The Order of Time
Complex
Emotional
Heartwarming

The Order of Time

Carlo Rovelli2018
'A dazzling book ... the new Stephen Hawking' Sunday Times The bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics takes us on an enchanting, consoling journey to discover the meaning of time 'We are time. We are this space, this clearing opened by the traces of memory inside the connections between our neurons. We are memory. We are nostalgia. We are longing for a future that will not come.' Time is a mystery that does not cease to puzzle us. Philosophers, artists and poets have long explored its meaning while scientists have found that its structure is different from the simple intuition we have of it. From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. Time flows at a different speed in different places, the past and the future differ far less than we might think, and the very notion of the present evaporates in the vast universe. With his extraordinary charm and sense of wonder, bringing together science, philosophy and art, Carlo Rovelli unravels this mystery. Enlightening and consoling, The Order of Time shows that to understand ourselves we need to reflect on time -- and to understand time we need to reflect on ourselves. Translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre
Sign up to use

Reviews

Photo of Xiang
Xiang@xiaoming
5 stars
Feb 8, 2025

It’s difficult to find a book (especially about theory) that is equal parts clear and groundbreaking. The book is split into 3 parts:

  1. The dissolving of our current understanding of time

  2. Briefly, theories about what happens at the quantum level

  3. An attempt to rebuild time, why do we experience it the way we do and how is time emergent?

Carlo is a very well read physicist and draws upon history, literature and philosophy to talk about time. He explains why entropy can only ever increase (or why we think so), general relativity and thermal time. It’s the smoothest non-fiction read I’ve had in a while and would recommend for anyone interested in philosophy/concept of time.

Photo of 🪢
🪢@dictee
4.5 stars
Nov 14, 2024

everything reminds me of disco elysium

i remember both danica and madina recommending me this book at different points in my life and now i understand!!!!!

+3
Photo of Ned Summers
Ned Summers @nedsu
4 stars
Jan 31, 2024

Lots of interesting and some quite pretty ideas. Gets a little lost in itself in the middle; too much physics to be intuitively understood whilst but too little to be studied. Worth checking out

Photo of Cameryn Wright
Cameryn Wright@cambam
2.5 stars
Nov 23, 2023

This isn't the right book I read Order of the Scorpians. It was 700 pages of torture and foursomes. I wasnt really into it

Photo of Coleman McCormick
Coleman McCormick@coleman
5 stars
Aug 13, 2023

A succinct and powerful rumination on the nature of time, gravitation, and quantum theory. Because it's not overly technical, more philosophical, it was great in audio form.

Photo of madina
madina@humaintain
5 stars
Jul 4, 2023

i've read several science nonfiction books that talk about time, but none of them has cemented understanding about it in my brain the way this book has. i can confidently say i understand the existence & non-existence of time & what is meant by "time is relative" because of this book. i said to ilzan & nishrin that if you want to read a better version of contact light, read this book instead - & i feel even more strongly about that after finishing ch. 8 & ch. 12.

i feel like i need an extended resensi for this - an actual post, piece of writing after this book, rather than just a review on a social platform for reading. but for now -

thank you for making me tear up at the transjakarta route S21 (multiple times!), thank you for brushing past me in this flicker of a life. thank you for letting your words weave through me.

+4
Photo of Olga V
Olga V@berrybell
4 stars
Apr 21, 2023

Short, sweet, and intelligent; some sections have lost me for a bit but eventually made sense. It's a pleasure to read and definitely a candidate for a second reading.

+3
Photo of Tuago
Tuago@iagomr
5 stars
Apr 13, 2023

Beautifully written short book on what is time and what do we know about it so far. Some parts are mind blowing because they teach you so much and some others because they are so hard to understand. Will have to re-read at some point.

Photo of Catherine Flanagan
Catherine Flanagan@cascais
3 stars
Jan 28, 2023

An enjoyable read, the book was a good introduction that helped me contemplate a fascinating topic but lacked depth. I felt several key concepts were simply touched on instead of explored. I had anticipated these topics would be discussed further in the next chapter… but they weren’t. Will read more Rovelli books.

Photo of Johnny Noble
Johnny Noble@johnnydecimal
3 stars
Dec 24, 2022

More philosophy than physics. I much, much preferred Rovelli’s ‘Reality Is Not What It Seems’.

Photo of Kristof Revilak
Kristof Revilak@kristofino
4 stars
Dec 17, 2022

very nice and philosophic, definitely for another read

Photo of Daniel Lauzon
Daniel Lauzon@daneroo
5 stars
Sep 5, 2022

A perfect little book. Deep yet accessible. It discusses the fundamental nature of time, and feels like a book of philosophy or poetry.

Photo of Nelson Zagalo
Nelson Zagalo@nzagalo
5 stars
Sep 3, 2022

Rovelli é fascinante, como Sagan e Hawking foram. Há muito tempo que não me sentia tão curioso durante a leitura de um livro de simples divulgação científica, porque Rovelli usa linguagem e metáforas acessíveis e porque o assunto é o Tempo, algo a que todos estamos presos, queiramos ou não. Descobrir aquilo que Rovelli tem para nos contar é um pouco como descobrir algo sobre nós mesmos, porque este livro não é sobre o Tempo, este livro é sobre aquilo de que nós e o cosmos somos feitos. Rovelli perfura pela matéria e tempo adentro abrindo-nos ao espanto da descoberta. Admirável. Continuar a ler no VI, em: https://virtual-illusion.blogspot.com...

Photo of jordan
jordan@jksbooks
4 stars
Sep 2, 2022

Found myself googling terms and chapter summaries more often than I have to when I attempt to read poetry Made me think a lot (which I love) and forced me to use the rewind button many times. I love Benedict cumberbatch’s voice, but if my thoughts drifted for even 30 seconds I felt like I was lost

Photo of Mohamed Nagi
Mohamed Nagi@monagi
3 stars
Sep 1, 2022

الكتاب ممتع ومختلف بيشرح فكرة الزمن بشكل مبسط لا يخلوا طبعا من المفاهيم العلمية و المصطلحات الفيزيائية ولكن بالاجمال يمكن فهمها وفهم الفكرة والنظريات التي يطرحها الكاتب بخصوص الزمن

Photo of Alfredo santos
Alfredo santos@alf
5 stars
Aug 26, 2022

Gave me such joy to finally understand in more detail what "time" is from a scientific perspective, it's particles, relation to gravitational forces and entropy. This book is by no means for scientists, but for people who want to understand the fabric of time on simpler terms, but based on science. The author goes to great lengths to fully explain for the right audience and touches different subjects about the human perception of time vs the scientific composition of time. It's also a bit short and with great references in case you want to further research. Kept me thinking for days about how we perceive it vs how it truly is and behaves. Definitely one of my favorite non fiction reads of the last years.

Photo of Mundy Otto Reimer
Mundy Otto Reimer@mundyreimer
3 stars
Aug 16, 2022

Started out at 3-4 stars and ended up somewhere around 2.5. Some process philosophy, loop quantum gravity, and the philosophy + physics of time. Had some nice philosophical parts coming from a physicist, but strayed too much into the poetic and pop-sci for my personal tastes. The author and I also agreed too much which made it not really interesting to me.

Photo of Harsha G
Harsha G@harsha
5 stars
Jun 24, 2022

One of the most important books of all time. Get it? This has some complex ideas that are presented in a rather confusing way, which nevertheless make up for a compelling picture of disparate thoughts and emotions that affects you in the same messy way that a Cubist painting would.

Photo of Teresa Su
Teresa Su@terisu
5 stars
Jun 14, 2022

Poetically eye-opening and beautiful.

Photo of Hannah Tierney
Hannah Tierney@htreads
3 stars
Apr 7, 2022

This book has a wonderful poetic narration but it lost me a few times when it was discussing intricate scientific concepts. Perhaps it was because I listened as an audiobook rather than reading.

+3
Photo of Cindy Lieberman
Cindy Lieberman@chicindy
5 stars
Mar 26, 2022

What is time but our way of ordering the world as we can perceive it? As humans we have evolved to be able to predict certain things, like where an arrow will be in the next moment. Thus we have created the framework we use for before and after, for the passing of time. There’s a lot more in here to contemplate, to digest…in time!

Photo of Ben Bleikamp
Ben Bleikamp@bleikamp
5 stars
Feb 25, 2022

Sets the bar for a clear, concise explanation of a complex, impossible topic

Photo of Fatin Allen
Fatin Allen@fatinallen
5 stars
Jan 10, 2022

The Order of Time was a really interesting piece. Refreshingly, the author Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist currently stationed in Marseille, tackled the question of time from a philosophical and poetical point of view with bits of physics. In the book, he asked stoic questions such as what does ‘now’ really mean and, how do we differentiate the past, the present and the future. He equally shared the argument between Aristotle and Newton which later synthesized by Einstein. I also liked how this book gave me a clearer insight of entropy and its characteristics, what I learnt in class. Upon completing this book, I realized that philosophy pushes sciences or rather physics to become what it is today and it still pushes, still ticks the minds of some of our greatest scientists. I’ve shared before, what modern science pre-Galileo is because let’s admit, Galileo is the father of modern science thanks to his scientific methods. Anyway, The Order of Time is a perfect book for those who are intrigued by time (like me) and for those who just need a fresh perspective of this world.

Photo of B. K.
B. K.@bk
4 stars
Oct 29, 2021

4 stars. I liked the first part of this book the most, got a bit lost in the middle, and appreciated the touches of philosophy mixed into the science throughout. Reading this via audiobook was the right choice for me, and I enjoyed Benedict Cumberbatch's narration.

Highlights

Photo of 🪢
🪢@dictee

When we cannot formulate a problem with precision, it is often not because the problem is profound: it's because the problem is false.

Page 202

/?;)37:&:&/&:)28:$3$&:,&,&

Photo of 🪢
🪢@dictee

The single quantity "time" melts into a spiderweb of times. We do not describe how the world evolves in time: we describe how things evolve in local time, and how local times evolve relative to each other. The world is not like a platoon advancing at the pace of a single commander. It's a network of events affecting each other.

Page 16
Photo of madina
madina@humaintain

So, thank you, John; thanks, Bryce. As human beings, we live by emotions and thoughts. We exchange them when we are in the same place at the same time, talking to each other, looking into each other's eyes, brushing against each other's skin. We are nourished by this network of encounters and exchanges. But, in reality, we do not need to be in the same place and time to have such exchanges. Thoughts and emotions that create bonds of attachment between us have no difficulty in crossing seas and decades, sometimes even centuries, tied to thin sheets of paper or dancing between the microchips of a computer. We are part of a network that goes far beyond the few days of our lives and the few square meters that we tread.

Page 124

i have no words... thank you for making tear up in tj s21

Photo of madina
madina@humaintain

—here and now. This is time for us. Memory and nostalgia. The pain of absence.

Page 123
Photo of madina
madina@humaintain

To describe the world, the time variable is not required. What is required are variables that actually describe it: quantities that we can perceive, observe, and eventually measure. [...] the color of the sky, the number of stars in the celestial vault, the elasticity of a piece of bamboo, the speed of a train, the pressure of a hand on a shoulder, the pain of a loss, the position of the hands on a clock, the height of the sun in the sky... These are the terms in which we describe the world.

Page 118

THE PRESSURE OF A HAND ON A SHOULDER....... the "real" (which requires this semantic breakdown of what is "real") things of the world. woooooow.

Photo of madina
madina@humaintain

Perhaps poetry is another of science's deepest roots: the capacity to see beyond the visible.

poetical science, i love you...

Photo of madina
madina@humaintain

What ties time to our nature as persons, to our subjectivity?

What am I listening to when I listen to the passing of time?

WHAT!!! now i understand why oomf said their friend said this was their favorite book. i've also been thinking of mental time-travel a lot, especially in relation with aphantasia. this is going to be so interesting...

Photo of Laura Mei
Laura Mei@thelibrariansnook

Every moment of our existence is linked by a peculiar triple thread to our past—the most recent and the most distant—by memory. Our present swarms with traces of our past. We are histories of ourselves, narratives. I am not this momentary mass of flesh reclined on the sofa typing the letter a on my laptop; I am my thoughts full of the traces of the phrases that I am writing; I am my mother’s caresses, and the serene kindness with which my father calmly guided me; I am my adolescent travels; I am what my reading has deposited in layers in my mind; I am my loves, my moments of despair, my friendships, what I’ve written, what I’ve heard; the faces engraved on my memory. I am this long, ongoing novel. My life consists of it.

Photo of Laura Mei
Laura Mei@thelibrariansnook

Past and future are different from each other. Cause precedes effect. Pain comes after a wound, not before it. The glass shatters into a thousand pieces, and the pieces do not re-form into a glass. We cannot change the past; we can have regrets, remorse, memories. The future instead is uncertainty, desire, anxiety, open space, destiny, perhaps. We can live toward it, shape it, because it does not yet exist. Everything is still possible. Time is not a line with two equal directions: it is an arrow with different extremities.

Photo of Laura Mei
Laura Mei@thelibrariansnook

Because everything that begins must end. What causes us to suffer is not in the past or the future: it is here, now, in our memory, in our expectations. We long for timelessness, we endure the passing of time: we suffer time. Time is suffering.


Photo of Najara Valente
Najara Valente@najara

Time passes more slowly for the one who keeps moving.

Photo of Najara Valente
Najara Valente@najara

This is time for us. Memory. A nostalgia. The pain of absence. But it isn't absence that causes sorrow. It is affection and love. Without affection, without love, such absences would cause us no pain. For this reason, even the pain caused by absence is in the end something good and even beautiful. Because it feeds on that which gives meaning to life.

Photo of Najara Valente
Najara Valente@najara

The notion of “the present” refers to things that are close to us, not to anything that is far away. Our “present” does not extend throughout the universe. It is like a bubble around us.

Photo of Najara Valente
Najara Valente@najara

This is the disconcerting conclusion that emerges from Boltzmann’s work: the difference between the past and the future refers only to our own blurred vision of the world. It’s a conclusion that leaves us flabbergasted: is it really possible that a perception so vivid, basic, existential—my perception of the passage of time—depends on the fact that I cannot apprehend the world in all of its minute detail? On a kind of distortion that’s produced by myopia? Is it true that, if I could see exactly and take into consideration the actual dance of millions of molecules, then the future would be “just like” the past?

Photo of Najara Valente
Najara Valente@najara

If I ask whether two events—one on Earth and the other on Proxima b—are happening “at the same moment,” the correct answer would be: “It’s a question that doesn’t make sense, because there is no such thing as ‘the same moment’ definable in the universe.” The “present of the universe” is meaningless.

Photo of Laura Mei
Laura Mei@thelibrariansnook

This is time for us. Memory. A nostalgia. The pain of absence. But it isn't absence that causes sorrow. It is affection and love. Without affection, without love, such absences would cause us no pain. For this reason, even the pain caused by absence is in the end something good and even beautiful. Because it feeds on that which gives meaning to life.

Page 121
Photo of Laura Mei
Laura Mei@thelibrariansnook

The absence of time does not mean, therefore, that everything is frozen and unmoving. It means that the incessant happening that wearies the world is not ordered along a time line, is not measured by a gigantic ticktocking. It is a boundless and disorderly network of quantum events.

Page 104