About Time: Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang

Adam Frank

Sep 2011 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

An expert “ponders fresh ideas in cosmology, such as string theory and the multi-verse, and how the human perception of time will change in the future” (Washington Post).

The Big Bang is all but dead, and we do not yet know what will replace it. Our lives are about to be dramatically shaken again—as altered as they were with the invention of the clock, the steam engine, the railroad, the radio and the Internet.

Astrophysicist Adam Frank explains how the texture of our lives changes along with our understanding of the universe’s origin. Since we awoke to self-consciousness fifty thousand years ago, our lived experience of time—from hunting and gathering to the development of agriculture to the industrial revolution to the invention of Outlook calendars—has been transformed and rebuilt many times. But the latest theories in cosmology—time with no beginning, parallel universes, eternal inflation—are about to send us in a new direction.

Time is both our grandest and most intimate conception of the universe. Many books tell the story, recounting the progress of scientific cosmology. Frank tells the story of humanity’s deepest question—when and how did everything begin?—alongside the story of how human beings have experienced time. He looks at the way our engagement with the world—our inventions, our habits and more—has allowed us to discover the nature of the universe and how those discoveries, in turn, inform our daily experience.

“An eloquent book.” —Nature

“A phenomenal blend of science and cultural history.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“This will fascinate anyone curious about the nexus of astronomy and history and, of course, time. Recommended.” —Library Journal

About the author

Adam Frank is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester and a regular contributor to Discover and Astronomy magazines. He has also written for Scientific American and many other publications and is the co-founder of NPR's 13:7 Cosmos & Culture blog. He was a Hubble Fellow and is the recipient of an American Astronomical Society Prize for his scientific writing.