title: The Physicist and the Philosopher: Einstein, Bergson, and the Debate That Changed Our Understanding of Time
author:  Jimena Canales 
description: <b>&quot;One of Science Fridays Best Science Books of 2015, chosen by Maria Popova&quot;</b><br /><br /><b>&quot;One of The Independent.ie Irish Writers Top Reads 2015&quot;</b><br /><br /><b>&quot;One of Brainpickings The Best Science Books of 2015&quot;</b><br /><br />"<i>The Physicist and the Philosopher</i> is an extraordinarily rich and wide-ranging work. Canales has rescued from near oblivion a fascinating, highly significant debate that is still relevant in an age which has begun uneasily to question the hegemony of science and its uncontrollable child, technology."<b>---John Banville, <i>London Review of Books</i></b><br /><br />"In illuminating a historic 1922 debate between Albert Einstein and Henri Bergson about the nature of time, Canales marks a turning point in the power of philosophy to influence science." (<i>Publishers Weekly</i>)<br /><br />"Sparks--both incendiary and illuminating--fly from the collision of two giants!" (<i>Booklist</i>)<br /><br />"This fascinating, scholarly, readable look at physics and epistemology will interest readers of science, history, philosophy, and biography." (<i>Library Journal</i>)<br /><br />"Whether or not you agree, this humane and melancholy account of how two talents misunderstood each other will linger in the mind." (<i>New Scientist</i>)<br /><br />"[Canales] weaves a tale around Europe and to America. . . . [Her] subject raises important core philosophical issues, like the scope of philosophy itself."<b>---Michael Ruse, <i>The Chronicle of Higher Education</i></b><br /><br />"This fascinating book traces a debate about the nature of time. . . . Canales has done a masterful job of research and explication. Her account of the debate is lively, the background of it is interesting, and the debate's ramifications as filtered through other minds are downright exciting. Anyone interested in physics or philosophy will have a field day with this book."<b>---Kelly Cherry, The Smart Set, <i></i></b>
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  THE PHYSICIST AND THE PHILOSOPHER
  
  
  
  
  
  THE PHYSICIST
  
  
  &
  
  
  THE PHILOSOPHER
  
  
  EINSTEIN, BERGSON, AND THE DEBATE THAT
  
  
  CHANGED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF TIME
  
  
  JIMENA CANALES
  
  
  P r i n c e t o n U n i v e r s i t y P r e s s
  
  
  P r i n c e t o n a n d o x f o r d
  
  
  Copyright © 2015 by Princeton University Press
  
  
  Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
  
  
  Princeton, New Jersey 08540
  
  
  In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
  
  
  Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
  
  
  [press.princeton.edu](http://press.princeton.edu)
  
  
  Jacket photographs: Albert Einstein, detail from photograph of Albert Einstein
  
  
  and Others, 1931. Courtesy of the Dibner Library of the History of Science
  
  
  and Technology, Smithsonian Institution Libraries. Henri Bergson, from
  
  
  _The Outline of Science: A Plain Story Simply Told_ , by J. Arthur Thomson,
  1922.
  
  
  All Rights Reserved
  
  
  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
  
  
  Canales, Jimena