish Times. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
4. ^ a b Jaffe, Andrew (April 2018). "The illusion of time". Nature. 556 (7701): 304–305\. Bibcode:2018Natur.556..304J. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-04558-7.
5. ^ Natarajan, Priyamvada (June 1, 2018). "'The Order of Time' Review: Stop All the Clocks". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
6. ^ Lightman, Alan (May 14, 2018). "Benedict Cumberbatch Meets Albert Einstein in Carlo Rovelli's New Audiobook". The New York Times. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
7. ^ Aguirre, Anthony (February 2019). "Is the future as real as the present?". Physics Today. 72 (2): 60–61\. Bibcode:2019PhT....72b..60A. doi:10.1063/PT.3.4146. ISSN 0031-9228. S2CID 186559093.
8. ^ Crumey, Andrew (28 March 2018). "More Naples Than Singapore". Literary Review.
9. ^ "L'ordine del tempo: il trailer del film di Liliana Cavani presentato a Venezia 80". The Hollywood Reporter Roma (in Italian). 1 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
10. ^ De Marco, Camillo (3 October 2022). "Liliana Cavani is back on set shooting L'ordine del tempo". Cineuropa. Retrieved 13 August 2023.

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