Time: Its Origin, Its Enigma, Its History

In Trivial, Satirical Pursuit of Time's History and Concepts

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. Donald Mitchell, co-author of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The 2,000 Percent Solution