Description

A NEW SCIENTIST PICK FOR 2026

‘Won’t just shift your perspective but rather catapult it into another dimension’ GAIA VINCE

What if the present moment – the ‘now’ we all inhabit – isn’t just a tick of the clock?

We feel that the present is everything; all we can know. Yet physics finds no universal ‘now’. To explore what a moment really is, In Search of Now draws on state-of-the-art discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, cosmology and quantum physics, revealing a dynamic, creative process in which we all play a part.

Jo Marchant shows how we each carve out our lived experience – sensations and emotions, actions and decisions – through our interactions with the world. Far from being an illusion or a mere slice of time, she argues that this evolving, interconnected tapestry is the source of our lives and selves, and perhaps even reality itself.

Join Jo to explore the secrets of how our lives really unfold – and rediscover the creative power of ‘now’.

‘Illuminating . . . will change the way you think’ CLAUDIA HAMMOND
‘Fascinating’ Mail on Sunday

Publisher Review

A superb, illuminating book that will change the way you think about the present moment — CLAUDIA HAMMOND Expertly weaving together physics, philosophy and neuroscience, Jo Marchant’s book will change the way you think, and maybe the way you live too. Make time for it — ANIL K. SETH In this profound and brilliant treatise on the nature of reality, Marchant asks the greatest question: what does it mean to exist? The answer brings a dazzling exploration of science and philosophy, from consciousness to quarks, illuminating our embodied experience within the grandeur of an unfolding unfeeling Universe. A phenomenal, wonderful, ambitious work that won’t just shift your perspective but rather catapult it into another dimension — GAIA VINCE This is a proper safari of science: from Amazonians with no word for time, to Apollo astronauts staring at the infinite, Jo Marchant’s new book that will change the way you think about flow of time and the passing of every moment — KEVIN FONG In clear and engaging prose, Jo Marchant guides us through the maze that intertwines our notions of time, causality, identity, and reality – and points us in the direction of a new reframing. In Search of Now is a splendid example of the best sort of synthetic thinking and writing — ALICIA JUARRERO The present moment is all we ever experience, but what does ‘now’ actually mean? In this tour-de-force of science writing, Jo Marchant explains how the answer to that question takes in everything from the innermost workings of our minds to the limits of space and time. Profound, lively and accessible, it will leave you thinking for much longer than a moment — SUMIT PAUL-CHOUDHURY I came to In Search of Now with high expectations, and they were happily exceeded. Fuelled by the deceptively simple question ‘What is now?’ Jo Marchant proves to be a captivating guide through the slippery terrain of consciousness, illuminating both the limits and potentials of the human experience. This fascinating book will leave readers wiser after every turn of the page — SUSANNAH CAHALAN We are intimately familiar with Now, indeed everything we experience is embedded in it. And yet it is a mystery. In this illuminating new book, Jo Marchant takes us on a marvellous personal and scientific voyage into this mystery — DEAN BUONOMANO Effortlessly weaving together fascinating insights from physics, philosophy and neuroscience, In Search of Now is an engrossing and thought-provoking exploration of the most mysterious, and most precious, of all things: our ever-changing moment-to-moment experience — KIERAN FOX This ambitious and beautifully written book gestures at something truly profound: a new view of science in which ‘nothing is set in stone: we have a say in what the universe is and where it goes * * Kirkus * *