In Search of Now: The Science of the Present Moment, US Edition

New Scientist • Best New Popular Science Books of February 2026 • The Next Big Idea Club • March 2026 Must-Read Books

A mind-bending, brilliantly accessible exploration of the shifting science behind perception, reality, and time.

What is Now? It seems simple. The immediate moment, what we're experiencing this instant, bathes us like air, or gravity. It is our connection with the world. Yet when we try to grasp it, to scrutinize the phenomenon and bring it into focus, it vanishes, slipping through our fingers like a dream. According to the most trusted models of physics, Now doesn't even exist. And neuroscience suggests that it's merely a convincing hallucination.

But if there's no special split second of happening out in the world, no universal frontier at which the open future becomes the solid past, where does our feeling of "nowness" come from? What shapes the flow of events and sensations that we perceive—and is this really just an illusion?

Best-selling science writer Jo Marchant takes us on a grand tour of the latest thinking in cosmology, quantum mechanics, psychology, and neuroscience to tackle these questions and explore the fundamental essence of time. With characteristic flair and clarity, she shows us the creative force of a moment, both from the outside in—the cosmic perspective of physics—and as we experience it, from the inside out. In Search of Now weaves together personal journey, philosophical meditation, rigorous research, and above all a probing, scientific curiosity about how our lives—and worlds—unfold.