i want to thank sean carroll and his wife, jennifer for coming down from l.a. to talk. some logistics c-span's here tonight so please turn yourself phones off and this is for sean and others who've been here before we have a running a business here so thank you for being here and some might ask for an cappuccino or espresso but [inaudible] [laughter] i also encourage you to buy a cup of coffee or tea. when we are here [inaudible] please support them. when you have questions to ask the end of the talk, we are going to have a very interesting kind of microphone come over to do so that the c-span people can hear you when this is being broadcast. please hold your question until this big thing is brought to you and you can start. [laughter] >> if you forget we will be sure to cut you off until it is there. we would like to welcome sean carroll to discuss his newest book "from eternity to here. if he would be interested the theory of relativity. >> what are you saying? [laughter] >> i don't really know about relativity actually. [laughter] but the thing -- if you are interest

. >> in his latest book "from eternity to here," researcher sean carroll shares his insight on time and the origins of the universe. the book works in del mar, california, is the host of this book. it lasts about an hour. [applause] >> thanks, lisa. it's great to be here. it's great to be at any independent bookstore in the united states. i'm very, very happy to have these kinds of events. [applause] >> and, you know, i'm also happy but i've stopped being surprised to see a whole bunch of people deciding the best way they can spend their thursday evening is thinking about the beginning of the universe and the origin of time. but i do -- i do need to explain, you know, part of why this particular question is the question we're being asked. at one point, you know, i mentioned to a student that i was thinking about -- as lisa said why time runs forward rather than backwards. and the response was, and after that you will tackle the problem of alphabetical order. [laughter] >> how could it else run? you might have heard of einstein who said time is kind of like space. one of einstein's great