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Digital Audiobook
On Time by Jim Al-Khalili

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On Time

Publisher
Princeton University Press
Publish Date
1 September 2026
Run Time
13 hours 57 minutes
Format
Audiobook
$13.95

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What to expect

In this audiobook, quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host Jim Al-Khalili shares essential insights into the meaning and fundamental nature of time
While we have come a long way toward deciphering the laws of the universe, many physicists still regard time to be one of the greatest unsolved mysteries. On Time provides answers to the questions about time that philosophers and scientists have been asking for millennia, such as whether it has a beginning and an end, why it only points toward the future and not the past, whether it can be stretched and squeezed or even reversed, and whether it is even real.
In this mind-altering book, Jim Al-Khalili tackles the enduring problems of time head-on, carefully examining them across the three central pillars of physics—quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. He shows how, in each domain, time can be understood differently: as a coordinate or label, as an inseparable dimension of space-time, or as a direction or "arrow." He explains why it can be difficult to reconcile these different perspectives and describes how theorists at the frontiers of physics are attempting to do just that. Al-Khalili makes the persuasive case that time is real, not illusory, and that a master arrow of time is not merely a trick of our senses but is rather a fundamental feature of reality that was baked into the structure of our universe from the very beginning.
Sharing fresh insights into some of the most complex and profound questions in science, On Time will forever change the way you think about the passage of time and your place within it.

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Details

Author
Jim Al-Khalili
Narrator
Jim Al-Khalili
Duration
13 hours 57 minutes
Release Date
1 September 2026
ISBN
9780691295442
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Genre
Astronomy, space and time, Physics

Synopsis

In this audiobook, quantum physicist, New York Times bestselling author, and BBC host Jim Al-Khalili shares essential insights into the meaning and fundamental nature of time While we have come a long way toward deciphering the laws of the universe, many physicists still regard time to be one of the greatest unsolved mysteries. On Time provides answers to the questions about time that philosophers and scientists have been asking for millennia, such as whether it has a beginning and an end, why it only points toward the future and not the past, whether it can be stretched and squeezed or even reversed, and whether it is even real. In this mind-altering book, Jim Al-Khalili tackles the enduring problems of time head-on, carefully examining them across the three central pillars of physics—quantum mechanics, general relativity, and thermodynamics. He shows how, in each domain, time can be understood differently: as a coordinate or label, as an inseparable dimension of space-time, or as a direction or "arrow." He explains why it can be difficult to reconcile these different perspectives and describes how theorists at the frontiers of physics are attempting to do just that. Al-Khalili makes the persuasive case that time is real, not illusory, and that a master arrow of time is not merely a trick of our senses but is rather a fundamental feature of reality that was baked into the structure of our universe from the very beginning. Sharing fresh insights into some of the most complex and profound questions in science, On Time will forever change the way you think about the passage of time and your place within it.

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