If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that time actually ticks faster in the mountains than at sea level, and what this strange phenomenon tells us about the true nature of reality?
- Have you ever wondered why the concept of a universal 'now' is a scientific illusion, meaning your present moment doesn't technically exist for someone else in the cosmos?
- What if the linear flow of time from past to future is just a trick of the human mind rather than a fundamental law of physics?
Listen to The Order of Time — Free Audiobook
Loading player...
Key Takeaways from The Order of Time
- Discover why time passes at different speeds depending on your location, moving measurably faster high up in the mountains than at sea level.
- Understand the fundamental connection between time and heat, and learn why the distinction between the past and the future relies entirely on microscopic motion.
- Learn how Einstein's discoveries prove that time slows down when you move quickly, rendering the concept of a universal 'present' nonsensical across the cosmos.
- Explore the quantum concept of granularity to see how time does not flow continuously, but rather exists in tiny, discrete grains known as Planck time.
- Find out why time is both indeterminate and relational, meaning its flow fluctuates unpredictably and can only be defined through its interactions with physical matter.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from The Order of Time
Mind Map
The Order of Time
Relativity of Time
Gravity & Altitude
Speed & Motion
No Universal Present
Interwoven Spacetime
Quantum Nature of Time
Granularity
Indeterminacy
Relational Nature
A Universe of Events
Happenings over Objects
Relative Duration
Eternalism
Quantum Gravity
Thermodynamics & Entropy
Heat and Time
Entropy Drives Change
The Sun's Role
Perspective Dependence
Time as a Human Construct
Emergent Phenomenon
Memory & Narrative
Identity Formulation
Creation of the Mind
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 7
According to the book, how does altitude affect the passage of time?
The Order of Time — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Time doesn’t flow evenly and is deeply connected to heat.
Chapter 3: Einstein showed that time varies with speed and reshaped our idea of space-time.
Chapter 4: Quantum mechanics reveals three key insights about space and time.
Chapter 5: Reality consists of events rather than things, and no single time variable is special.
Chapter 6: Time is an “emergent phenomenon” born from how we perceive reality.
Chapter 7: The sun powers all life and human history on our planet.
Chapter 8: Our sense of time is constructed by the human mind.
The Order of Time Summary & Overview
The Order of Time (2017) unpacks the latest research in physics to turn our everyday concept of time on its head. What we perceive and experience as a linear movement, from past to present and into the future, is little more than a trick of the mind. The reality, Carlo Rovelli shows, is a whole lot more interesting and bizarre.
Who Should Listen to The Order of Time?
- Science lovers, physicists and philosophers
- Anyone curious about the world
- Those seeking to understand what time is and what it isn’t
Books Similar to The Order of Time
Readers who enjoyed this also liked these titles.
Reality Is Not What It Seems
★ 4.5 / 5 • 257 ratingsThe Journey to Quantum Gravity
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
★ 4.4 / 5 • 365 ratingsA mind-bending introduction to modern physics
The Janus Point
★ 4.0 / 5 • 151 ratingsA New Theory of Time
The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
★ 3.9 / 5 • 99 ratingsSpace, Time, and Motion