Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this slender volume, Stephen Jay Gould addresses three questions about the millennium with his typical combination of erudition, warmth, and whimsy: As a calendrical event, what is the concept of a millennium and how has its meaning shifted over time? How did the projection of Christ's 1,000-year reign become a secular measure? And when exactly will the millennium begin--January 1, 2000, or January 2, 2001?

"Our urge to know is so great, but our common errors cut so deep. You just gotta love us," he states disarmingly in the preface. "And you gotta view misguided millennial passion as a primary example of our uniqueness and our absurdity--in other words, of our humanity." Gould's own curiosity about time and calendars was triggered by a 1950 issue of Life magazine, which cut the century in half with its evaluation of what had happened and its prediction of things to come, propelling his third-grade mind to the year 2000. In Questioning the Millennium, Gould promises to make no predictions (other than "an orgy of millennial books"); court no millennial epiphanies; and put forth no theories on the collective angst that typically accompanies a century's end. Instead, he answers the millennial questions which, for him, represent the intersection of undeniable reality (i.e., natural fact) and human interpretation. Gould's questions and learned answers, weaving many historical and scientific facts, are a loving inquiry into the human need for order in a vast and teeming universe.

From Library Journal

Gould is the latest?though certainly not the last?thinker to publish his ruminations on the coming millennium. Unlike others, he spares readers the standard litany of predictions and rallying cries to embrace the future. Instead, in three essays entitled "What?," "When?," and "Why?," Gould wryly analyzes why humans are so fascinated by the year 2000. It is no great revelation that millennial passions are fueled in part by apocalyptic yearnings as well as by an innate human compulsion to measure and organize time, but, as always, Gould puts his own clever spin on these observations. Hard-core fans may be disappointed, for this book contains more religion and numerology than science. Any book by Gould will generate demand, but while this one is witty and entertaining, it is not especially illuminating. An optional purchase.
-?Gregg Sapp, Univ. of Miami Lib., Coral Gables, Fla.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: Harmony; 1st edition (September 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609600761
• ISBN-13: 978-0609600764
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,030,112 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, but suffers from Gould's typical pomposity, October 12, 1997

By A Customer

I love Gould's essays. I hate Gould's self-indulgence. Gould always has something interesting to say, and this book is no exception. But he needs an editor who isn't overawed.

As in his delightful collections of essays, Gould finds the excitement in interesting tidbits and magnifies them in an interesting way. In Questioning the Millennium ("two n's," Gould reminds us with characteristic pedantry but an unnecessary apostrophe), we learn not only about the never-ending conflict over when the century ends (Gould claims to take no side, although he really does), but also about a wealth of millenarian trivia (only one n here). It's interesting trivia - little pieces of history that, as Gould notes, we always mean to look up but never do. He details apocalyptic visions of the millennium, the change from Julian to Gregorian calendars, and nature's frustrating imprecision - all worthy subjects.

Unfortunately, the inherent interest of these topics is somewhat compromised by Gould's ever-present reminders that he really, truly is an Essayist - which, to him, means someone who likes to advertise his vocabulary and seeks admiration of his ability to turn a neat phrase. Problem is, sometimes he gets a little lost in his own self-wonder. Several times, I had to look back to pick up a thread of thought I figured I must have missed - only to find it absent. I like stylish writing, but I don't like writing that calls attention to itself. Gould's writing does, and it wears thin.

But Gould nevertheless has a truly original mind, and I love how he thinks. It's worth trudging through a book that, like many of his essays, is a little too long and a little too cute to get the benefit of his wonderful thinking.

One other thing. The book ends on a beautiful note, but it's essential to build up to it. Don't skip ahead.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More than enough info to win a bar bet, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

More explanation than you will ever need of calendrics, millennium minutiae, 'day-date' calculating, etc. And a finish to the book that made me say 'Wow!'

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the millennium question unsolved, July 13, 2004

By	Ulrich Voigt - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown (Revised Edition) (Hardcover)

In his lively book Stephen Jay Gould offers a lot of fascinating material as to how the millennium question has been treated with in modern times. But when it comes to the fundamental matter, that is to the establishment of the Chistian numbering of years in the 6th century, Gould commits the all too common mistake to believe he can solve a historical question by common sense. He should have taken his time to look into the sources at hand concerning Dionysius Exiguus and Beda Venerabilis. He would then have detected that the millennium question is of an even more intricate nature than he had imagined, and in particular has something to do with the calculation of the full moon.