History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

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Not much written about timecode

Timecode: A User's Guide, Third Edition
J. Ratcliff
Manufacturer: Focal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0240515390

Book Description

Recent radical changes in timecode technology, location shooting and post-production working practices have been brought about by the fragmentation of the television programme making industry and by a dramatic increase in affordable digital transmission and editing equipment and systems.
With the expansion of non-traditional television service producers (cable, satellite and video-on-demand) almost anything hoes as far as shooting and editing formats are concerned.

Timecode: A User's Guide is an indispensable reference for anyone needing to get to grips with the many aspects of timecode, whether in-house or on location.

Taking into account these changes this book has now been brought completely up to date to include:

* timecode and DVD, LTC & VITC in HANC packets in the serial digital TV interfaces
* timecode in IEEE1395 (Firewire)
* timecode and digital video cassettes
* new recording formats of DVD, DV mini cassettes and D6 are included
* 4:3 scanning for wide-screen films - standards updated
* new material to cover new working practices
* new appendices to cover the global LF time data transmissions and time data embedded in BBC transmissions

Advice is also given on avoiding and remedying faults and errors.

Comprehensive technical coverage of timecode provides a complete overview of the technology
Have the most up to date information on working practices at your fingertips
Benefit from the expertise and inside knowledge of the author

Customer Reviews:

Not much written about timecode.......2007-06-18

I professionally work in the field of computer based digital video and know that there simply isn't much written about timecode. This book is a great reference, I have used it to successfully implement VITC and LTC encoders/decoders in software, timecode math libraries and the like. This is the book I refer to and recommend when these often confusing topics arise. I have used the first two editions but have not seen the third. I hope it adds more information about digital production.

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford

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The movies were different
John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!
Biography that's a page turner!`
Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Comprehensive almost to a fault...

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford
Scott Eyman
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0801865603

Amazon.com

Borrowing his title from dialogue in John Ford's classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ("When the legend becomes fact, print the legend"), Scott Eyman heeds this advice in his splendid study of Ford, finding a convincing balance between the gruff image Ford cultivated and the sensitive artist that Ford truly was. The result is a to-date definitive biography, occasionally prone to indelicate critical assessment while benefiting greatly from Eyman's full access to the Ford family archives. Arguably the greatest American filmmaker of the 20th century, Ford protected himself with a façade of belligerence yet engendered more loyalty among his crew and stock players (notably John Wayne and Ward Bond) than any other director. Eyman illuminates the Ford legend while focusing on fact--on a complex genius who would berate even the most vulnerable actor and then "apologize without apologizing," a binge drinker who never let alcohol interfere with his closely-guarded artistry, and a stalwart Navy captain whose service in World War II became his primary source of pride.

Print the Legend essentially confirms Ford's brief affair with Katharine Hepburn, but Eyman emphasizes Ford's deep, abiding affection for his wife, Mary, who valiantly tolerated his absolute devotion to filmmaking. While hundreds of interviews yield a comprehensive account of Ford's working methods (which the director was loathe to discuss), Eyman expertly navigates around Ford's own penchant for autobiographical embellishment. What emerges is likely to remain the most thorough portrait of a cinematic master who recognized his own greatness without parading it, and whose human flaws were ultimately forgivable by those--and they were many--who loved him. Readers should look elsewhere for more astute studies of Ford's films, but Eyman has captured Ford the man with lasting authority. -- Jeff Shannon

Book Description

Brilliant, stubborn, witty, rebellious, irascible, and contradictory, John Ford remains an enduring symbol of Hollywood's Golden Age and one of its most respected directors. Through a career that spanned decades and 140 films -- among them such American masterpieces as The Searchers, The Grapes of Wrath, Stagecoach, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -- John Ford left a cinematic legacy that few filmmakers will ever equal. Yet Ford himself was famously reticent about his personal life, often fabricating details and events. In this definitive look at the life and career of one of America's greatest directors, Scott Eyman offers a remarkable portrait of the man behind the legend that reveals how a saloon keeper's son from Maine helped to shape Hollywood's idea of America.

Customer Reviews:

The movies were different.......2006-05-14

Many books were written about Jonh Ford.
All of them tell the story and the profile of the man.
But John Ford was more than that.
His life is the beginning, but the book doesn?t take it as a experience or example for his films.
The exploration is a long trip in this book.
The readers are going to find the artist who control
everything around and his mind to think faster than others.
He made no more than one take, sometimes to have completely control about the film, not suffering the torture of the film process and the editing.
It?s a strange story about the man who won four Academy Awards?
for Best Directing but he never won an Oscar for one of his western films.
The book explores how he created the images and how he felt involved in those stories so different from cowboys, horses and
shots: 'The grapes of Wrath', 'How green was my valley', 'The informer' and 'The quiet man'.
His camera was different in all these ones.
But finally you can see the horizon, the actor,
the music and the ending.
It is a film directed by John Ford.
Thanks to him, the movies were different in style.
He had the conception of an artist.

John Ford: From Maine to the Movies to Cinematic Glory!.......2005-05-16

Scott Eyman has written an outstanding book on John Ford! Ford
was the second generation son of an Irish bartender from Portland Maine who followed his brother Frank to Hollywood.
In over 130 films from such silent classics as Iron Horse to
his four Oscars for best director: The Informer; How Green Was My
Valley; the Grapes of Wrath and The Quiet Man Ford chronicles
the life of ordinary people living in extraordinary circumstances.
Ford made Westerns better than anyone as witness his classic
cavalry trilogy: Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon; Rio Grande and the peerless The Searchers.
John Ford was a bristling porcupine guy who could dish out insults, reduce strong actors to tears and cover his sensitive,
melancholic, brooding intellectual Irish soul with a veneer of
toughness and macho maleness.
Ford was a complex man isolated and in conflict with famly who made great films for over 50 years in the Hollywood jungle.
He was an admiral who loved the military serving with distinction in World War II.
You may not like Ford after reading this fine book but you will be in awe of one of Hollywood's giants.
Eyman gives a sketch of each of Ford's top films and charts the choppy waters of his long marriage to wife Mary and the difficult relationship he had with his daugher and son.
John Ford will always ride tall in the saddle of Film History
as we travel with him to Monument Valley, meet such Ford stars
as John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara and the other excellent actors in the Ford acting troupe.
Anyone claiming to be knowledgable about film who does not know about John Ford (1894-1973 should read this fine biograhy.
Readers may also wish to peruse Joseph McBride's lengthy biograpy of Ford "In Search of John Ford." Both books are well
done.

Biography that's a page turner!`.......2004-11-16

Having read a fair number of biographies in my time, in subjects from Science to American and military history, this book is as fine a work as I've seen. It is quite probably the best work of its kind on John Ford and pulls few punches when presenting the dark side of this complex man's character.

Genius often goes hand-in-hand with madness, and the odd juxtapositions of cruelty and sensitivity, visciousness and generosity within in the same man leaves it difficult for the reader to like him, much less understand the deep love so many of his peers and actors had for him.

The vast limits of his brilliance as a film maker are far clearer to me now and the more so since reading other works on the man's work and times ("Tis Herself" by Maureen O'Hara and "John Ford, the Man and his Films" by Tag Gallagher, to name two).

I am a recent "student" of film after years in other pursuits, and I have always considered Ford's pictures to be the best of the best, among which are "The Grapes of Wrath", "The Quiet Man" and "The Searchers".

It is apparently popular for current budding directors to attempt to attempt to emulate the work of the current crops of popular directors (generally those of the preceding five years or so) without paying sufficient attention to the classics; perhaps even trying to ride their stylistic coattails to success.

I believe that in order to be successful in any discipline, it is imperative to study closely the great works of past generations, just as most successful musicians should have a background in classical music.

I can recommend this work unreservedly both to the casual film fan (it's a damned good read!) and to the serious film student.

Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford.......2003-06-27

I've read other books on this great Hollywood director, and while I can't comment on their relative accuracy, I can say that Eyman's book is the most readable I've found. He writes with a wonderfully fluid style, finds exactly the right balance between enough detail and too much, and mixes in some penetrating observations about the films and their style. He really captures that curious paradox of how artistic genius and personality disturbance can coexist within the same mind.

Comprehensive almost to a fault..........2002-08-22

Unless you are old like me and remember many John Ford movies from their original 50's release dates, or you have a semi-professional interest in film directing, this book offers more than one needs to know about a complex, often unlikeable, sometimes generous, routinely selfish genius. It isn't just a bio of John Ford, respected director with a 40-year career...it also functions as a partial history of movie-making itself, since Ford began before 1920, when films were silent, and ended up in the mid-60's, when wide screens, technicolor, blatant sex and violence and changes in how movies were financed stranded him in a very different professional atmosphere. To a person with a more casual interest in Ford and his films, like me, the book had many surprises. Ford was cruel on the set to many actors whom he befriended away from the cameras, John Wayne and Hank Fonda included. Ford was a binge drinker, and kept his sprees separate from his duties until the mid-1950's, rather late in his progressive alcoholism. Ford was capable of great kindness, generosity and loyalty, but also held grudges for decades. He was not only personally brave in World War II while filming the real battle of Midway, he was tuned in enough to have joined the Navy and prepared for documenting the war on film a full year before Pearl Harbor. He also showed courage in standing up to the Communist witch-hunts in the early 50's. He was sometimes a liberal Democrat, sometimes a conservative Republican. His final decade was full of illness and idleness and loneliness and undoubtedly some bitterness. If you are a lover of "American" movies, John Ford's story will be essential for you. I'm glad I read it, but I don't think I'll ever need to read it a second time, or keep the book in my personal collection.

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

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What if?
Groundbreaking Evidence for Bicausality
On Price's "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point"
OK but not the best..
Philosopher sets the Physicists Straight on Time

Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time
Huw Price
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195117980

Book Description

Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way around? What does quantum mechanics really tell us about the world? In this important and accessible book, Huw Price throws fascinating new light on some of the great mysteries of modern physics, and connects them in a wholly original way. Price begins with the mystery of the arrow of time. Why, for example, does disorder always increase, as required by the second law of thermodynamics? Price shows that, for over a century, most physicists have thought about these problems the wrong way. Misled by the human perspective from within time, which distorts and exaggerates the differences between past and future, they have fallen victim to what Price calls the "double standard fallacy": proposed explanations of the difference between the past and the future turn out to rely on a difference which has been slipped in at the beginning, when the physicists themselves treat the past and future in different ways. To avoid this fallacy, Price argues, we need to overcome our natural tendency to think about the past and the future differently. We need to imagine a point outside time -- an Archimedean "view from nowhen" -- from which to observe time in an unbiased way. Offering a lively criticism of many major modern physicists, including Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, Price shows that this fallacy remains common in physics today -- for example, when contemporary cosmologists theorize about the eventual fate of the universe. The "big bang" theory normally assumes that the beginning and end of the universe will be very different. But if we are to avoid the double standard fallacy, we need to consider time symmetrically, and take seriously the possibility that the arrow of time may reverse when the universe recollapses into a "big crunch." Price then turns to the greatest mystery of modern physics, the meaning of quantum theory. He argues that in missing the Archimedean viewpoint, modern physics has missed a radical and attractive solution to many of the apparent paradoxes of quantum physics. Many consequences of quantum theory appear counterintuitive, such as Schrodinger's Cat, whose condition seems undetermined until observed, and Bell's Theorem, which suggests a spooky "nonlocality," where events happening simultaneously in different places seem to affect each other directly. Price shows that these paradoxes can be avoided by allowing that at the quantum level the future does, indeed, affect the past. This demystifies nonlocality, and supports Einstein's unpopular intuition that quantum theory describes an objective world, existing independently of human observers: the Cat is alive or dead, even when nobody looks. So interpreted, Price argues, quantum mechanics is simply the kind of theory we ought to have expected in microphysics -- from the symmetric standpoint. Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. In this exciting book, Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of time to look at the world from the fresh perspective of Archimedes' Point and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the universe around us, and our own place in time.

Customer Reviews:

What if?.......2007-05-15

"What if" is perhaps the most significant of all scientific questions because the speculation it causes can lead to remarkable insights.

Likewise, "what if" can also be the inspiration for great fiction as here where the author takes us on many a wild goose chase. While the goose chases aren't necessarily a waste of time, readers should be aware of them nonetheless.

First things first: to understand the physical basis for the arrow of time, we need to understand the basis of reality in which the arrow of time is housed. As currently understood, reality is a confluence of four physical forces:

1) Gravity -- exerted at the macroscopic level and greater consistent with the increasing size of the object in question;

2) Electromagnatism -- exerted macroscopically, it concerns the relationship between electricity and magnatism;

3) The srong nuclear force -- exerted microscopically at the subatomic level, it concerns the relationship between the constituent particles of the nucleus;

SO FAR ALL THE FORCES DESCRIBED ARE TIME SYMMETRICAL, IN OTHER WORDS, THEY OPERATE THE SAME WAY WHETHER ONE IS SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND THE NORMAL SEQUENTIAL PASSAGE OF TIME -- SO CALLED RETARDED TIME -- OR REVERSED TIME SO CALLED ADVANCED TIME.

4) The fourth currently understood fundamental force of nature -- the weak nuclear force -- which also operates microscopically at the subatomic level but relates to proton decay. Since 1957, we have been aware that this force is time asymmetric in that so called K particle decay (so called because the decay pattern in a bubble chamber resembles the letter K) operates in a fashion consistent with retarded time.

While one might think that a fundamental force of nature showing a selective prejudice for the type of time that we physically observe might merit some serious reflection, Price's response is to simply disregard the matter as being physically insignificant because the interactions happen on such a minute scale (viz. the subatomic realm).

In other words, by Price's reasoning the fact that after the Big Bang, matter only outnumbered antimatter by a measure of one billion and one particles to one billion would enable him to say that we live in an antimatter universe because the enumerated differences between the number of particles was so small.

While his discussion of quantum entanglement is fascinating, his insights invariably serve as yet another wild goose chase. Disdained by Albert Einstein as "spooky action at a distance" quantum entanglement is the phenomenon that exists wherein two particles become entangled with a similar subatomic signature. Amazingly, research has shown that regardless of the seeming physical distance between the particles, a change in the signature to one of them can cause a similtaneous change in the signature of the other.

While fascinating, follow up research has failed to show that any useful information can be communicated through this immediate process and therefore -- though interesting -- it doesn't defeat Einsteinian causality.

Indeed, properly understood, it best inspires us to better understand what locality really is when we discuss the quantum level...a discussion not significantly fostered by Price's speculations.

Probabaly a better -- though harder -- read on this topic is Deiter Zeh's Physical Basis for the Direction of Time.

Groundbreaking Evidence for Bicausality.......2006-09-06

TIME'S ARROW is a remarkably well-conceived exploration of the matter of bicausality. Author Huw Price applies a philosopher's logical approach to the physics of time, as he builds such a solid case for reverse time causality that he is influencing many of today's top physicists with his lucid exploration of the subject. TIME'S ARROW methodically presents information about time in a manner that will delight mathematicians, philosophers and physicists alike, in a book that is best read sequentially from beginning to end, in order to ensure full comprehension. This book is obligatory reading for anyone fascinated by time, or who is intrigued to discover what inspired Stephen Hawking in 2006 to write a physics paper on the subject of top-down cosmology... with the notion that the present is affecting the past.

On Price's "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point".......2003-12-20

On page 13 of "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point", Huw Price writes:

".... If time flowed - then as with any flow - it would only make sense to assign that flow a direction with respect to a CHOICE (my emphasis) as to what is to count as the positive direction of time. .... The problem is that until we have such an objective basis we don't have an objective sense in which time is flowing one way rather than the other. In other words, not only does it not seem to make sense to speak of an objective rate of flow of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective rate of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective direction of time."

There are a number of ways that the world we inhabit seems asymmetric in time. Price believes that these perceptions of asymmetry are due to way we see reality, and less how reality actually is. He reminds the reader of how humanity has struggled before with anthropocentrism. Seeing the second law of thermodynamics as an EXPLANATION of time's arrow is just another anthropocentrism.

On page 17, Price writes:

".... The leading candidate for the position (the master arrow) has been the so-called arrow of thermodynamics. This is the asymmetry embodied in the second law of thermodynamics, which says roughly that the entropy of an isolated physical system never decreases.... There is nothing to stop us taking the positive axis to lie in the opposite direction, however, in which case the second law would need to be started as the principle that entropy of an isolated system never increases.... It is not an objective matter whether the gradients really go up or down, for this simply depends on an arbitrary choice of temporal orientation."

On page 20, Price writes:

"... We unwittingly project onto the world some of the idiosyncrasies of our own makeup, seeing the world in the colors of the in-built glass through which we view it. But the distinction between these sources is not always a sharp one, because our constitution is adapted to the peculiarities of our region.... It challenges the image physics holds of itself as an objective enterprise, an enterprise concerned with not with how things seem but with how they actually are. It is always painful for an academic enterprise to have to acknowledge that it might not have been living up to its own professed standards!"

On page 39, Price writes:

"... It seems to me that the problem of explaining why entropy increases has been vastly overrated. The statistical considerations suggest that a future in which entropy reaches its maximum is not in need of explanation; and yet that future, taken together with the low-entropy past, accounts for the general gradient... The puzzle is not about how the universe reaches a state of high entropy, but about how it comes to be starting from a low one. It is not about what appears in our time sense to be the destination of the greater journey on which matter is engaged, but about the point from which - again in our time sense - that journey seems to start."

What Price is describing above is what has been referred to as the ready-state paradox (see Chapter 6 of David Albert's book "Time and Chance"). And Price is right in pointing out that many of our "explanations" seems to fall to our anthropocentrism, given that we start out by assuming what it is that we seek to prove by introducing a time asymmetric ASSUMPTION.

Our low entropy birth at the big bang is a boundary condition, and one does not use statistics and determinism to explain such a boundary condition. Boundary conditions are more generally brute force realizations that are beyond explanation. So if you think that the second law of thermodynamics can explain cosmic evolution, and perhaps even the evolution of life, then think again. Or you may go on a meaningless journey to find the first ready-state.

It is quite plausibly that the early boundary conditions are determined by the present, given that time flowing backward is as plausible as time flowing forward. This brings up the possibility of backward causation, something that Price writes much on. But boundary conditions relate to collective properties, something going against the trend of reductionism. And so backward causation may better apply from the whole to its parts, which mirrors reductionism as forward causation generally goes from parts to whole.

Price writes much on Gold's big bang and big crunch model of the universe, and he writes on alternative views too. Having navigated safely from the time-flow anthropocentrism, Price seems to have gotten himself snagged on a second anthropocentrism that we are isolated from everything else. It is true we may see ourselves as all knowing creatures that are competing for our survival in a lifeless pool of chaos we call our universe. But there is no objective basis for this belief (see Thomas Nagel's "The View from Nowhere"). It is just a possible that we are the forgetful universe reflecting hopelessly into the many egocentric bodies that are said to be all knowing. Are we the inside system or the outside system? The question is symmetrical, and cannot be answered. Then why do we answer it by projecting a Gold's universe onto reality by demanding a separate big crunch future that is just as likely as our big bang past?

A two aspect view of reality does not carry this unwanted anthropocentrism. It is that reality has an all knowing aspect that is perceived to be following the thermodynamic arrow, and the SAME reality holds a sublime shadow aspect where time is reversed from the present. In the sublime aspect the many celebrate as one, whereas in the forward aspect the one fragments into many.

The zone where the two aspects connect is the inexpressible core, where symmetries are broken and manifestation unfolds. It is the core where choices are made, and where creative tensions are released. I believe this two aspect model of the universe provides that best model that answers Price's concerns, and yet it does not demand that the future is locked into a big crunch as the evidence now suggests.

This two-aspect capacity to one reality is consistent with panpsychism, but Price does not mention this either. I mention it in my book, "Trinity":

Trinity: The Scientific Basis of Vitalism and Transcendentalism

OK but not the best.........2003-06-13

The author seems to go out-of-his-way to make this tome more obtuse and forbidding than it needs to be in order to present his theories.

The book is a decent supplement to other books on space/time theory but is indeed a very tedious read, and is more for the serious student than the casual reader who merely enjoys sampling divergent views on cosmologic concepts.

I certainly do not agree with the author on a number of points, but the publication is worth your while if you have the patience to slog through it, and it surely does afford some new perspective on the subject.

Philosopher sets the Physicists Straight on Time.......2001-08-24

In this book, Huw Price uses his advantage as a philosopher to show physicists where they're going all wrong on the big "what is time?" issue. I'm teasing, but while making some excellent points, Price does sound a little condescending sometimes. I wondered, while I read, if a physicist would find it merely amusing, or would be growling a bit. This book requires concentration just because he lays out intricate step-by-step explanations and arguments. Because the arguments are built logically, you can't afford to nap. He does indicate several times the chapters that could be skipped without losing his general points. The gist of his argument is this: We exist inside the system (that is, within the space-time continuum),we are deceived by that position into wrong conclusions. The solution he advocates is "Archimedes'point," that is, we should hypothesize a position outside the system,the "view from nowhere," and from there will come up with more accurate explanations of what's going on, in his opinion, that time really is non-directional. He makes some excellent points along the way, and certainly just the exercise of working through his arguments is good for the ol' brain, but some of his arguments and conclusions are invalid. The chief problem I see is; this time-space system has produced directional time perceiving agents like us. (It has produced really cumbersome directional arguments like his!) While our perspective is limited, I don't believe that it can be dismissed. It is a very big deal that beings like us exist in this universe. We can't pretend that the universe exists merely of little bits of matter knocking around. Theoretical physics does drift near the edge of the religious question, and I would have expected a philosopher to at least acknowledge that, while the "God question" is not subject to analysis, physics does at times seem to be working overtime simply to avoid a "prime mover."

Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone

Average customer rating:

Interesting
Comprehensive and Enjoyable
Great book for Leone's western fans
Once Upon a Time kn Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone
Wonderful book, for a wonderful price

Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone
Christopher Frayling , and Autry National Center's Museum of the American West
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810958848

Book Description

In the mid-1960s an unknown Italian film director named Sergio Leone was given $200,000 and some leftover film stock, and he went to make a Western. With an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood and a script based on a samurai epic, Leone wound up creating A Fistful of Dollars, the first in a trilogy of films (with For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) that was violent, cynical, and visually stunning. Along with his later masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West, these films came to define the "Spaghetti Western," a genre that has influenced such contemporary filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, John Woo, and Quentin Tarantino.

Written by the preeminent Leone scholar, this is the first illustrated book to focus on his Westerns, illuminating his visual style, offbeat sense of humor, and sophisticated, elliptical way of telling stories. Augmenting the text are a wealth of visual materials, as well as interviews with Leone, Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Bernardo Bertolucci, composer Ennio Morricone, designer Carlo Simi, and others. The book accompanies an exhibition with the same title opening in July 2005 at the Autry National Center's Museum of the American West in Los Angeles.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting.......2007-01-09

Really good purchase for S.Leone estimators.Interesting pages about behind the scene and some funny screenshots from the set.

Comprehensive and Enjoyable.......2006-07-25

This book is like an encyclopedia of Leone's Italian westerns. The detail on each film is exceptionable, and Frayling writes in a style that always keeps your interest. The research that went into this book must have taken years. Thanks for filling us in with all the behind the scenes material. Excellent job!

Great book for Leone's western fans.......2006-03-27

Highly recommended for fans. DVD owners will recognise Frayling as the man who provides some history & comments on the DVDs. The book contains interviews with actors, crews and later directors who were influenced by Leone. Also lots of posters (those days they were artwork) from different countries, production sketches & photos.

Note that this book concentrates on Leone's spaghetti westerns with only brief mentions of his other movies so it is not an autobiography. FYI, his first few movies were sword and sandals stuff.

In general, this is like the bonus materials of the DVDs but in a gorgeously printed format.

Once Upon a Time kn Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone.......2006-01-31

A great book for anyone who loves Sergio Leone, the true master of the spaghetti western and his great characters. I liked learning about my favorite The Man With No Name and Clint Eastwood the actor who portrayed him. Plus the other great characters he created like Tuco, Eli Wallach, and Colonel Morterimer, Lee Van Cleef.
It was very interesting to see how he put his heart and soul into his movies, and how a man from Italy gave us the most realistic view of America's most remarkable time, the old west.

Wonderful book, for a wonderful price.......2005-09-20

I bought this book as a gift for a man that did all the barbequing and grilling for a birthday party I threw for my daughter's birthday.

This guy is an avid collector or anything and everything connected with Sergio Leone and his great westerns. He's got the music from the films, the biographies of all the actors in the films, location info, costumes facts, etc.,etc.

When I handed him the book and he glanced down at it, he actually teared up. He is now taking it to bed and reading the book every night. He tells me that it is a fabulous book, the pictures are great, many he's never seen before. The text is complete with many indepth interviews.

First Time Director: How to Make Your Breakthrough Movie

Average customer rating:

METHOD TO MOVIEMAKING MADNESS
A good book deserves a good reader to absorb its essence
A must read for any serious aspiring filmmaker!
A Director's View: From the Trenches...
I was an Assistant Director for over 10 years

First Time Director: How to Make Your Breakthrough Movie
Gil Bettman
Manufacturer: Michael Wiese Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0941188779
Release Date: 2003-10-15

Book Description

This book explains in precise, easy to understand language everything the novice director needs to know before taking on his or her first professional assignment.

Customer Reviews:

METHOD TO MOVIEMAKING MADNESS.......2007-05-17

Gil Bettman offers a unique take on the craft of film directing. His slim volume covers all the basics without overcomplicating matters. But the value added is his method for visual storytelling, which makes this book truly stand out, as does Bettman's passion for the subject. Personally, I have been a fan of First Time Director since I read it back in Russia after it came out, and found it well-worth multiple re-reads ever since. Lately, I attended a seminar Gil Bettman taught in LA with Mark Travis, which I also highly recommend. I defy you not to become a better director after Gil Bettman is through with you!

A good book deserves a good reader to absorb its essence.......2006-08-09

There are way too many books on directing and most of them cover the basics well but very rarely we come across a book that takes us to the next level which is the real time world of film making and the constraints. This book constantly keeps us rooted to reality despite explaining the art of showbiz. The book beautifuly covers the design of a moving master with four tasks, objectives for actors, directing method actors, improvisation, script breakdown, team building and casting. Gil Bettman's approach makes us think about the simple things of film making that we tend to put away into our closets once we finish film school. The book not only is a great refresher which brings back wonderful memories of my own film school experience but also is a lesson in Cinema's most important skill; namely man management or also known as people skills. Bettman's witty and humorous comments make the book a great read not just for the knowledge gains but also as a window into the hollywood system of film making which is exciting and rivetting. It is a must read for all.

A must read for any serious aspiring filmmaker!.......2006-06-04

Film is, quite simply, a director's medium. You're here reading this review because you're serious about making films; and you've come to the right place. Sure, you're going to learn the most about directing by making a movie yourself, but reading about the process can also be helpful. In any movie industry, the so called pros who write a book on directing to show how many stars they have worked with or what big name films they have done; are a dime-a-dozen and no really help to you. The names may impress you...but you'll soon realize, that you've walked away with learning nothing at all on how to make your own movie.

Whether you're a script writer, actor, first time filmmaker or just someone interested in movies; after reading this book you will walk away truly empowered; with a new understanding of making a motion picture and a new found confidence in your ability to handle just about any directing job thrown at you. Bettman, a mesmerizing storyteller, takes us on a rollercoaster ride of Hollywood in his First Time Director: the penny pinching producers, the fierce competition, and above all...the art of making a movie itself. Filmmaking, he'll have you know, is about creative talent and technical knowledge, but just as importantly, about relentless networking. Every aspect of pre-production and post-production seems to be covered, including the impossible hurdle of dealing with actors. And Gil Bettman knows. A television and feature film director at the heart of the nation's entertainment industry, he has directed dozens of television episodes, including cult favourites Knight Rider & The Fall Guy. He explains that in order to be a capable director you must know about and be able to do so many different things. The director's job ultimately,we learn,is to ensure that their movie is both entertaining and enlightening to an audience.

The people I passed this book onto - which varied in age, background and profession - loved it, as did I. The author is a captivating, informative writer. The sometimes blunt straight-forward prose is him being the streetwise guy who tells it like he sees it; readers will find that the writing style is informal, personal, and he is both humorous and approachable. There are a number of reviewers here on Amazon.com that don't seem to get the tongue in cheek humour of the book; when he tells you it's a good idea is to sleep with your producers to secure the job; he's being as witty & sarcastic as it gets. It's too bad that some people are not smart enough to read between the lines and trash this for nothing at all. They need to pick it up again and see what a well written book this is. In a nutshell,this provides a comprehensive and extremely fast paced introduction to the industry; and for those with more experience it can clarify questions. If you have already had the opportunity to direct a project of your own as I have, you know something about the difficulty of putting together a piece of film that actually works. Few artistic endeavors are more challenging, or more rewarding. If you're not ready to start and direct your own movie after this reading this book, then you better brush-up on your waiting table skills. A must read for any serious aspiring filmmaker.

A Director's View: From the Trenches..........2006-05-04

My name is David Worth and I've been a professional Director / DP in the film industry for nearly 30 years. I've Directed features with Jean-Claude Van Damme, Roy Scheider and Dennis Hopper, as well as being the Director Of Photography on features with Clint Eastwood, Bruce Campbell and the late Shelly Winters.

Like most of the reviewers remarked, Mr. Bettman's book: First Time Director: How To Make Your Breakthrough Movie, is "...essential... inspiring... invaluable...". Mr. Bettman writes about the basic "nuts & bolts" of "in the trenches" Directing by someone who has obvilously been there. I believe that his book is an absolute MUST for any one aspiring to be a Director or a woking professional in the film industry and that it should be part of the required reading for every Film School, Course or Program on the planet.

Anyone not getting the "tongue in cheek" and "gallows humor" of some of Mr. Bettman's remarks simply hasn't been there,"in the trenches" tying to make a film with never enough time or money. The mantra "the Master becomes the Coverage" is the hallmark of someone who not only understands the process, but also has the chops of a world of experience behind them. Mr. Bettman's book comes from the heart and soul of a Filmmaker and a Professor of Cinema, the forward by Mr. Zemeckes is simply the icing on the cake and in my humble opinion, "The Good Filmmaking Seal Of Approval"!!!

I was an Assistant Director for over 10 years.......2006-01-31

If you don't know what an AD is, it's the guy/gal that many a novice has mistaken for the director, since the AD is usually the one shouting "Quiet on the set!" and "Roll sound/camera!"

So I picked up FTD expecting more of the mishmash and anecdotes you get from writers who have not spent much, if any, time on a set. Not so. Despite the "sleep with your producer" line (which I too found bizarre beyond belief and is the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5), FTD is probably the best book I've ever read on the actual mechanics of making your first movie as a director. I don't know the author and I don't know the publisher, but what I do know is this stuff is coming from a guy who's been there in the trenches, sweating blood and tears to make a movie. Bettman's advice is better and more on point than anything I ever got at USC film school, and is matched only by the advice I got from--and eventually gave to-- the directors I've worked with.

So buy it if you're looking for the nuts and bolts of directing your first feature, ignore the sleep with the producer line, and I think you'll find it worth your hard-earned cash.

Broadway Costumes on a Budget: Big-Time Ideas for Amateur Producers

Average customer rating:

basic
Not worth the paper it's printed on.
Not about costumes - summaries of plays instead

Broadway Costumes on a Budget: Big-Time Ideas for Amateur Producers
Janet Litherland , and Sue McAnally
Manufacturer: Meriwether Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1566080215

Book Description

High school, college, and community theatre versions of Broadway shows can have all the glitz, glitter and pizzazz of the New York variety. This book lists 100 famous musicals categorized by costume styles. Applying the book's crossover system, costumes from one show can easily be altered for any other show in the same category. "How to do it" suggestions are given for both the basic costume design and for specific show adaptations. Every theatre group planning to stage a Broadway show needs this book.

Customer Reviews:

basic.......2007-08-10

This was a very basic book and the designs inside were almost infantile..so it was not what I was hoping for...but nevertheless..will be another book on costume to add to the collection.

Not worth the paper it's printed on........2002-09-28

As a professional costume designer, I was appalled at the misinformation in this book. It cited wrong time periods for plays, along with bad advice for the non-professional theater person. I returned it after a brief perusal, so that I would not be contaminated by it's inaneness.

Not about costumes - summaries of plays instead.......2000-07-24

This book really does a much better job of giving you the plot of the many plays it touches on rather than what the costumes should look like. The actual costume information could be contained in 10 pages. Some of the information regarding what the characters should wear is questionable. No substance.

Wong Kar-wai: Auteur of Time (Bfi World Directors)

Average customer rating:

Still waiting for a good book on Wong
All about Time and more
Terrible book on terrific director.
Excellent collection of essays

Wong Kar-wai: Auteur of Time (Bfi World Directors)
Stephen Teo
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1844570290

Book Description

This, the first book-length study of Hong Kong cult director Wong Kar-wai, provides an overview of his career and in-depth analyses of his seven feature films to date. The study also takes an intriguing look at Wong's commercials for the likes of Motorola, BMW, and Lacoste and at his music video for DJ Shadow. Stephen Teo probes Wong's cinematic and literary influences--from Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock to Manuel Puig and Haruki Murakami--yet shows how Wong transcends them all. This comprehensive and thoroughly accessible study confirms Wong's position as the star of the Hong Kong-global nexus and as a postmodern exemplar of world cinema.

Customer Reviews:

Still waiting for a good book on Wong.......2006-01-24

The problem for me with Teo's references to telos or Julia Kristeva, to follow-up on the comments of a previous reviewer, is that they seem symptomatic of the author's inability to truly get a handle on Wong's films. Teo applies ideas/theories to Wong's works like a graduate student dutifully displaying his wares. His work seems generally intelligent (as a student he'd get an A- for the assignment), but he provides very little insight into Wong's aesthetic. It came as little surprise, toward the end of the book, when the author admitted his indifference to In the Mood for Love. One thing is for sure: no one is going to write a good monograph on Wong Kar-Wai who thinks that In the Mood for Love is cold and uninvolving.

All about Time and more.......2005-11-04

The one thing one can say about Stephen Teo is that he has figured out Wong Kar-wai in part because he understands the enigmatic director on so many levels. Part of watching movies is trying to figure them out on one level and then to try to catch other levels or layers on a second viewing. Kudos to Stephen Teo - for making me aware of the multi-layered as well as multi-dimensional quality of Wong Kar-wai's work.

On one level, Teo reads Wong Kar-wai as intensely local and at the same time are intimately global. Moreover, Teo brings to presence the iconoclastic quality of Wong Kar-wai's experiments. Lastly, Teo deftly navigates the reader to the multitude of symbols relating to Wong Kar-wai's play on time, space, and memory.

Teo's Wong Kar-wai (published in the World Directors series) situates Wong's work primarily in a Hong Kong cultural milieu as well as explores Wong Kar-wai's historical context. Teo also is really good at framing Wong Kar wai's work around the literary inspirations and sources. However, Teo does not pull any punches in that most of the literary inspirations are pushed aside and little of the book or movie that are supposed to inspire the movies show up differently in the new creation.

One could well imagine that Teo reads Wong Kar-wai's movies as text. Teo's Wong Kar-wai is easy to read but not simplistic at all. He does what few are able to do - sustain an argument questioning Wong's oeuvre. It is an understatement to say that his book is extraordinary because of its range and profundity. Teo brings together an all-inclusive sweep of home grown Chinese interpretation to the movies with a not equally matched familiarity with the Hong Kong film industry. Teo convinces me of both the local significance as well as the international impact of Wong Kar-wai's movies - which ironically fail at the local Hong Kong box office. He locates Wong's movies vis-à-vis a highly complex local historical background - which I would never have understood unless I had read this book. At the same time, Teo grounds each film against the literary readings that supposedly guide their creation. This is very difficult to do while still maintaining some sense of cohesion. Teo brings in an incredible understanding of authors like Puig, Cortázar, Murakami, Dazai, Jin Yong and Liu Li-chang while still maintaining a real sense of Wong Kar-wai's musings on time, space, and memory.

It would not be fair to ignore Teo's ability to understand genre. Teo situates "As Tears Go By" as a gangster movie. "Days of Being Wild" - I cannot help but agree - is an 'Ah Fei' (discontented punk) movie-cum-romance. "Chungking Express" argues Teo is a light romance with touches of noir intrigue. "Ashes of Time" is predictably a wuxia movie - but not really one as it breaks rules while adhering to some very key ones. "Fallen Angels" according to Teo takes over from where "Chungking Express" leaves of. "Happy Together" according to Teo is predictably gay road movie. "In the Mood for Love" is what Teo calls a "wenyi film" evoking deep emotions about love but more importantly repressed desire.

One other thing that I am grateful to Teo for is framing Wong's three great "nostalgia" movies: "Days of Being Wild," "In the Mood for Love," and "2046" which are a 1960s trilogy. The films are linked via Tony Leung Chiu-wai enigmatic character from "Days of Being Wild's" mysterious epilogue and working its way to the other two. I loved this book. It brought a new level of understanding as well as a new level of appreciation to my viewing of Wong Kar-wai in particular and movies in general.

While Wong's movies move from the narcissism of Yuddy (in Days of Being Wild) and Chow Mo-wan (In the Mood For Love and 2046), the doubling of cops in "Chungking Express," Murong Yin and Murong Yang in "Ashes of Time," the mise-en-abîme of role playing within role playing between Chow Mo-wan and Su Li-zhen Chan in "In the Mood for Love" on the surface it would lead one to believe that it was all about identity. Just like the works of Milan Kundera - which are also about identity - but they are also more than that. To reduce Wong Kar-wai's work to identity would be like saying that Tiger Wood's gold game is all about the putting. Yes, Wong Kar-wai explores the crises of misidentification as well as the pathologies of self and others that epitomize an identity without established borders. However, without Teo - we would not be able to understand that it is about that and also more.

Miguel Llora

Terrible book on terrific director........2005-08-30

This book is an obfuscation rather than an elucidation of Wong's films. If you use the word "teleological" frequently and think the following fragment from one sentence makes sense--"...because of the messages encoded in the ambivalence of the film's 'linguistic structure' - ambivalence that arises from the 'insertion of history (society) into a text and of this text into history' as Kristeva defines it..."--, then you will probably love this book.

Having recently discovered the films of Wong Kar-wai, I wanted a book that would tell me about him, his ways of working, and that would discuss his films in a way that would be meaningful to a reasonably well-education person who does not and did not work in academia. Because this book does have some of this information buried within it, I can't trash it completely. But, I will call it pretentious, pseudo-intellectual B.S. And, I will certainly avoid any more writings by Mr Teo.

Amazon's physical description of the paperback is filled with errors. The book is 191 pages rather than 212 pages. The publisher is the British Film Institute and not the University of California Press. The listed dimensions are wrong. Also, the subtitle listed by Amazon does not appear on the book's cover or title page.

If you must have a book on Wong Kar-wai, then go ahead and buy this. You will get a small amount of useful information and a filmography. The price is inexpensive enough to justify the purchase.

Excellent collection of essays.......2005-07-31

Thought provoking essays on most of his films up to this point

Show Time: Music, Dance, and Drama Activities for Kids

Average customer rating:

Wow!
Great Activities

Show Time: Music, Dance, and Drama Activities for Kids
Lisa Bany-Winters
Manufacturer: Chicago Review Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1556523610

Book Description

Gotta dance! Gotta sing! Gotta do most anything because it's show time! In Show Time! kids will learn to become "triple threat" performers, developing their skills as singers, dancers, and actors through more than 80 activities that include imitating a musician or musical instrument, acting out a song, creating a mirror dance, making puppets and playbills, and more. Along the way, they'll learn about the history of musicals, discover musicals about history, and find out how to get it all together before the curtain goes up. Show Time! is perfect for teachers needing to prepare performers for a show; for parents looking for fun ways to fill spare minutes with their kids at home, in the car, or in a doctor's waiting room; and for kids wanting ways to enjoy themselves on their own or in a small group. Several play scripts, a list of suggested musicals for kids, and a play glossary are included.

Customer Reviews:

Wow!.......2000-12-11

Mrs. Bany-Winters writes a great book! I've tried all of the theatre games and they are all very fun to do.. even if you aren't into theatre! I recommend this book to everyone.. try it at parties, try it by yourself, try with friends.. just try it!

Great Activities.......2000-07-15

I LOVED this book and Lisa's other book. I think her games and activities are great ways to get kids interested in theatre. Keep up the good work, Lisa!

Average customer rating:

The Direction of Time
Time: Why is it so important?
This is a great book
Laymen Beware

The Direction of Time
Hans Reichenbach , and Maria Reichenbach
Manufacturer: Univ of California Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0520018397

Book Description

Distinguished physicist examines emotive significance of time, time order of mechanics, time direction of thermodynamics and microstatistics, time direction of macrostatistics, and time of quantum physics. Analytic methods of scientific philosophy in investigation of probability, quantum mechanics, theory of relativity, causality. 1971 edition.

Customer Reviews:

The Direction of Time.......2007-05-31

I can't believe that everyone didn't rate this with 5 stars!
I had to write this because this was one of those really great books that changed my understanding of something that seems so basic, so obvious, time.
Well well worth the 5 bucks.

Time: Why is it so important?.......2002-03-31

H.Reichenbach is undoubtly one of the most remarkable scientists that the world has ever witnessed. The interested mind is to be very strongly urged to read the book 'The direction of time' by him. Time is an essential concept to every physics student, as without it nature would be meaningless, and therefore the study of nature would be an empty pursuit. Whenever we wish to understand why we are in the 'world', say rather than in the planet MARS we have to understand thoroughly what actually happenned in the past, beginning from The Big Bang, that is, from the beginning of time. The book gives us a clear understanding into this inquiry ('TIME') developing both classical and quantum mechanical content of the concept of time starting from the first principles. The book carefully clarifies many confusing conceptions about time. For instance, the author clearly explains the contradictions lying in the famous Zeno's paradox which attemts to prove that time does not exist, in such a way that the physics student is now much more confident with such essential concepts as displacement and velocity. Also in the book, another essential concept of statistical physics ENTROPY is developed in a very systematic way and through this concept the direction of time is decisively established. Moreover, the issue of DETERMINACY or INDETERMINACY , an issue which is simply ignored in the text books or mentioned briefly in a few sentences as if it is self-evident and therefore does not need further elaboration, is discussed in depth, so both theoretical and experimental physicists have now a strong ground in arguing their proposals. I, as a physicist of 18 years of university lecturing experience, strongly recommend it to every single physics student or actually every single mind (student or not) who cares about the future, and who needs a decisive explanation (justification) for their potential steps to save (before being too late) our home THE WORLD WHICH WE NOW LIVE IN, only home only home and only home for us and for our childeren including of course our organic bodies, the animals and the plants. The direction of time and equally of The ENTROPY are the key concepts to understand what technology actually is, and to understand why it is inevitable to face more and more polluted environment as technology advances.

This is a great book.......2001-03-25

It is a beautiful but exterememly difficult book. It covers the concept of time and direction of time from the beginning up to current thinking. Author, being one of the founding fathers of philosophical quantum theory first introduces a good understanding of Thermodaynamics and Statiastical Physics and defines the order of events to lead into statistical definition of arrow of time. A lot of difficult concepts from Classsical Statistical Physics, Probability Theory, Relativity and Mathematical Logic as well as a good understanding of Quantum Physics is assumed to be in the bag of the reader, after all this book is not a Popular Science book. Although the author claims that knowledge of derivations of the formulas used are not critical to understand this study yet time to time the language and logic becames exteremely difficult. This is a must read book in this subject, may be many times or time and time over after increasing the understanding in other subjects that only tools in this book.

Laymen Beware.......2000-07-26

If you didn't know, this book is hard. I am a first year engineering student, and I felt lost through most of it. I gather it was intended for full-fledged physicists, but I was intrigued to read it anyway because of a philosophical thread running through the work. But beware--get ready for some Immanuel Kant and Einstein in only the introduction. This book is as much about the physics of time as the philosophy concerning subjectivity of time. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the probability or almost any of the quantum mechanics math, I still got some pleasure out of some of the more bizzare conclusions of the book. Did you know that for an isolated system (one not interacting with any others), time can't be said to have any direction? Furthermore, time as we know it is just a statistic. Another interesting fact is that on the quantum mechanical level, there is no such thing as time! If these things intrigue you (and you know what a double Riemann sum is) go for this book. Otherwise, be very afraid...

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