{"product_id":"times-second-arrow-evolution-order-and-a-new-law-of-nature-9781324105480","title":"Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature","description":"\u003cp\u003eOf the codified laws of nature, famously, only one inscribes a direction to time: the dreaded second law of thermodynamics, which declares that the disorder of a closed system tends to increase as time passes. New shoes eventually scuff, our bodies weaken and die. Yet our senses tell us that miraculous \u003cem\u003eorder\u003c\/em\u003e constantly emerges, too: children grow and learn; spontaneous patterns manifest in murmurations of starlings. Can it be true that the laws of our universe mandate only dissolution--rendering the intricate order of a butterfly's wing, the much-vaunted complexity of the human brain, merely incidental?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTime's Second Arrow\u003c\/em\u003e, star scientists Robert M. Hazen and Michael L. Wong overturn more than a century of scientific canon, arguing that, in fact, there must be a second \"arrow of time\"--a heretofore missing law of nature that explains how the marvelously complex constituents of our universe came to be. Evolution, they boldly propose, is a universal phenomenon--not only in biology, but in the entire atomic, chemical, mineral, and physical universe. Showing how a natural process of \u003cem\u003eselection for increasing function\u003c\/em\u003e has shaped the universe since its inception, they explore how this new law could possibly help us identify life on other planets and--perhaps--even understand the purpose and meaning of life on Earth in a new way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eElegantly written and deeply moving, \u003cem\u003eTime's Second Arrow\u003c\/em\u003e reveals how our cosmic inheritance includes, even alongside loss and decay, a drive toward wondrous invention and progress--ultimately revising our understanding of the universe and our place within it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHazen, Robert M.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eRobert M. Hazen\u003c\/strong\u003e, a geoscientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, is the author of \u003cem\u003eSymphony in C\u003c\/em\u003e, among other titles. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland.\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWong, Michael L.:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eMichael L. Wong\u003c\/strong\u003e is a planetary scientist and astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution for Science. He lives in Washington, DC.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52000323141906,"sku":"9781324105480","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d0d8e77a-b125-4664-9f95-1422f9350740.jpg?v=1770195429","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/times-second-arrow-evolution-order-and-a-new-law-of-nature-9781324105480","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}