Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time

I found it difficult to rate this book, wavering between 3 and 4 stars. Eventually, I opted for 4 stars because the book covers many interesting points and, in the opinion of this layperson, the author's arguments seem sound and persuasive.On the other hand, it is more obscure than necessary due to the author's long-winding linguistic style interspersed with numerous analogies/metaphors, some of which more puzzling than revealing (the way I look at it, of course) and, contrary to the description in the Preface to the book, some background in physics is required so as to appreciate the author's arguments. Besides, this book does not explain well (if at all) the concept of objective (physical) time and I feel it fails to give the non-professional reader a clear idea how to view the things from an atemporal standpoint (or 'view from nowhen').And so, my first try at this book was a total fiasco due to the lack of a clear idea of the concepts of objective (physical) time, entropy, thermodynamical processes, causal forks, a state function,... (the full list of things would be too long). All my thanks for acquiring the required knowledge for understanding this book properly during my second try go to  Records of the Future - Classical Entropy, Memory, and the 'Arrow of Time' (Quantum Physics free of Folklore #1)  and  Galloping with Light - Einstein, Relativity, and Folklore .The main idea of Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point is that our intuitive/subjective sense of time has a very great effect on how we think about time and the temporal aspects of reality. Namely, we should try to distinguish how the world actually is from how it seems to be from our particular standpoint. Mr. Price argues that the concept of 'time' is a secondary quality such as colour, leaving it to the reader to figure out for herself/himself what the primary quality in the case of 'time' might be. (As my inference was influenced by  Records of the Future - Classical Entropy, Memory, and the 'Arrow of Time' (Quantum Physics free of Folklore #1) , I'll keep silent on this point so as not to spoil the fun of trying to find it out for yourself.)One of the central questions of the book is how it is possible to reconcile the time-symmetric laws we find in physics with the world we find around us, which appears to have a preferred direction from past to future. In efforts to reach the answer to this question, the first half of the book deals with the categories/phenomena (the so-called 'arrows of time') on which our subjective sense of time relies: the arrow of thermodynamics, the arrow of radiation, the cosmological arrow, the arrow of causation and the arrow of counterfactual dependence. The question now is whether these 'arrows of time' reflect only our anthropocentric view or the real feature of reality. In general, the low-entropy condition of the present and past universe is puzzling and Mr. Price argues that a purely statistical reasoning is unreliable and unsatisfactory because it is in conflict with the prevailing time-symmetric physics and involves unjustified temporal double standards.In this context, Mr. Price expounds his reflections on the basic dilemma of cosmology, which I found interesting. It seems that we have to accept either Gold's hypothesis that entropy must decrease toward both ends of the Universe, or Penrose's that the low-entropy big bang is simply not explicable by time-symmetric physics unless we were prepared to allow it is just a statistical 'fluke'. The author argues in favor of Thomas Gold's time-symmetric Universe (recollapsing/low entropy at both ends).What I also found very interesting are Mr. Price's reflections on Wheeler-Feynmann Absorber Theory (according to the author, it involves a misleading concept of temporal asymmetry of radiation) and objections to Hawking's assumption that the Universe has an objective start, failing to apply the statistical arguments and the 'no-boundary' (low-entropy) condition equally both to what we call the big-bang and the supposed big-crunch, putting thus asymmetry in his theory 'by hand'.The second half of the book deals with the asymmetry of the principle of μInnocence (common past hypothesis at the microscopic level) and our intuitive view of cause-effect relation. Mr. Price proposes that causal asymmetry might be perspective dependent. What gives us the `causal temporal arrow' is the fact that it is impossible for us, as agents in the world, to reverse the order of things, i.e., to achieve an earlier end(effect) by a later means (cause). We take it for granted that events in the world are independent unless they share some common causal history. In Mr. Price's opinion, QM seems to provide a confirmation against the asymmetry of the principle of μInnocence because it is actually not observable but only reflects our macroscopic view of cause-effect relation.However, a consequence of abandoning μInnocence is surprising. Mr. Price favors Einstein's view of QM, arguing that the asymmetry of the state function is unproblematic if it is simply an incomplete description of QM. He suspects that Bell thought both the common past hypothesis and the common future hypothesis conflict with our intuitive assumption that experimenters are free to choose measurement settings and that these settings are free variables. Mr. Price thinks "it is fair to say that Bell saw how Einstein could be right about QM, but didn't understand what he saw".Mr. Price further proposes we might give up Bell's independence assumption and save Einsteinian realism and locality as well as free will. The secret lies in advanced action/backward causation. While the mathematics remains the same, the benefits of the advanced action approach to explain reality at microscopic level are: it avoids nonlocality (faster than light influence can be considered as a backward influence from some inertial frame of reference), denies that a collapse of a wave function corresponds to a real change in the physical system and it does not encounter the measurement problem.Overall, this book is worth your while if you are intrigued with the subject and prepared to do some hard work.

In the preface of Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point, Mr. Price describes his target audience as being those people with an interest in the subject of time, yet no formal education in either Physics or Philosophy. In this light I feel that the book does not fare well due more to its style than its topic. I am wildly interested in the book's subject matter, and I have no formal education in either Physics or Philosophy, yet I found myself struggling at times to appreciate Mr. Price's logic on the first pass. Following the linguistic style of the book was apparently an issue for the editors at Oxford as well because it contained over a half-dozen typographical errors (all contextual; not spelling errors).The ultimate purpose of the book is to make the case for a "Block Universe", one in which time does not flow, but rather whose entire existence already resides as a fourth dimension. "Archimedes' Point" in the title refers to the need for us to step out of our shells as agents in time, and view nature "from nowhen" if we are to truly understand the concept. Mr. Price begins by analyzing what appears to be the natural symmetry of time as outlined by the mathematical description of physics. He then presents common time-asymmetric arguments, one after another, and shows them to be ultimately fallacious, contradictory, or suffering from anthropocentric double standards. Near the end of the book Mr. Price incorporates the strange behavior of quantum mechanics, which can plausibly be explained by advanced action (aka causes coming from the future), to bolster his "Block Universe" claims. In the end I almost take the Block Universe for granted, and from this perspective the book is a resounding success.Making it through the book was ultimately satisfying. The author's arguments, once fully appreciated, are sound and persuasive. The end of each chapter contains a summary of its contents which was fantastic. The final chapter again contains a summary of the major logical points made throughout the book which really helps to bring everything together. If you are a casual reader looking to be entertained then this book is probably not for you. If you are willing to do some work in the quest to expand your knowledge then I would recommend it...

This is a very good book, but I feel that something is missing.Imagine if someone in 1820 had written the definitive book about electricity and magnetism: It would have contained all kinds of information about Leyden jars, dynamos, induced current, electro-magnets, compasses, etc. It would not mention the electro-magnetic field, nor would it mention electro-magnetic radiation.This is not a criticism of the author: No one today could write a complete book on the subject of time, because we still do not really understand itThe author does a good job of covering entropy, causality, and quantum time asymmetry, but I believe that these phenomena are all aspects of the same thing. The scientific and philosophical study of time is still in the stage where we are "collecting stamps", rather like biology was in the period before Darwin.We are still waiting for an integrated theory of time, which can explain the direction of causality, the non-reversibility of radiation, and all of the other time-asymmetries in one package.

Fruit flies like an orange.About the extent of what I got out of this very difficult to read book and I enjoy reading Virginia Wolfe! I know, apples and oranges.Book has point to make and failed to make it with this reader. Then again I posit that time is little more than an artifact of life and a hindrance to our understanding other dimensional systems. To me time is like gravity as we have no understanding of either beyond that of a facile observer - no ability to create either, control either, modify either ... yet!

I would recommend this book to graduate students in physics, philosophy, etc. Huw Price is unsurpassable by any "new thinker"in print on this topic.

If I understand this correctly (a big if) the project Huw Price undertakes is to do for 'time' what Copernicus/Galileo/Einstein etc did for 'space'; that is, to attempt an understanding of time that is freed from largely unrecognised pre-conceptions, themselves deriving from our very particular perspective as creatures evolved 'in time'. (In apparent asymmetry with respect to space-time - evolution, like entropy, appearing to represent an asymmetry with respect to 'time'). He calls the mental position we need to adopt 'Archimedes Point' - a stance that is imaginatively a-temporal.I hope that does not put anybody off, because this is a great book, which, despite what other reviewers have written, uses no mathematics, and very little knowledge of Quantum Mechanics, but asks you to bend your mind around very basic philosophical concepts. What is testing, and so exciting, is the invitation to recognise, and to try to suspend, those pre-conceptions we have not realised we had with regard to 'time'. The result is to open up a completely different set of possibilities for explaining some of the most intractable and puzzling aspects of Quantum and Relativity theory, from the 'double slit' experiment, and 'spooky action' onwards.

This is for scientists really. Very difficult to understand and requires other reference books to understand a bit better. I also don't understand that the book is not illustrated which makes a classic like Stephen Hawking's book on time much more understandable. Perhaps this is why the book has to my knowledge not been translated into other languages. The topic is very fascinating but as an architect with an interest in history and time it's too difficult to understand.

Good delivery time. Product exactly as described/