4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, excellent, excellent, December 13, 2001
The beauty of this book is that you don't have to know anything about science to be mesmerized by it. Its reads as though a grand wizard of storytelling is telling you an especially wonderful story. Briefly, this book tells the story of how we as human beings came to question the world around us, and eventually the universe. The style of writing is plain, simple english, like a good documentary. Gorst explains the science in examples that don't interfere with the narrative. The search for the beginning of time involved countless scientists, and Gorst seamlessly blends each person's contribution, smoothly moving from one person or era to another. The book is lively and engaging and would make a great present for just about anyone; it's a nice change from the usual bestseller that leaves you with nothing when you're done.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From 4,004 To 13.8 Billion, December 3, 2001
If you have an old family Bible published as recently as the early 20Th Century, or about 1910, you will find a notation that is remarkable. This was the last year that Bibles gave not only the year that the world began, but also the date, the day, and the time down to the minute. Specifically, the world was to have been created on Saturday October 22 at 6:30 in the year 4,004b.c. An Irish Bishop, James Usher had calculated the date in the early 17th century, and his date prevailed despite challenges for almost 300 years. His methodology was superficially simple, however his source material contained a variety of time spans that were in conflict. Various ancient texts provided reference points when a variety of Biblical events took place, and these contradictions all had to be reconciled or eliminated to arrive at Bishop Usher's Date. Stated simply, he began with Genesis and then added together all of the lives that were listed, and the times they spanned to arrive at his date.
At first glance his thinking appears terribly flawed, however the reality of dating the creation of our universe from the, "Big Bang", was only agreed upon after the Hubble Telescope was in orbit for several years, and even the present date comes with a margin of error of plus or minus 10 percent. In practice this amounts to just under 1.4 billion years. It also took until the end of the 20th Century to prove the Universe is expanding, and to agree on the rate of expansion, sort of. For even those who adhere to the present numbers know that few theories never change, and the rate at which the Universe is expanding is still being refined.
The centuries that encompassed the search for the origin in time of the space that our planet calls home, was pursued without pause and by familiar and brilliant minds. Throughout the process the Church was always watching carefully for no one knew whether Faith and Science would somehow be reconciled, or whether Science would somehow shatter beliefs held for millennia. Failing to place scientific thought, if not in step with The Church, then at least not in obvious opposition was both critical and potentially fatal to those who espoused such perceived heresy. When the theory of all matter originating from a void at a single moment in time was put forth, The Vatican was so relieved that Pope Pius The XII literally spoke and wrote embracing the theory. Scientists rushed to suggest that their theory was just that and the Pontiff would do well to not continue to celebrate what was not fact. He did not speak publicly on the subject again.
"Time", is a man-made construct that is relevant only to us. Even to our species, Albert Einstein demonstrated that time was relative, depending on a person's point of view, their position relative to a specific event. "Measuring Eternity" by Mr. Martin Gorst documents the history and the men and woman who sought to measure an area that was both real and had an age, and to use our definition of time to arrive at an answer. The story is incredible, and the book relates the history in both an exciting manner, and one that the non-scientist can enjoy.
Mr. Gorst relates the tale of the Irish Bishop already mentioned, up to those who work with The Hubble Telescope today. Many of the earlier methods will seem primitive until they are placed in context. Measuring the saline content of oceans, the changes in elevation after an earthquake, the depth of lava flows, and when known comets repeatedly visited the Earth are just a few of the methodologies that were used. A famous French Scientist would heat metal and equate the time it took for the specimen to cool, to the touch of a hand, and compare that with when the Earth could have sustained life. His answers were not correct, however his progress toward the correct answer was exponentially closer than previously thought.
And so history progressed, with seashells found thousands of feet above sea level, and fossils found deep within the Earth. How did they get there, how long did it take? When the methods turned to the stars, again the basic question of how to measure was the primary hurdle. The events that lead to finding reliable reference points, and enough of them literally did not come together until The Hubble Telescope was able to supply all the measurements, and the journey is amazing.
All the reader need bring to this book is an inquisitive mind. There are plenty of ideas that can only be understood by a select group, however the author does manage to relate the story for most everyone. The book does require that the reader try and imagine "everything from a void", to get comfortable with the idea that what is observed not only happened long ago, but that if you were able to instantly travel to the event, it would have ended and vanished billions of years ago.
And the amazing convergence of science and ancient faith is remarkable. Scientists routinely speak of the two systems working together, being dependent upon one another, almost symbiotic. For some it may read as metaphor, for others it will read literally. Whichever the case, the trip through time about measuring just how long time has been ticking, is extraordinary.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time, October 14, 2002
Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time written by Martin Gorst is a real jewel as he writes about man's obsession to find out when time or when did the universe began. This is a well written book of character driven narrative, making interesting reading as the cast of characters tell a well-crafted story.
I'm sure that at least once in your life time you wanted to know when the universe started. Well, that very question lies at the crosshairs of religion and science, nd for four hundred years philosophers, astronomers, geologists, physicists and mathematicians all tried to figure out the answer to this most vexing question.
Poor Bishop James Ussher who came up with an answer of 4004 BC at 6:00PM on a Suturday, October 22 noless was really off by billions of years, but he only had the bible for reference... no wonder he made such an inaccurate calculation.. if only he opened he eyes and mind to see the expanse of time in eons. Aristotle had it better pegged when he said, "Time is infinite and the universe eternal," and that was the fourth century B.C. Plato had his magnus annus a span of 36,000 years.
I found this book to be very interesting as the author writes in an easily read style making you well aware of the history involved in this age old question of chasing rainbows and expanded horizons... the moment that time began. And as science slowly put the pieces together via Darwinism, thermodynamics, radioactivily and most recently the astronomers with the Hubble space telescope, we begin to see what deep time means... 13.4 billion years give or take a billion. Thus, making time almost incomprehensible nevertheless, plausible.
You'll enjoy reading the history involved with calculating when time began and how each thought that they were on the right track, later to be found that they too were not thinking billions of years. There are some very eccentic characters in this book... knowing that they were serious when they took on the caluclation of time, but later we see the error in their thinking.
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