Time
The Dream of Killing Chronos
1st Edition
Published on 29. May 2026
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-1-5095-7159-8 (ISBN)
Description
What is time? Does it exist? Can it be stopped? Can time's arrow be reversed? Can we ever free ourselves from the seemingly inexorable flow of time? Chronos is a mystery, and not only for us: it was a mystery for our distant ancestors too.
In this book, Guido Tonelli guides us along the path to understanding a reality that is very different from what we believe it to be. Modern science allows us to explore the deepest recesses of the universe, and when we observe the giant objects which inhabit the cosmos over great distances - galaxies and clusters of galaxies - time acquires characteristics which are quite different from those that we are used to. The same happens when we analyse the phenomena which occur on a sub-nuclear scale. In these two worlds which are so far apart from one other, the harmonious and constant flow of time which has enchanted us for millennia twists, melts and shatters. Space and time appear as an indissoluble couple - not some abstract concept but a material substance which occupies the entire universe, which vibrates, oscillates and is in a constant process of change.
With Tonelli's erudite assistance, we discover the long history of time, its violent birth and strange evolution. In our imaginations, we travel to terrifying places where time stops and explore the close link which binds time to energy. This is a bewildering journey that forces us to discard our preconceptions and abandon all certainty, a journey in which myth, art and philosophy will come to our aid when our minds begin to falter.
In this book, Guido Tonelli guides us along the path to understanding a reality that is very different from what we believe it to be. Modern science allows us to explore the deepest recesses of the universe, and when we observe the giant objects which inhabit the cosmos over great distances - galaxies and clusters of galaxies - time acquires characteristics which are quite different from those that we are used to. The same happens when we analyse the phenomena which occur on a sub-nuclear scale. In these two worlds which are so far apart from one other, the harmonious and constant flow of time which has enchanted us for millennia twists, melts and shatters. Space and time appear as an indissoluble couple - not some abstract concept but a material substance which occupies the entire universe, which vibrates, oscillates and is in a constant process of change.
With Tonelli's erudite assistance, we discover the long history of time, its violent birth and strange evolution. In our imaginations, we travel to terrifying places where time stops and explore the close link which binds time to energy. This is a bewildering journey that forces us to discard our preconceptions and abandon all certainty, a journey in which myth, art and philosophy will come to our aid when our minds begin to falter.
Reviews / Votes
"Tonelli pays warm, poetic tribute to our very human relationship with time, from the mythology of ancient Greece to contemporary physics and cosmology. An extraordinary achievement and a remarkable book."Jim Baggott, author of Discordance: The Troubled History of the Hubble Constant
"Does time flow or stand still? Does it exist? Can we do without it? Can Chronos be killed?'
La Nazione
"A journey of adventure with surprising discoveries and profound insights."
La Voce e Il Tempo
"The science described by Tonelli succeeds in showing us the future."
Il Messagger
"Guido Tonelli leads us along the torturous gateway to understanding worlds dominated by relativistic effects, where there is a future that arrives before the past and indeed creates it."
Coast Magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
365 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-7159-8 (9781509571598)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Guido Tonelli is a prize-winning physicist and one of the leaders in the discovery of the Higgs boson. He is Professor of General Physics at the University of Pisa and a physicist at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva. His many publications include the bestselling books Genesis: The Story of How Everything Began and Matter: The Magnificent Illusion.
Content
Introduction
Part 1: The fascination of spinning tops
1. The desire to master time
When the spell is broken
Life's time
Urns and sepulchres: the birth of past, present and future
2. Our time
The sense of time
When Chronos ran wild and free
Caging time
The Triumph of Chronos
Part 2: Where time stops
1. The odd couple
Time which melts and shatters: Soft clocks: Fantastic accuracy: making money from relativity: Great philosophers and Little Red Riding-Hood
2. The long history of time
The beginning of time
The end of time
Time in the world of great cosmic distances
Magnificent illusions and fantastic chimeras
When the energy of three suns travels lightly over the waves of Space-time
3. When time stops
The clocks of the Paris Commune
The Hellish places where time vanishes
The spectacular end of Betelgeuse
The terror champions
Physics at the points of empty time
Part 3: Between ephemeral existence and eternal life
1. The life of particles
A world full of weirdness
Masses which explode and times which dilate disproportionately
Cosmic super-accelerators
The little red and white brick house
2. The time of the infinitely small
A handful of chosen ones
In the ivanescent realm of the ephemeral
The reckless life of muons
Beauty, charm and the timidity of quarks
3. A very special relationship
A Castor and Pollux like-existence
Grabbing Kairos by the hair
Measuring time with energy
The raids of the messengers, Hermes' proteges
The perfect couple
4. Can time's arrow be reversed?
An equation reveals a world whose existence nobody had suspected
The Holy Grail of symmetry
The secret of a poem, or a fine wine
Entropy and the irreversibility of time
5. The dream of killing Chronos
The ancient poetry of the idea of stopping time
Time's assassins
Nosferatu
Epilogue: The brief time
Acknowledgements
Index
Part 1: The fascination of spinning tops
1. The desire to master time
When the spell is broken
Life's time
Urns and sepulchres: the birth of past, present and future
2. Our time
The sense of time
When Chronos ran wild and free
Caging time
The Triumph of Chronos
Part 2: Where time stops
1. The odd couple
Time which melts and shatters: Soft clocks: Fantastic accuracy: making money from relativity: Great philosophers and Little Red Riding-Hood
2. The long history of time
The beginning of time
The end of time
Time in the world of great cosmic distances
Magnificent illusions and fantastic chimeras
When the energy of three suns travels lightly over the waves of Space-time
3. When time stops
The clocks of the Paris Commune
The Hellish places where time vanishes
The spectacular end of Betelgeuse
The terror champions
Physics at the points of empty time
Part 3: Between ephemeral existence and eternal life
1. The life of particles
A world full of weirdness
Masses which explode and times which dilate disproportionately
Cosmic super-accelerators
The little red and white brick house
2. The time of the infinitely small
A handful of chosen ones
In the ivanescent realm of the ephemeral
The reckless life of muons
Beauty, charm and the timidity of quarks
3. A very special relationship
A Castor and Pollux like-existence
Grabbing Kairos by the hair
Measuring time with energy
The raids of the messengers, Hermes' proteges
The perfect couple
4. Can time's arrow be reversed?
An equation reveals a world whose existence nobody had suspected
The Holy Grail of symmetry
The secret of a poem, or a fine wine
Entropy and the irreversibility of time
5. The dream of killing Chronos
The ancient poetry of the idea of stopping time
Time's assassins
Nosferatu
Epilogue: The brief time
Acknowledgements
Index