What Is Time?: The Classic Account of the Nature of Time
by G. J. Whitrow
On This Page
Description
G. J. Whitrow (1912-2000) begins this classic exploration of the nature of time with a story about a Russian poet, visiting London before the First World War. The poet's English was not too good and when he asked a man in the street, 'Please, what is time?' he received the response, 'But that's a philosophical question. Why ask me?'. Starting from this simple anecdote, Professor Whitrow takes us on a good-humored and wide-ranging tour of the thing that clocks keep (more or less). He show more discusses how our ideas of time originated; how far they are inborn in plants and animals; how time has been measured, from sundial and hourglass to the caesium clock, and whether time possesses a beginning, a direction, and an end. He coaxes the diffident layman to contemplate with pleasure the differences between cyclic, linear, biological, cosmic, and space-time, and he provides frequent diversions into fascinating topics such as the Mayan calendar, the migration of birds, the dances of bees, precognition, and the short, crowded lives of mu-mesons, particles produced by cosmic-ray showers that exist for just two millionths of a second. This reissue of the classic and authoritative What is Time? includes a new introduction by Dr J. T. Fraser, founder of the International Society for the Study of Time, and a bibliographic essay by Dr Fraser and Professor M. P. Soulsby of the Pennsylvania State University. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
A good basic introduction to time, covering the history of the concept and its measurement, circular vs linear conceptions of history, the more recent implications of Relativity, atomic clocks, and some detail on biological clocks.
Overall quite lacking on the philosophical discussions on time, for example around Zeno’s paradoxes, and the work of McTaggart and other modern thinkers. What is there is good, but what is missing would be better.
Overall quite lacking on the philosophical discussions on time, for example around Zeno’s paradoxes, and the work of McTaggart and other modern thinkers. What is there is good, but what is missing would be better.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
9+ Works 540 Members
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- What is Time?: The Classic Account of the Nature of Time
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 143
- Popularity
- 229,760
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.61)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Portuguese
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 2
