{"id":2293,"date":"2024-06-11T13:04:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T20:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2024-06-11T13:04:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T20:04:40","slug":"bookshelf-einsteins-dreams-alan-lightman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.timporter.com\/seconddraft\/?p=2293","title":{"rendered":"Bookshelf \u2013 Einstein\u2019s Dreams, Alan Lightman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What if?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is hardly a more revolutionary question. All human accomplishment rises from this two-syllable query, both beneficial and malevolent. The seeds of tools, language, art, philosophy, and science always sprout from an imagining of possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In this context, think of young Albert Einstein, on the verge of publishing his famous formula, his mind churning with dreams about \u201cthe many possible natures of time.\u201d  What if, he wonders, that unlike our familiar concept of linear time, there are worlds in which \u201ctime is a circle, bending back on itself,\u201d or where people live just one day or, the opposite, live forever? What would life be like in such worlds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cEinstein\u2019s Dreams,\u201d physicist and novelist Alan Lightman answers that question with short, fantastical scenarios that presume how other versions of time would shape human behavior. In one imagined world, for example, where time advances more slowly at higher altitudes, the wealthy occupy the most vertiginous terrain in order to live longer. In another world, one without future, \u201ceach laugh is the last laugh\u201d and \u201cbeyond the present lies nothingness (so) people cling to the present as if hanging from a cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In each tableau, people do what they always do: some conform to the demands of time out of greed or fear or simple acquiescence, others choose their own paths, occupying eddies of tranquility amid the surging river of time. These choices offer meditative lessons for your consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lest \u201cEinstein\u2019s Dreams,\u201d seem too wonky, I assure you it is not. Lightman writes in spare, entertaining language whose rhythmic nature at times flirts with poetry. It is highly descriptive and fun to read.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if? There is hardly a more revolutionary question. All human accomplishment rises from this two-syllable query, both beneficial and malevolent. The seeds of tools, language, art, philosophy, and science always sprout from an imagining of possibility. 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