Poetic twists on the paradoxes of time.The quotidian becomes extraordinary and unsettling.Time travel needn't involve machines or blue boxes (sorry, Apatt!): Lightman makes it leap off the page and into your mind, leaving you questioning the very root of reality. Now that I am reading Borges, I assume Lightman was influenced by him (and maybe others), in particular, the short story, Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius FORMATThere are about 30 very short chapters (typically, three pages of well-spaced text). Each uses an artist's palette to conjure ordinary scenes of human interaction in a small Swiss Germanic town. Everyman, everyday, anytown - except that the unique way time operates in each place creates a uniquely alien culture.It's full of dilemmas and paradoxes, and the book itself is a paradox: it's so little and light, but it contains SO much of weight. (There, Apatt, I've squeezed in a TARDIS.)"Each time is true, but the truths are not the same."WHO IS THIS FOR?It's for anyone who likes to play with ideas and appreciates beautiful writing. I know real physicists who have enjoyed this, but you certainly don't need any esoteric knowledge to be transported by it. POETIC PROSEI appreciated the lyricism as I read it, but mainly noted down the ideas. * There are many series of single-sentence, seemingly unrelated, vignettes, especially on page 58-60: "Footprints in snow on a winter island. A boat on the water at night, its lights dim in the distance... A locked cabinet of pills. A leaf on the ground in autumn, red and gold and brown, delicate... A mother on her bed, weeping, the smell of basil in the air... Sunlight, in long angles through the window in late afternoon... A worn book lying on a table beside a dim lamp."* Sunrise: "Ten minutes past six by the invisible clock on the wall. Minute by minute, new objects gain form."* "Hypothetically, time might be smooth or rough, prickly or silky, hard or soft. But in this world, the texture of time happens to be sticky."* "In a world where time is a sense... a sequence of episodes may be quick or may be slow, dim or intense, salty or sweet, causal or without cause, orderly or random." Here, "the time-deaf are unable to speak what they know. For speech needs a sequence of words, spoken in time."* "Where time stands still... Raindrops hang motionless in the air. Pendulums... float mid-swing. Dogs raise the muzzles in silent howls... The aromas of dates, mangoes, coriander, cumin are suspended in space."* Time can be measured by things other than clocks: "by the changes in heavenly bodies... by heartbeats... the duration of loneliness."HOW TO BE HAPPYThis is a book of hypotheses, not solutions. It isn't theological or prescriptive, but its exposition of adaptation and happiness spoke to me. In most of the worlds, some people have coping strategies that bring happiness, or at least contentment, whereas others are mired in misery. In many cases, that means going to great, even ridiculous, lengths to gain just a little bit more time. In those respects, these worlds are like our own. In some of the worlds, predestination or inevitability breeds recklessness, "free to do as he pleases, free in a world without freedom."In another, it's suggested that "a world where time is absolute is a world of consolation" because time is predictable. I'm not sure about that one; people are still unpredictable. Lightman is also very upbeat about a world where people have no memories: every night is the first night, and people live in the present - but they could just as easily be reckless, not being able to learn from experience.Should we live for the moment, the past, or the future (echoes of A Christmas Carol?)? Would you "rather have an eternity of contentment, even if that eternity were fixed and frozen, like a butterfly, mounted in a case"? There is no single answer, but I believe we are responsible creating the framework for our own happiness. We may need help (especially if saddled with depression or grim circumstances), but ultimately, peace can only come from within. How one achieves that is trickier - rather like the solution for travelling safely through a black hole that starts, "First, build a time machine..." (or maybe the way to build a time machine is to first find the black hole?). WEIRD WAYS TIME COULD WORK - Spoilerish?Some examples of worlds described in the book. For each, the implications of understanding and ignorance of the nature of time is different, and almost all could be the basis for a whole novel:* "Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself. The world repeats itself, precisely, endlessly."* "Time is like a flow of water, occasionally displaced by a bit of debris, a passing breeze.... People caught in the branching tributaries find themselves suddenly carried to the past."* A stop/start world where time is "seemingly continuous from a distance but disjointed close up."* "Time has three dimensions, like space... an object may participate in three perpendicular futures."* "Time is like the light between two mirrors... a world of countless copies."* "There is mechanical time and there is body time." One is "rigid and metallic", the other "squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay... Where the two times meet, desperation. Where the two times go their separate ways, contentment."* "Time flows more slowly the farther from the centre of the earth." Or the converse: "The centre of time" from which "time travels outward in concentric circles", getting faster as one is further away. Where time is a local phenomenon, passing at a different rate, each town has to become a self-sufficient island, and no traveller can ever return home, being "cut off in time, as well as space".* "Time is visible in all places. A vast scaffold of time, stretching across the universe." And "Time is a visible dimension... one may choose his motion along the axis of time." Which way would you go?* "Consider a world in which cause and effect are erratic... each act is an island in time." Scientists are helpless, but artists love it.* "A world without a future... Time is a line that terminates at the present, both in reality and in the mind."* What about a world where everyone knows it will end in a month? Lightman sees it "a world of equality", but I think that's optimistic. Or where people are like mayflies and live for only a day each. * What about a world where people live forever? Does infinite time and infinite possibility send you to a frenzy of business, experiencing everything you can imagine, or does it take the pressure off, so you sit around, doing nothing just yet?* "The passage of time brings increasing order." In spring, people create mess and chaos.* "Imagine a world in which there is no time. Only images." I can't really get my head round that one, but it's the most beautiful one.* "Time is not a quantity but a quality... Time exists, but it cannot be measured... Events are triggered by other events, not by time."* "Time flows not evenly, but fitfully and... as a consequence, people receive fitful glimpses of the future." (Shades of Flashforward.) Here, "Those who have seen the future do not need to take risks, and those who have not yet seen the future wait for their vision without taking risks."* "Time passes more slowly for people in motion." The converse would have possibilities too.* There's a backward-flowing time, but Kurt Vonnegut, Martin Amis (and others) have done that in Slaughterhouse Five and Time's Arrow respectively.Perhaps we should try to ignore time. One world has only just discovered objective measurement of it. The clock "was magical... unbearable... outside natural law" but it could not be ignored, so they worshipped it. "They have been trapped by their own inventiveness and audacity. And they must pay with their lives." TINY FLAWThe alternative time chapters are interspersed with occasional ones describing Einstein as a young patent clerk, working on this theories of time. I found these an unnecessary and unwelcome distraction.HOW TO READ ITYou could easily sit and read this book in one short session, but although you would imbibe the beauty and the tangling of time, I wanted to digest and ponder a few worlds at a... time. I might choose differently on a reread, though.TO MY FRIENDS - yes, you!This is another wonderful book that I discovered purely because of the enticing reviews of several friends on GR. Thank you. To my other friends, I redirect the favour by recommending this book to you.
Today I had some time on my hands to provide you with the thoughts I have on this book.Developing a scientific theory surly takes time. I won't happen over night. I always wondered what goes around in the minds of great minds when they are "in the zone", totally immersed in their respective thoughts. What are their dreams at night after a full day of theorizing? This book gives an answer, albeit a fictional one.Author Alan Lightman (what an aptly name for a physicist) provides a dream diary of Albert Einstein. He, Einstein, had these fictional dreams shortly before he published the special theory of relativity (or is it theory of special relativity?) in 1905. At that time he worked as a patent clerk in Berne, Switzerland.All of the 30 dreams deal with the subject of time in one form or another. Before reading I had my doubts if I could comprehend this book at all. I have very little knowledge of physics in general and especially of Einstein's theories. Fortunately, it turned out that I don't have to to like this book. Every dream is set in Berne (or nearby), and depicts things and people we perceive in reality. The physical/theoretical world is transfered to a familiar place and becomes somewhat tangible to us. Surly in this macrocosm the things that are described will certainly never take place. But that's Okay - they are dreams after all. Every dream starts with a different premise: For example, what would it be like if time would repeat endlessly? Or, how would it be if time would run differently in different places? Or, what if we had no idea on the concept of "future", living only in the present moment? Those are three variations on time in Einstein's dreams. In the book are still a whole lot more.Time out!I just recall the Pirahã tribe from the Amazon region in Brazil. They actually have no future. What I mean is, there are no words in their language to describe future events — and they are quite happy with that, and why not? In the Pirahã language there are also no words for the past and no numbers. Difficult for us to imagine, but apparently still possible. All of this from the book Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes, a recommended read for linguists.End of time-out. Back to Einstein and his dreams.After reading I briefly skimmed the articles on relativity theory on Wikipedia. Some of the issues discussed there, in particular the different forms of time dilation, are obviously also in the dreams. (One thing I don't get are the houses on mountains and why putting them there should be an advantage. Shouldn't it be the other way around?) Whether Einstein developed his theories from his dreams, or vice versa, the author doesn't say. So we don't know what is cause and what is effect. But at least, from one of the dreams, we learn that the order of cause and effect might become reversed. I'm sure physicists have a lot of fun with Einstein's dreams. But I enjoyed it too.Although relatively young, this book is a timeless classic full of time. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
What do You think about Einstein's Dreams (2004)?
This was for me a refreshing and delightful read on alternative conceptions of time, borne out of playful thought experiments set among the residents of the city of Berne Switzerland in 1908. These permutations are alternated with interludes from the daily life of Einstein, who was then using his free time as a patent office worker to develop his Special Theory of Relativity, which demands of us to conceive of time as just another dimension in the space-time continuum. Most will have heard of his thought experiments such as illustrating conflicting perceptions of time by observers on a train or at a station as it travels by near the speed of light. The vignettes in this short book are extreme extensions of this approach which draw in the human context and reactions to the various logical and often absurd possibilities.For example, how might society adapt to knowledge that people living at higher altitudes, which has less gravitational pull from the earth, live longer. Lightman imagines a fad of the wealthy putting dwellings on stilts or on mountains. Given that those in motion experience a slowing of time, might a similar cultural focus on longer life lead to a society where they set their homes and businesses in constant motion on train tracks? The silliness of such scenarios motivated by gaining seconds out of a lifetime doesn’t hinder the pleasure of such fantasies. Other conceptions strike closer to everyday experience, such a personalities who value events of the past, present, or future to an excessive degree. It is easy to see how different emphases can vary with a person’s stage in life or age. And we all know people who live totally by schedules of clock time and others who drift along impervious to such restrictions, and some who mark time on a slower than others of a more hyperkinetic mentality. What if temporal reality was actually linked to individual perspectives? A fast paced person would seem to be one who time travels on ahead of fellow time turtles. And if each day we awoke with no past or with no future, could on imagine adapting, finding a way to truly live in a present with only a past or future. These poetic essays and philosophical fantasies have their closest precedents in the work of Borges an Calvino. Once you’ve walked these strange mental pathways, it will be hard to see your life in time the same again.
—Michael
I had an awful Physics teacher at University, but one thing he was good at was getting the class to understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which has always fascinated me.This book was brilliant. Imagine a world where time is a circle.Or a world where cause and effect are erratic. Or a world where time is not continuous. These are a few of the worlds Einstein dreams up while he's working on his Theory. Time is definitely a central theme in this book and few will be able to look at time (or life) in the same way after reading this book. I was impressed by how creatively Lightman used the different concepts of time in his little vignettes. This book has compelled me to look for fiction written by scientists. A very unique,intelligent and philosophical read.
—Rowena
This seemed like something that would be right up my alley, but man, were these 140 double-spaced pages hard to get through.We get about 30 four-to-five page chapters that each cover how the world would work if the concept of time was different -- What if time moved at different speeds in different cities? What if people had no conception of the future? What if everyone's life span was only one day? Etc etc etc. Sounds cool, sure.Unfortunately the writing is so lightweight that each five-page section seems to drag on forever. After you get how time "works" in the first few sentences, nothing interesting is revealed, and Lightman actually repeats paragraphs with the same exact idea, just with a different person/object/whatever. Making matters worse, Lightman's prose is...um...well, you may notice that a lot of blurbs and reviews call it "simple" or "clear" or "easy to understand", which in this case just means "real bad". Look, Lightman is obviously way smarter than I will ever be, and the idea itself is interesting, and works well in certain parts, but I can't help thinking how Borges or Calvino or someone with greater skills would've knocked this concept into another time zone. This just reads like a college writing exercise. Disappointing.
—Marc Kozak
