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Was Einstein wrong? At least in his understanding of time, Smolin argues, the great theorist of relativity was dead wrong. What is worse, by firmly enshrining his error in scientific orthodoxy, Einstein trapped his successors in insoluble dilemmas as they try to devise timeless laws explaining the origins and structure of the cosmos. How, Smolin asks, can such laws account for the highly improbable set of conditions that triggered the Big Bang jump-starting the universe? How, Smolin further wants to know, can scientists ever empirically test their timeless cosmic hypotheses? With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory, a perspective allowing Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason to open surprising possibilities. This horizon not only readmits time as a reality; it enshrines time as the reality, the indispensable point of flux allowing everything else, including the laws of matter and energy, to evolve and change. Embracing time as real, Smolin asserts, will allow cosmologists to convert laws once regarded as timeless into the contingent data they need to develop testable new theories of galactic evolution. More immediately, Smolin anticipates that this paradigm shift will help climatologists understand global warming and economists to ameliorate financial turbulence. A thrilling intellectual ride! -- Booklist , STARRED review Contrary to Plato and Einstein, theoretical physicist Smolin (The Trouble with Physics) asserts that 'not only is time real, but nothing we know or experience gets closer to the heart of nature than the reality of time.' Though time has always been a quantity to measure, the author explains that in the 17th century, scientists began wondering whether 'the world is in essence mathematical or it lives in time.' Newton's laws of motion made time irrelevant, and 'Einstein's two theories of relativity are, at their most basic, theories of time--or, better, timelessness.' Galileo and

[Smolin's] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative. --The New York Times Provocative, original, and unsettling. --The New York Review of Books Brilliant...Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen. --Popular Science Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy. An essential book for physicists and non-physicists alike, Time Reborn offers a path to better theory and potentially to a better society. --Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity Applying his deep mastery of cosmology, quantum mechanics, general relativity and all the diverse attempts at quantum gravity, in Time Reborn Lee Smolin weaves a convincing and entirely new view of reality. He shows us how contemporary physics eliminates time and argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and 'now' fundamental. --Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, author of At Home in the Universe Smolin is an excellent writer, a creative thinker and is ecumenical in the way he covers so many different branches of thought. Even as I mentally argued with this book, I kept on ploughing through to see how Smolin dealt with the objections. I would love to sit down with him over a drink and debate the ins and outs of his theory. And that is how this book should be read: as an account that makes you ask questions. --Nature An entertaining, head-spinning and, yes, timely blend of philosophy, science, and speculation to put the Now back into physics. --The Telegraph An energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world. --Publishers Weekly A thoughtful, complex re-evaluation of the role of time in the universe...A flood of ideas from an imaginative thinker. --Kirkus With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory...A thrilling intellectual ride! --Booklist (starred review) [Smolin s] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative. The New York Times Provocative, original, and unsettling. The New York Review of Books Brilliant Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen. Popular Science Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy. An essential book for physicists and non-physicists alike, Time Reborn offers a path to better theory and potentially to a better society. Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity Applying his deep mastery of cosmology, quantum mechanics, general relativity and all the diverse attempts at quantum gravity, in Time Reborn Lee Smolin weaves a convincing and entirely new view of reality. He shows us how contemporary physics eliminates time and argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and now fundamental. Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, author of At Home in the Universe Smolin is an excellent writer, a creative thinker and is ecumenical in the way he covers so many different branches of thought. Even as I mentally argued with this book, I kept on ploughing through to see how Smolin dealt with the objections. I would love to sit down with him over a drink and debate the ins and outs of his theory. And that is how this book should be read: as an account that makes you ask questions. Nature An entertaining, head-spinning and, yes, timely blend of philosophy, science, and speculation to put the Now back into physics. The Telegraph An energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world. Publishers Weekly A thoughtful, complex re-evaluation of the role of time in the universe A flood of ideas from an imaginative thinker. Kirkus With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory A thrilling intellectual ride! Booklist (starred review) Was Einstein wrong? At least in his understanding of time, Smolin argues, the great theorist of relativity was dead wrong. What is worse, by firmly enshrining his error in scientific orthodoxy, Einstein trapped his successors in insoluble dilemmas as they try to devise timeless laws explaining the origins and structure of the cosmos. How, Smolin asks, can such laws account for the highly improbable set of conditions that triggered the Big Bang jump-starting the universe? How, Smolin further wants to know, can scientists ever empirically test their timeless cosmic hypotheses? With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory, a perspective allowing Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason to open surprising possibilities. This horizon not only readmits time as a reality; it enshrines time as the reality, the indispensable point of flux allowing everything else, including the laws of matter and energy, to evolve and change. Embracing time as real, Smolin asserts, will allow cosmologists to convert laws once regarded as timeless into the contingent data they need to develop testable new theories of galactic evolution. More immediately, Smolin anticipates that this paradigm shift will help climatologists understand global warming and economists to ameliorate financial turbulence. A thrilling intellectual ride! -- Booklist , STARRED review Contrary to Plato and Einstein, theoretical physicist Smolin (The Trouble with Physics) asserts that 'not only is time real, but nothing we know or experience gets closer to the heart of nature than the reality of time.' Though time has always been a quantity to measure, the author explains that in the 17th century, scientists began wondering whether 'the world is in essence mathematical or it lives in time.' Newton's laws of motion made time irrelevant, and 'Einstein's two theories of relativity are, at their most basic, theories of time--or, better, timelessness.' Galileo and Was Einstein wrong? At least in his understanding of time, Smolin argues, the great theorist of relativity was dead wrong. What is worse, by firmly enshrining his error in scientific orthodoxy, Einstein trapped his successors in insoluble dilemmas as they try to devise timeless laws explaining the origins and structure of the cosmos. How, Smolin asks, can such laws account for the highly improbable set of conditions that triggered the Big Bang jump-starting the universe? How, Smolin further wants to know, can scientists ever empirically test their timeless cosmic hypotheses? With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory, a perspective allowing Leibniz's principle of sufficient reason to open surprising possibilities. This horizon not only readmits time as a reality; it enshrines time as the reality, the indispensable point of flux allowing everything else, including the laws of matter and energy, to evolve and change. Embracing time as real, Smolin asserts, will allow cosmologists to convert laws once regarded as timeless into the contingent data they need to develop testable new theories of galactic evolution. More immediately, Smolin anticipates that this paradigm shift will help climatologists understand global warming and economists to ameliorate financial turbulence. A thrilling intellectual ride! -- Booklist, STARRED review Contrary to Plato and Einstein, theoretical physicist Smolin ( The Trouble with Physics ) asserts that 'not only is time real, but nothing we know or experience gets closer to the heart of nature than the reality of time.' Though time has always been a quantity to measure, the author explains that in the 17th century, scientists began wondering whether 'the world is in essence mathematical or it lives in time.' Newton's laws of motion made time irrelevant, and 'Einstein's two theories of relativity are, at their most basic, theories of time--or, better, timelessness.' Galileo a

-[Smolin's] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative.- --The New York Times-Provocative, original, and unsettling.- --The New York Review of Books-Brilliant...Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen.- --Popular Science-Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy. An essential book for physicists and non-physicists alike, Time Reborn offers a path to better theory and potentially to a better society.- --Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity-Applying his deep mastery of cosmology, quantum mechanics, general relativity and all the diverse attempts at quantum gravity, in Time Reborn Lee Smolin weaves a convincing and entirely new view of reality. He shows us how contemporary physics eliminates time and argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and 'now' fundamental.- --Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, author of At Home in the Universe-Smolin is an excellent writer, a creative thinker and is ecumenical in the way he covers so many different branches of thought. Even as I mentally argued with this book, I kept on ploughing through to see how Smolin dealt with the objections. I would love to sit down with him over a drink and debate the ins and outs of his theory. And that is how this book should be read: as an account that makes you ask questions.- --Nature-An entertaining, head-spinning and, yes, timely blend of philosophy, science, and speculation to put the Now back into physics.- --The Telegraph -An energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world.- --Publishers Weekly-A thoughtful, complex re-evaluation of the role of time in the universe...A flood of ideas from an imaginative thinker.- --Kirkus -With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory...A thrilling intellectual ride!---Booklist (starred review)

[Smolin s] book, a mix of science, philosophy and science fiction, is at once entertaining, thought-provoking, fabulously ambitious and fabulously speculative. The New York Times Provocative, original, and unsettling. The New York Review of Books Brilliant Smolin gives what is, for me, the best analysis of the nature of time from a physics viewpoint in a popular science book I have ever seen. Popular Science Smolin provides a much-needed dose of clarity about time, with implications that go far beyond physics to economics, politics, and personal philosophy. An essential book for physicists and non-physicists alike, Time Reborn offers a path to better theory and potentially to a better society. Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget and The Fate of Power and the Future of Dignity Applying his deep mastery of cosmology, quantum mechanics, general relativity and all the diverse attempts at quantum gravity, in Time Reborn Lee Smolin weaves a convincing and entirely new view of reality. He shows us how contemporary physics eliminates time and argues persuasively that any adequate cosmology rests on making time and now fundamental. Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, author of At Home in the Universe Smolin is an excellent writer, a creative thinker and is ecumenical in the way he covers so many different branches of thought. Even as I mentally argued with this book, I kept on ploughing through to see how Smolin dealt with the objections. I would love to sit down with him over a drink and debate the ins and outs of his theory. And that is how this book should be read: as an account that makes you ask questions. Nature An entertaining, head-spinning and, yes, timely blend of philosophy, science, and speculation to put the Now back into physics. The Telegraph An energetic case for a paradigm shift that could produce mind-boggling changes in the way we experience our world. Publishers Weekly A thoughtful, complex re-evaluation of the role of time in the universe A flood of ideas from an imaginative thinker. Kirkus With rare conceptual daring, Smolin beckons toward a new perspective for doing cosmological theory A thrilling intellectual ride! Booklist (starred review)

Author Information

LEE SMOLIN has made influential contributions to the search for a unification of physics. He is a founding faculty member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His previous books include The Trouble with Physics and Three Roads to Quantum Gravity.

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