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Hidden in Plain Sight 3: The Secret Of Time
You never knew theoretical physics could be so simple! What is time? Why does time exist? Why can't we remember the future? From Aristotle to Einstein, the mystery of time has puzzled philosophers and physicists down the ages. Enjoy a fascinating detective story to solve the mystery of time - but prepare to be amazed by the twist at the end of the tale!
169 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2014
235 people are currently reading
227 people want to read
About the author
Andrew H. Thomas
14 books11 followersDr. Andrew H. Thomas studied physics in the James Clerk Maxwell Building in Edinburgh University, and received his doctorate from Swansea University in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 24, 2014
Hidden in Plain Sight 3: The secret of time by “Andrew Thomas”
“Hidden in Plain Sight 3" is part of a wonderful series of science books by physicist, Dr. Andrew Thomas. In his third book of the series, he considers what is time. Using physics only as a guide Thomas takes the reader on a journey that consists of going through the data and reaching an interesting conclusion. I’m not a physicist so I can’t validate his interesting conclusion but the ride has certainly expanded my understanding of the concepts presented. This enjoyable 169-page book includes the following ten chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. The Speed of Light, 3. Synchronicity, 4. Spacetime, 5. The Arrow of Time, 6. Time Dilation, 7. Inertia, 8. Universal Speed, 9. Energy and Momentum, and 10. The Secret of Time.
Positives:
1. A well-written, succinct, accessible book for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of time in the hands of an inquisitive mind.
3. Does a wonderful job of introducing concepts and/or scientific principles to the readers at an enjoyable and accessible level.
4. Great use of charts, illustrations and tables to assist readers. I can’t stress that enough.
5. Provides a brief history of time. “The first public clock was installed in Orvieto in Italy in 1307, and this innovation spread rapidly throughout the rest of Europe.”
6. Find out what Galileo’s greatest contribution was. It may not be what you are thinking.
7. Great respect for Maxwell. “And according to Richard Feynman: "From a long view of the history of mankind — seen from, say, ten thousand years from now — there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics.”
8. The recurring theme of the Copernican principle. “The Copernican principle states that no point — and no observer — in the universe holds a privileged position. It certainly seems reasonable to assume that the laws of physics apply equally to all observers — the universe is a very equitable place.”
9. Plenty of quotes of wisdom. “As Sherlock Holmes said: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, all that remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’"
10. Interesting look at reality based on perspective. “It shows that merely by moving relative to each other, two observers inhabit different realities. It is as if they inhabit two different universes.”
11. An interesting look at spacetime. The most intriguing chapter of the book is the chapter on spacetime. “Time is not actually moving — there are just multiple copies of you stretched-out through spacetime. The moving "now" slice is just an illusion of human perception.” “We do not exist as points in time, we are "stretched-out" as world lines from birth to death — like a millipede. This is the reality of our existence in spacetime.”
12. Provocative statements. “So what science and logic seems to be telling us is that the sensation we have of movement through time is nothing more than an illusion generated by our brains!”
13. Interesting connection between entropy and biology. “We can clearly also view the accumulation of DNA errors as an inevitable result of increasing entropy. This explains why cancer is an predominately a disease of old age.”
14. The concept of time dilation. “So if simultaneity is affected by relative motion, then time itself must be affected by relative motion (remember: time itself is defined by simultaneous events).”
15. The laws of motion revisited.
16. A bold conclusion. “So the speed of light is not a universal speed limit at all, it is just the speed that everything is moving — in spacetime.”
17. How the properties of energy and momentum add to the understanding of objects in motion and hence time. “This provides us with a general result: a stationary object moves through time at the speed of light. The only reason the object appears stationary to our eyes is because we are travelling through time at exactly the same speed!”
18. Remarkable results…not going to spoil it.
19. Further reading material provided.
20. A great Kindle value.
Negatives:
1. Speculative conclusion that hasn’t been validated by the scientific community. However, makes a compelling argument to this layperson.
2. Some concepts in theoretical physics are very hard to understand even at the most accessible level.
3. A table illustrating the prevailing consensus in science regarding the topics brought up in the book would add value.
4. Very few endnotes.
In summary, this was a fun and enlightening book on time. Dr. Thomas is an engaging author and scientist who does a wonderful job of building up his case to a revealing conclusion. Great use of charts, equations and a smooth narrative makes for an excellent science book. An excellent digital bargain, I recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Hidden in Plain Sight 1 and 2” by the same author, “About Time” by Adam Frank, “From Here to Eternity” by Sean Carroll, “A Question of Time” by Scientific American, "Time Reborn" by Lee Smolin,“Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth” by Jim Baggott, “The Elegant Universe” and “Hidden Reality” by Brian Greene, “Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field” by Nancy Forbes, and “Why Does E=mc2?” by Brian Cox.
“Hidden in Plain Sight 3" is part of a wonderful series of science books by physicist, Dr. Andrew Thomas. In his third book of the series, he considers what is time. Using physics only as a guide Thomas takes the reader on a journey that consists of going through the data and reaching an interesting conclusion. I’m not a physicist so I can’t validate his interesting conclusion but the ride has certainly expanded my understanding of the concepts presented. This enjoyable 169-page book includes the following ten chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. The Speed of Light, 3. Synchronicity, 4. Spacetime, 5. The Arrow of Time, 6. Time Dilation, 7. Inertia, 8. Universal Speed, 9. Energy and Momentum, and 10. The Secret of Time.
Positives:
1. A well-written, succinct, accessible book for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of time in the hands of an inquisitive mind.
3. Does a wonderful job of introducing concepts and/or scientific principles to the readers at an enjoyable and accessible level.
4. Great use of charts, illustrations and tables to assist readers. I can’t stress that enough.
5. Provides a brief history of time. “The first public clock was installed in Orvieto in Italy in 1307, and this innovation spread rapidly throughout the rest of Europe.”
6. Find out what Galileo’s greatest contribution was. It may not be what you are thinking.
7. Great respect for Maxwell. “And according to Richard Feynman: "From a long view of the history of mankind — seen from, say, ten thousand years from now — there can be little doubt that the most significant event of the 19th century will be judged as Maxwell's discovery of the laws of electrodynamics.”
8. The recurring theme of the Copernican principle. “The Copernican principle states that no point — and no observer — in the universe holds a privileged position. It certainly seems reasonable to assume that the laws of physics apply equally to all observers — the universe is a very equitable place.”
9. Plenty of quotes of wisdom. “As Sherlock Holmes said: ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, all that remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’"
10. Interesting look at reality based on perspective. “It shows that merely by moving relative to each other, two observers inhabit different realities. It is as if they inhabit two different universes.”
11. An interesting look at spacetime. The most intriguing chapter of the book is the chapter on spacetime. “Time is not actually moving — there are just multiple copies of you stretched-out through spacetime. The moving "now" slice is just an illusion of human perception.” “We do not exist as points in time, we are "stretched-out" as world lines from birth to death — like a millipede. This is the reality of our existence in spacetime.”
12. Provocative statements. “So what science and logic seems to be telling us is that the sensation we have of movement through time is nothing more than an illusion generated by our brains!”
13. Interesting connection between entropy and biology. “We can clearly also view the accumulation of DNA errors as an inevitable result of increasing entropy. This explains why cancer is an predominately a disease of old age.”
14. The concept of time dilation. “So if simultaneity is affected by relative motion, then time itself must be affected by relative motion (remember: time itself is defined by simultaneous events).”
15. The laws of motion revisited.
16. A bold conclusion. “So the speed of light is not a universal speed limit at all, it is just the speed that everything is moving — in spacetime.”
17. How the properties of energy and momentum add to the understanding of objects in motion and hence time. “This provides us with a general result: a stationary object moves through time at the speed of light. The only reason the object appears stationary to our eyes is because we are travelling through time at exactly the same speed!”
18. Remarkable results…not going to spoil it.
19. Further reading material provided.
20. A great Kindle value.
Negatives:
1. Speculative conclusion that hasn’t been validated by the scientific community. However, makes a compelling argument to this layperson.
2. Some concepts in theoretical physics are very hard to understand even at the most accessible level.
3. A table illustrating the prevailing consensus in science regarding the topics brought up in the book would add value.
4. Very few endnotes.
In summary, this was a fun and enlightening book on time. Dr. Thomas is an engaging author and scientist who does a wonderful job of building up his case to a revealing conclusion. Great use of charts, equations and a smooth narrative makes for an excellent science book. An excellent digital bargain, I recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Hidden in Plain Sight 1 and 2” by the same author, “About Time” by Adam Frank, “From Here to Eternity” by Sean Carroll, “A Question of Time” by Scientific American, "Time Reborn" by Lee Smolin,“Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth” by Jim Baggott, “The Elegant Universe” and “Hidden Reality” by Brian Greene, “Faraday, Maxwell and the Electromagnetic Field” by Nancy Forbes, and “Why Does E=mc2?” by Brian Cox.
May 7, 2014
Clear Concise and completely fascinating
This book is one of the best explanations of the role of time in the Universe described by Einstein's theories ultimately based on the axiom that no place in space and time is special. Without any mathematical arguments which might be inaccessible to someone without math comprehension beyond what a high school graduate would acquire if she were paying attention in class, Thomas explains how time, momentum, and energy are related and are prerequisites of the existence of any universe.
This book is one of the best explanations of the role of time in the Universe described by Einstein's theories ultimately based on the axiom that no place in space and time is special. Without any mathematical arguments which might be inaccessible to someone without math comprehension beyond what a high school graduate would acquire if she were paying attention in class, Thomas explains how time, momentum, and energy are related and are prerequisites of the existence of any universe.
December 21, 2020
These books get better every time! At first I was a bit put off because it is quite a big series, however each book builds on the scientific concepts of previous ones. For example, this one refers back to book one (I think) a lot when talking about relativity, then it goes further into why things happen. Although it is relatively simple, I really liked the first principle example of the equation for time dilation for speed. Andrew Thomas has an incredible talent for taking complex topics and breaking them down and making them easy to digest.
I thoroughly enjoy these books and would recommend anyone who is remotely interested to start from the beginning and work your way through.
Excellent read.
I thoroughly enjoy these books and would recommend anyone who is remotely interested to start from the beginning and work your way through.
Excellent read.
February 20, 2018
It is time or nothing
Hidden in plain sight 3 is an excellent book both in every detail as in the whole. Dr. Andrew Thomas did it again in this third part of the series: clear explanations and healthy analogies for explaining why time is the secret clue of the universe. Not only interesting but also informative and full of insights. Every book, I should say, by Dr. Thomas is an occasion for watching into the misteries of the universe as it were landscapes. Read it and you'll see. Read them all. That's the lesson.
Time, oh boy...
Hidden in plain sight 3 is an excellent book both in every detail as in the whole. Dr. Andrew Thomas did it again in this third part of the series: clear explanations and healthy analogies for explaining why time is the secret clue of the universe. Not only interesting but also informative and full of insights. Every book, I should say, by Dr. Thomas is an occasion for watching into the misteries of the universe as it were landscapes. Read it and you'll see. Read them all. That's the lesson.
Time, oh boy...
October 23, 2016
A wonderful book driven by a wonderful idea!
This is the best book on time I've read so far. The theories in this book are absolutely phenomenal. It is quite amazing that the greatest mysteries in physics have nothing but a simple and fundamental approach. I think hence the name " hidden in plain sight".
This is the best book on time I've read so far. The theories in this book are absolutely phenomenal. It is quite amazing that the greatest mysteries in physics have nothing but a simple and fundamental approach. I think hence the name " hidden in plain sight".
September 17, 2019
I really enjoyed the first two books in this series but this one felt the author had already said everything logical to say and was just rolling his own on the fly. His comment on why we don't remember the future: because the light hasn't hit it yet, ridiculous and I stopped reading at that point.
October 23, 2017
I enjoyed how he described the block model of time... with good science fiction. Using Slaughter-House Five as an example.
April 6, 2024
Considerations about time, considering Einstein's theories on the question of the vector of time.
October 31, 2014
Physics and philosophy of time: Is time an illusion?
Our understanding of spacetime has advanced in the last couple of years which has led to new thoughts about spacetime and physical reality. Some physicists suggest that space is an illusion and time is real; but others propose that time is an illusion and space is real. The key to this question is to understand the nature of physical reality: How matter (and energy) formed our universe in spacetime? Is it strictly guided by the laws of physics, a set of universal constants and four natural forces? How spacetime is treated in classical and quantum physics? In this book the author tries to address some fundamental questions about time. There are ten chapters and only two chapters (5 and 10) address the question of time directly. The concept of time is discussed mainly from the point of second law of thermodynamics which states that the entropy (chaos) of the universe is increasing (transitioning from order to disorder). Hence this sets the arrow of time, going from past to future. This explains why in our common experience, when a glass of water is dropped on to the floor, it breaks, but it does not reverse itself (to re-assemble) to form the glass with water, because that would be going from an disordered to an ordered state. The author does not go into details of underlying physics but uses a highly simplified approach to the concept of time. The book falls short of a good discussion on time.
According to relativistic physics, time is stitched together with space to form four-dimensional space-time. The passage of time is not absolute - no cosmic clock ticks away the hours of the universe. Instead, time differs from one frame of reference to the next, and what one observer experiences as time, another might experience as a mixture of time and space. In this spacetime concept, the past, present and future all exist together. Space-time is a frozen fabric that does not evolve. Our own existence, from birth to death, is set out in space-time in a timeless way. There is no time flow and no place for now. The concept of time might be similar to that of integers (whole numbers). All numbers exist simultaneously, and it would be insensible to think that the number 1 exists before the number 20.
In quantum physics time plays a key role, keeping track of the ever-changing probabilities, and the wave function of the universe evolves over a clock residing outside this universe. In this scenario the universe is split into two parts: the quantum system being observed and the classical world outside. In this fractured universe, a clock always remains outside the quantum system. According to physicist Carol Rovelli’s thermal time hypothesis, time emerges as a statistical effect, in the same way that temperature emerges from averaging the behavior of large groups of molecules. Most physicists believe space and time are quantized at the most fundamental scale and perhaps exists as atoms; grainy in nature just like the quantum nature of matter (and energy.)
Recently well-known physicists like Lee Smolin and Sean Carroll have provided an in-depth look at the concept of time. For interested readers, I recommend the following books:
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll
Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe by Lee Smolin
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics by Julian Barbour
Our understanding of spacetime has advanced in the last couple of years which has led to new thoughts about spacetime and physical reality. Some physicists suggest that space is an illusion and time is real; but others propose that time is an illusion and space is real. The key to this question is to understand the nature of physical reality: How matter (and energy) formed our universe in spacetime? Is it strictly guided by the laws of physics, a set of universal constants and four natural forces? How spacetime is treated in classical and quantum physics? In this book the author tries to address some fundamental questions about time. There are ten chapters and only two chapters (5 and 10) address the question of time directly. The concept of time is discussed mainly from the point of second law of thermodynamics which states that the entropy (chaos) of the universe is increasing (transitioning from order to disorder). Hence this sets the arrow of time, going from past to future. This explains why in our common experience, when a glass of water is dropped on to the floor, it breaks, but it does not reverse itself (to re-assemble) to form the glass with water, because that would be going from an disordered to an ordered state. The author does not go into details of underlying physics but uses a highly simplified approach to the concept of time. The book falls short of a good discussion on time.
According to relativistic physics, time is stitched together with space to form four-dimensional space-time. The passage of time is not absolute - no cosmic clock ticks away the hours of the universe. Instead, time differs from one frame of reference to the next, and what one observer experiences as time, another might experience as a mixture of time and space. In this spacetime concept, the past, present and future all exist together. Space-time is a frozen fabric that does not evolve. Our own existence, from birth to death, is set out in space-time in a timeless way. There is no time flow and no place for now. The concept of time might be similar to that of integers (whole numbers). All numbers exist simultaneously, and it would be insensible to think that the number 1 exists before the number 20.
In quantum physics time plays a key role, keeping track of the ever-changing probabilities, and the wave function of the universe evolves over a clock residing outside this universe. In this scenario the universe is split into two parts: the quantum system being observed and the classical world outside. In this fractured universe, a clock always remains outside the quantum system. According to physicist Carol Rovelli’s thermal time hypothesis, time emerges as a statistical effect, in the same way that temperature emerges from averaging the behavior of large groups of molecules. Most physicists believe space and time are quantized at the most fundamental scale and perhaps exists as atoms; grainy in nature just like the quantum nature of matter (and energy.)
Recently well-known physicists like Lee Smolin and Sean Carroll have provided an in-depth look at the concept of time. For interested readers, I recommend the following books:
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll
Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe by Lee Smolin
The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics by Julian Barbour
May 3, 2015
The Secret of Time......
This third part of the series of Hidden in Plain Sight is a very intriguing look at our known fourth dimension, time. This was the most explicit explanation I've ever read and it really blew my mind. I recommend this highly. Our perception of time is so convoluted and I guarantee the explanation of spacetime and their correlation will trip you out as well.
This third part of the series of Hidden in Plain Sight is a very intriguing look at our known fourth dimension, time. This was the most explicit explanation I've ever read and it really blew my mind. I recommend this highly. Our perception of time is so convoluted and I guarantee the explanation of spacetime and their correlation will trip you out as well.
May 17, 2016
Absolutely brilliant. Easy to follow in the most part, yet containing many nuggets of information that I'd never come across before. It also confirmed some hypotheses that I'd reasoned out myself about the nature of time. A deeply satisfying read if musing about the core nature of our Universe is your bag.
January 13, 2018
This book provides easy to follow discussions of time, relativity and gravitation. It’s an easier read than hawking’s brief history of time. Thomas is a better writer than Hawking. There are still some confusing spots, but that’s just the nature of the subject. This is the third volume I’ve read and I’m anxious to move on to volume 4.
March 28, 2015
The way he explains physics anyone can understand and even complex subjects become accessible for non-physicists, as me. His books are delightful as a novel to be read, and I could not stop reading until I got to the end. I am already excited to read his next one.
April 5, 2016
Excellent explanation of a theory on time
Does a good job of explaining time from a basic understanding to complex theory. Mathematical equations were helpful in explanation. Good read
Does a good job of explaining time from a basic understanding to complex theory. Mathematical equations were helpful in explanation. Good read
May 5, 2014
Fascinating!
well written and easy to understand explanation of time and it's implications for our universe. can't wait for the next installment.
well written and easy to understand explanation of time and it's implications for our universe. can't wait for the next installment.
September 5, 2022
It's about someone wrote this book. It is jammed packed with insights into what makes the universe tick. Thank you, Andrew Thomas.
Read
April 1, 2017Excellent read. Thomas's knowledge and skill at
Bringing the reader to the edge of what is possible
To know is fascinating. his books are a pleasure. ...
Bringing the reader to the edge of what is possible
To know is fascinating. his books are a pleasure. ...
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews