Time One: Understanding Physics

by Colin Gillespie

The physicist and author of This Changes Everything presents an engaging inquiry into the origins of the universe and the beginning of time.   In Time One, Colin Gillespie takes on the greatest scientific mystery of all time with the aid of a fictional detective. Approaching forty-seven classic philosophical problems as clues to the question of how the universe began, Gillespie connects the dots across centuries of philosophy, literature and religion—and leads readers to asingle, elegant solution.   Using the devices of storytelling to help readers understand the serious science being discussed—such as the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and string theory—Gillespie reveals the very instant time begins and explains exactly how the universe is constructed. Time One tackles the most important issues in physics and cosmology and its answers are both fascinating and strikingly simple.

Genres: Science, Audiobook

449 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 25, 2013

About the author

Colin Gillespie is the author of This Changes Everything and Time One: Discover How the Universe Began.

An Australian-born physicist, Canadian lawyer and writer, he is the author of some 30 scientific research publications in quantum physics, biophysics, neurophysiology and radiation biology.

Colin has also written on social planning, class actions, aboriginal law, environmental management and indigenous constitutions.

He is an avid traveler, having spent time in more than 50 countries in all six continents.

Reviews

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought I had this book figured out, but in the end I was wrong – or at least I guess I was wrong. My answer and the author’s answer could both be correct. We don’t have all the clues about the physics of the beginning so who can know the real answers about the exact process that took place.

“Time One” is a story about a quest to find the answer about the beginning of the universe. Actually, it is a quest to find out what happened a second before the beginning, why it happened, and how it happened. A shadowy female character hires a beach bum guy to do computer research about the beginning. She also hired a retired police detective to take the clues as discovered by the beach bum and come up with an answer. An unusual approach, but then the “professional” scientists can seem to find out what happened before he “big bang”. They can’t even agree on the “big bang”! So maybe a totally different approach will work.

I loved the science part of the story but the introduction of the detective seemed out of place. I began to feel that the detective sort of plays the part of the reader since most of the intended audience will not be excessively proficient in physics. The detective is in the same boat since he has no science background at all. His only specialty is using clues to solve crimes/mysteries. The whole detective angle seems forced and convoluted. I was happy that the science was simplified, but the crime/detective part did not work for me.

What amazed me more than anything is discovering the lengths that science and scientists will go to in order to avoid acknowledging that God created the beginning and everything since! They turn themselves and everything else inside out trying to pound a square answer in to a round question. The image the average person gets is that science has all the answers and that what they say is absolute. They can’t even agree among themselves and change their minds repeatedly.

I recommend the book for those interested in physics but I can’t recommend it for those looking for a detective story. I enjoyed the book, but at the same time found it very frustrating. If you are looking for an unusual, simplified approach to a complex topic, check it out.

I was provided a free copy of this book for review from Big Fizz Publishers and Net Gallery. I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was really interesting, but about 25% too long. I tried to quit reading early on, but then it got really interesting. Treating physics (QM and GR) like a detective story and searching for the beginning of time is a really interesting approach. I don’t know enough about the topic to know if his ideas hold water, but they really seem to . He touches on many of the fundamental questions that are lingering out there and provides insight into what many of the great thinkers in physics posited. I think his presentations of their arguments are correct, but I’m not sure. None the less, I found it to be a pretty good tale, but I did wear out near the end. I listened to the book on tape, so it might have been better to read the book than to listen to it. As an audiobook, it was just oo long. It was a struggle to stay with it until the end. I went to the book’s web site and it was great. It really helps clear up some things. Th link is timeone.ca

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

If like me you are addicted to books about "How it all began", Chickens and Eggs, and whether Albumen, Yolks, and Eggshells were all preconditions, and if so, where did they come from. Then, I guarantee this will not disappoint and will in fact intrigue you. It's big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to this book. [See what I did there?] Or to put it another way it's turtles all the way down with each one examined till..... spoilers he never mentions the butler!
Many will hate it from very early on. Wheres, he going with this will be the cry. A marathon back to the starting line. It's the journey not necessarily the destination. I for one enjoyed it.

[Mikal Svendsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now THIS is one of the most insightful book I have read. Well, I listened to it on audiobook but it really suits that format. You really need to give it your attention, as the whole book is an investigation into the origins of the world. That is to say; not the big bang, but "that which banged".

[Brian Clegg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have always said that there is a real opportunity if anyone can write fiction that manages to entertain but also to educate about science at the same time. It is certainly possible, but fiercely difficult to do well. As we saw with something like Pythagoras’ Revenge, the result almost inevitably is either bad fiction with a slew of science or readable fiction where the science really doesn’t come across well. So I was excited when I saw the publicity for Colin Gillespie’s TimeOne, intriguingly subtitled ‘discover how the universe began.’

The idea of this work of fiction with a strong science content is to explore the nature of the big bang using the unusual concept of having a detective examine the ‘clues’ to see if they can work out how it all began. I’ve given it an extra bracketed star for ingenuity and effort, but I have to say that the outcome did not give me any joy.

There is plenty of reasonable science in here (along with an awful lot of philosophy and waffle), but the problem is that as a story it is nothing short of awful. There are three main characters, the employer, a mysterious woman who keeps popping into the office then flying off to mysterious destinations, the narrator, who is employed as a researcher to dig up the facts and history of the science, and an ex-cop detective who seems mostly there as a foil for the researcher. Three hours into reading all that had happened was that the employer came and went, the researcher VERY gradually dug out bits of information about relativity, quantum theory and the like, and the detective slobbed about. There was no story, no suspense, no real characters, no development, no plot.

Add to this an incredibly slow laying out of the facts, with a huge slab of philosophising and I really could not keep reading. It was extremely hard work with no real reward. I did try skipping forward to see how it would all turn out, but I couldn’t find any deviation from this formula (nor any great revelation about the big bang).

As I said at the start, I admire the intent and the work that has gone into this – I just don’t think that anyone is going to learn much science, or have any enjoyment from it as fiction.

[Lis Carey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. Gillespie seems to be serious about his physics, and to a non-physicist, it doesn't sound much stranger than currently accepted physics. Gillespie also has what appear to be real physics credentials, too. He seems to have the notion of popularizing high-end physics and encouraging broad popular interest in revitalizing physics.

But there's the rub. If you want to inspire serious interest in physics, it's a bit odd to do it in a book with a fictional narrator on the fringes of a terrorist plot. It's as if he thinks he has to sugar-coat the physics and spoon-feed it to us. Generations of other science popularizers have done far better with far more respect for their readers.

So my verdict on the physics is that it's likely nonsense, fiction created for a rather oddly structured novel.This is unfortunate, because the fictional frame is weak and, at best, annoying.

Our Narrator is full of himself, smarter than everyone, disdainful of his boss but indifferent to her activities even when he suspects the worst. His classist contempt for Frank, the ex-LAPD detective, seems largely disconnected from any real flaws Frank has.

Meanwhile, if Frank or the unnamed boss have any ideals, ethics, or goals, or any motive for the undertaking they're involved in, we certainly don't find out about it.

And really, I don't care. None of these characters is worth the time we spend with them. That's before we get to the question of whether Our Narrator, or the voice in his head, are even sane. This book doesn't work as fiction, and doesn't work as science popularization.

Not recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenge to read but well worth the effort. Something to really get your teeth into. Explores the big unresolved issues in physics and philosophy through the device of detective fiction and comes to some surprising conclusions about what happened before the "Big Bang". The very short chapters and use of everyday language (wherever possible) make it accessible for anyone persistent enough to read and think about it.

I don't need scientific proof of God's existence, but this is it as far as I am concerned. Enjoy!

[Kadri · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is mixing a detective story with modern physics in a quest to find out how time began. I found it confusing, not because of the science involved, but because of the fiction treatment.