Finally got around to reading Lee Smolin's Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe, which I'd mentioned before. Smolin's work is always interesting, though I'd say The Life of the Cosmos (which I discussed long ago) and The Trouble With Physics (which I reviewed less long ago) resonated with me more. This may be because I'm already receptive to a lot of what Smolin has to say (the future being open is an idea to which I've long* had an emotional attachment) and he reprises a number of his earlier themes while developing his new one (that many physicists and philosophers have tended to deny or downplay the existence of time, and that this is an error). Still, I recommend the book, and suggest practical-minded people pay particular attention to the epilogue, which ranges across issues such as climate change and financial stability (and how we think about those, influenced subtly by how we think about time).* - Historical accuracy: If you follow that link, note the snowstorm was in Queens, not Manhattan.
