What is time? Which books are reccomended?

[Robert100]

I'm interested in learning about the nature of time. I know that modern physics and philosophy has no firm conclusions on this issue, but I want to read about the various views that serious thinkers have developed about time.

Would readers of this forum comment on the following books/authors?

I am presently reading through "The Arrow of Time" Peter Coveney and Roger Highfield, and it appears very good.

A more popular text that also appears good, but in much less detail, is "About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution" by Paul Davies.


Any comments about the following books? (I haven't read them yet)

"World in Process" John A. Jungerman. He discusses modern physics and cosmology; also connects those ideas to process thought.

"Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time" Huw Price. Price has criticised several points made by Coveney and Highfield, and his name comes up a lot. What do people think of his work?

"Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time" Robin Le Poidevin

"The End of Certainty" Ilya Prigogine.

"The End of Time" Julian Barbour - Here Barbour argues that time literally is an illusion, and that we live in a timeless reality. I know that he is respected, but considered totally mistaken, by the physics community.

"Time Reality" - Victor Stenger.

Any suggestions or constructive criticism on any of these books/authors would be most welcome!

On a separate note:
From the many articles and webistes I have read, plus the above two books, it seems that most physicists only study the works of other physicists. They seem to ignore most of the papers on the nature of time that come from the philosophy community. Any ideas why this is so? Do members of academy who study philosophy make an effort to get in touch with physicists, attend physics conferences, work with the local physics professors, etc.?


Robert

 

[berkeman]

I like "A Brief History of Time", by Stephen Hawking:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553380168/?tag=pfamazon01-20

Hey, I hadn't seen this one before: "A Briefer History of Time", by Hawking and Mlodinow:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553804367/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[cristo]

I'm sure you posted this the other day. Anyway, I'll say what I said then, incase you didn't see it. I read a good book a while ago on this topic: it was called "The River of Time" and is by Igor Novikov.

 

[berkeman]

I'm sure you posted this the other day. Anyway, I'll say what I said then, incase you didn't see it. I read a good book a while ago on this topic: it was called "The River of Time" and is by Igor Novikov.

Ack! You're right, cristo. Here is the other (mostly duplicate) thread:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=178136

Robert100, duplicate posts are not allowed here on the PF. I'm going to lock this thread, and ask anybody who wants to respond to this question to please follow the link and respond in the other thread.