Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time

`splendidly provocative ... enjoy it as a feast for the imagination.' John Gribbin, Sunday Times Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way round? The universe began with the Big Bang - will it end with a 'Big Crunch'? This exciting book presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the paradoxes of time to look at the world from a fresh perspective and he throws fascinating new light on some of the great mysteries of the universe. `a significant contribution, remarkable for its scope ... written with great clarity and conviction.' Ilya Prigogine, THES `a useful addition to the literature on time, particularly as it reveals the influence of modern science on the way a philosopher thinks.' Peter Coveney, New Scientist `the author has done physicists a great service in laying out so clearly and critically the nature of the various time-asymmetry problems of physics.' John Barrow, Nature `a thoughtful (and thought-provoking) analysis of the time-asymmetry problem of physics which is in many ways deeper and more illuminating than accounts to be found elsewhere.' Roger Penrose `Huw Price is one of a handful of philosophers with a thorough grasp of the notorious arrow of time problem ... Price applies critical reasoning and penetrating insight to the current theories of physics and cosmology that have a bearing on this problem. Among the many ideas discussed here is the controversial claim that time's arrow would reverse in a recontracting universe.' Paul Davies