Time: A Very Short Introduction

Description

What is time? This book describes the developing physics of the concept of time from Newton, via Einstein, to the present day, and the related philosophical aspects. It also discusses the psychological experience of time and insights from cognitive science.

• Introduces readers to the current physical understanding of the direction of time, from the Second Law of Thermodynamics to the emergence of complexity and life
• Discusses the implications of the theory of relativity, including time dilation, space contraction, and the possibility of time travel
• Analyses time as it is encountered in human experience, with an emphasis on temporal perception and memory
• Explores the philosophical developments accompanying the progress of the physics of time
• Part of the Very Short Introductions series - over ten million copies sold worldwide

About the Author(s)

Jenann Ismael, Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University

Jenann Ismael is a Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University, Affiliate of the Zuckerman Institute, and member of FQXi. She taught at Stanford University and the University of Arizona before coming to Columbia. Ismael has held fellowships at the National Humanities Center, and the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, and a Queen Elizabeth II fellowship at the Centre for Time in Sydney. Her work has been supported by the Templeton Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, NEH, and the Foundational Questions Institute. She is the author of Essays on Symmetry (2001); The Situated Self (2007); and How Physics Makes Us Free (2016).

Table of Contents

Introduction
1:History up through Newton
2:From space and time to space-time: the era of Einstein
3:Philosophical implications of the relativistic conception of time
4:The direction of time
5:The time of human experience
6:The big picture and new horizons
Further Reading
Index