Customer Reviews

Time: Its Origin, Its Enigma, Its History

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book takes the essential measures of time that we use (from time before the beginning to the notion of the end of time) and explains the conceptual and factual roots of each one. The book takes a humorous approach, scattering random missiles at philosophers, religious thinkers, and scientists alike. The book's main benefit is that you will be able to answer almost anyone's simple questions about anything related to time. The book's main drawback is that it does tend to give you more than you wanted in many ways (such as all the ancient beliefs and measurement systems) and not enough in other, more relevant ways (such as about the space-time continuuum).

The book begins with the sort of questions that a child might ask, and although that structure is not repeated, it is certainly still the book's focus. No parent need ever be caught out with this book in hand concerning any basic question about time.

The historical and religious roots of many concepts of time were interesting to me. I did not realize that many Jewish concepts of time (now also incorporated in Christian practices) had their basis in Babylon. The notion of a seventh day of rest is an example. The Babylonians thought that the seventh day was unlikely, and reduced their activity to lessen risk. Naturally, they wanted their Jewish servants to do the same. The Book of Genesis seems to be based on a Babylonian text.

The book looks at the beginning of time, seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, era, eternity, primitive time, complex time, and the end of time in separate chapters.

I found the sections on the beginning of time, minutes, weeks, and eternity to be the most interesting. The more conceptual aspects fascinated me, especially where many choices could have been made. When you get to months and years, there is a certain inevitability associated with the lunar and solar cycles.

Overall, the book could have been shortened by about 100 pages and made much punchier. Or after editing out those 100 pages (where the author does go on), 100 pages of modern science could have been added in.

For what he was trying to do, this is about a four star book. If he had been more concise, the writing style and material could have sustained a five star book. The book's overly simplistic focus caused the book to drop another star in my estimation.

If you just want a reference to be able to answer questions about the origin of time, this is probably a five star book. Perhaps that is the book's best application.

After you finish the book, imagine how your life would be different if you operated independent of time. What would you gain? What would you lose? How can you get more benefits from ignoring time with few losses?

Enjoy the moment, because that's the only place you can easily be.

This book is predominately a history of time and a fascinating history at that. By breaking the chapters up into length of time (second, minute, hour, etc.), the numerous facts and stories are well organized and easy to retain. Time is a difficult subject to write about because no one has ever understood it. Alexander Waugh is no exception. Although, he does successfully unveil our ignorance on the subject, a discussion curiously hidden from scholarly writings. The chapters are a quick read with oversized text that quickly jumps from a period of time to another. All in all, the book does an excellent job focusing on the happenstance of yesterday that brought about are modern notion of time. I deducted the one star because of Mr. Waugh's liberal writing style. It was amusing at times but a little much for all 288 pages.

The book is basically made up of two parts: an historic overview of how time came to be measured the way it is (why there are 60 seconds in a minute, 12 months in a year, etc.); and a more esoteric discussion of the essence of time. The historic information was fascinating and was exactly what I had hoped for. I did not read this book hoping to get an in-depth scientific analysis of the dimension of Time (there are tons of other books out there to address that need) and thought the level at which that subject was covered was appropriate for this books intended audience.

Great book, its REALLY makes you wonder about where are we really in time, and what is in the near and far future. Its gets in-depth with what exactly is time, and what excactly is ANYHTING we concider to be real without seein it. Such as numbers. A must read.

From eternity, to the smallest fraction of a second, Alexader Waugh leads us on a "fun" journey through the speculation, science, and nonsense of the frustratingly difficult-to-grasp concept of time. This book is great reading that helps clears up some of those nagging little questions of time and culture.

Humor is not exclusive to science and the author breaks up some otherwise technical jargon and concepts with some irreverant stories. I love the way that we are treated to the theories and mistaken theories of some of history's most noted personalities.

I found particulaly insightful the discussions about the competing roles of politics, science, and religion in defining various time standards (seconds, hours, years, etc.). Why do we have 12 hours to a day (instead of 10?) Why 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in minute. Why 12 months to a year? Considering so much else is base 10, why all this other stuff?

Those with an inclination to math will find this book particularly interesting. Not interesting in a complex formula sort of way, but in a trivia cultural history of numbers sort of way. There's a lot of good math and number history in this book that I'll bet your math friends are never taught in college.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The true math nerds and philosophers may find it disapointing if they are expecting some break-through answers. For the rest of us, well the book is a fun step into The Twilight Zone.

The parts of this book that deal with history are fairly interesting. Once the author starts detailing his "theories" of Time, Space and Infinity it becomes rather sad. Very much in the manner of those pathetic individuals who spent theirs lives trying to build a perpetual motion machine, prove the world is flat or turn base metal into gold.

For anyone interested in mathematics, space and infinity I would recommend:

One Two Three . . .Infinity, George Gamow

Number Theory and its History, Oystein Ore

Feynman Lectures on Physics, Richard P. Feynman

This is so obviously a book written by a non-scientist masquerading as a scientist. While a different viewpoint may be refreshing, I found his constant focussing on the personal details of astronomers and others (e.g. the references to Kepler as "smelly" - I have never heard this before) suggestive of a sneering agenda.
While the book is, in parts, entertaining and informative, I cannot trust anyone who says "speed and acceleration are the same thing". This sort of tosh totally destroys the credibility of the author.

Interesting book oriented towards the history of time and it's components from millenium to second more than the history of timekeeping.

For anyone who has studied some metaphysics, or anyone who has just pondered the nature of 'time', this book is an entertaining exploration into the concept of 'time' and how the human species has questioned, divided, and contemplated this enigmatic concept. If reading this sentence takes you 15 seconds, does reading the first word take you half of half of half of half of that time, or less? A parade through the quandaries of Xeno through Kant and beyond. If you enjoy speculation of this kind, don't miss this book!

For anyone who has studied some metaphysics, or anyone who has just pondered the nature of 'time', this book is an entertaining exploration into the concept of 'time' and how the human species has questioned, divided, and contemplated this enigmatic concept. If reading this sentence takes you 15 seconds, does reading the first word take you half of half of half of half of that time, or less? A parade through the quandaries of Xeno through Kant and beyond. If you enjoy speculation of this kind, don't miss this book!