The Order of Time

From the author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems, Helgoland, and Anaximander comes an exploration of time's nature. Carlo Rovelli examines fundamental questions: Why do we remember the past but not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time, or does time exist in us? Rovelli challenges common assumptions about time as uniform, universal, and steadily moving from past to future. He reveals that at the most fundamental level, according to physics, time disappears. He explains how quantum gravity attempts to understand this timeless landscape. Drawing on philosophy, science, and literature, Rovelli argues that our perception of time's flow depends on our perspective—better understood through the structure of our brain and emotions than through the physical universe itself. Written in accessible, lyric prose, the book was already a bestseller in Italy and offers an intelligent examination of time's mysteries.