Books on the nature of time?

[ Mod. note: Please keep the discussion on topic (physics).
Philosophical content, if any, should be brief, to the point, and
preferably restricted to references. -ik ]

I'd like to learn about the nature of time, about its ontological reality
(if, indeed, time has any reality at all.) Ideally, I'd like to read a
book or article by a physicist who is well-read in philosophy, but I am also
interested in reading works by philosophers who happen to be well read in
physics.

Would readers of this forum comment on the following books/authors?

I am presently reading through "The Arrow of Time" Peter Coveney and Roger
Highfield, and it appears very good.

A more popular text that also appears good, but in less detail than the
above, is "About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution" by Paul Davies.

Now, any comments about the following books? (I haven't read any of these
yet)

"World in Process" John A. Jungerman Description of the ideas of modern
physics and cosmology; also connects those ideas to process thought.

"Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time"
Huw Price.

"Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time" Robin Le
Poidevin

"The End of Certainty" Ilya Prigogine.

"The End of Time" Julian Barbour - Here Barbour argues that time literally
is an illusion, and that we live in a timeless reality. This seems to be a
very fringe view, but I thought I'd include him in the list.

"Time Reality" - Victor Stenger.

"The Ontology of Time", L. Nathan Oaklander, .... Studies in Analytic
Philosophy, Prometheus Books.

Before someone reccomends a book, I'm not looking for a glossy pop citation.
Someone reccomended "A Brief History of Time", by Stephen Hawking, but his
book is a mile wide, yet not deep. When it comes to discussing the nature of
time itself, Hawking shows little knowledge of the great debates about this
subject. He doesn't mention any of the mainstream ideas about what time is,
or how we should understand it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unreality_of_Time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-Theory_of_time

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentism_%28philosophy_of_time%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternalism_%28philosophy_of_time%29

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/time-experience/

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/change/


I've seen this apparent lack of knowledge of the literature in some other
articles by physicists, and I am little distressed by this. Even if a
physicist somehow has come to disagree with the views of (apparently) every
single philosopher, and all of their varied views, shouldn't the physicist
at least briefly explain why?

I'd like to find a book written by a physicist that is at least somewhat
conversant with the subject, or writen by a philosopher who is conversant
with modern physics. Any suggestions?


Robert

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