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Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time cover art

Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time

By: Sean Carroll, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Sean Carroll
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Publisher's Summary

Time rules our lives, woven into the very fabric of the universe - from the rising and setting of the sun to the cycles of nature, the thought processes in our brains, and the biorhythms in our day. Nothing so pervades our existence and yet is so difficult to explain.

But now, in a series of 24 riveting lectures, you can grasp exactly why - as you take a mind-expanding journey through the past, present, and future, guided by a noted author and scientist. Designed for nonscientists as well as those with a background in physics, the lectures show how a feature of the world that we all experience - a process known as entropy - connects us to the instant of the formation of the universe, and possibly to a multiverse that is unimaginably larger and more varied than the known cosmos.

Drawing on such exciting ideas as black holes, cosmic inflation, and dark energy, the lectures also address a momentous question that until recently was considered unanswerable: What happened before the big bang? And while the focus is on physics, Professor Carroll also examines philosophical views on time, how we perceive and misperceive time, the workings of memory, and serious proposals for time travel, as well as imaginative ways that time has been disrupted in fiction.

"What is time?" asked Saint Augustine 1,600 years ago. "If no one asks me, I know. But if I wish to explain it to someone who asks, I know not." These lectures will move you much closer to an answer.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

What listeners say about Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time

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I just keep listening to it over and over again.

Can feel my brain going from a dense low entropy state to rapid expansion 😜

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good book

good book for amateurs. gives good knowledge around physics and its free.
the author has put the words so brilliantly that i can understand the concepts pretty well and the narrators are good too.

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Entropic

My state of mind fluctuated quite a bit during these lectures. Not too bad with the Arrow of Time but descended markedly every time Entropy. showed its head.

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fantastic topic.Mind blowing in places

Fantastic story with figures that makeas science fiction look and sound like a dreary, boring yarn. How such knowledge is worked out is almost as unbelievable.

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Good!!

It takes a bit of overdoing the basic things but its all necessary if your going to grasp the concept that he is talking about, awesome series

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A well related story of times past and present.

Sean Carroll relates his obviously vast knowledge of the universe in relation to time. Brilliant.

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Mindblowing

Wait till the last lecture. If that doesn't blow your mind, nothing will. I'm glad to be fortunate enough to have lived this long to hear this series, no kidding.

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The subject is interesting but presented badly

This is an interesting and difficult subject, for sure. The author didn't manage to present it in an interesting and clear way. I've listened to ~20 Great Courses, many of which on physics, and this was my least favorite...

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Pop science and philosophy

Pretty sure that the majority of this lecture will appear comical and wrong in a hundred years time. It's a mixture of popular science and philosophical speculation, neither of which teach you very much. Nevertheless I did learn the occasional thing and finished the book.

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