The Idea of Time Book

As the Christian Millennium draws its last few gasps, time is back in fashion. The Idea of Time is one of several books for a general readership which question our sense of time. The unique aspect of this one is that it is, as the title suggests, very wide ranging. Charles Holland includes what the American science writer John McPhee called "deep time", the geological history of the Earth and biological time, as well as giving a literary, artistic and philosophical view of time. The more familiar topics such as cosmological and calendar time are covered as well. Charles Holland is an Emeritus professor of Earth Sciences in Trinity College, Dublin and has a lifetime's experience of working with time, especially "rock" time. Holland's discussion of this geological time provides, as he writes "perhaps the best of all demonstrations of 'time's arrow'". It is the most novel part of the book for general readers and, if developed, would make a very interesting book in its own right. As Holland says "the arts are littered with references to time" and so is this book. References to painting, literature and especially poetry show the author's breadth and depth of reading but not the same level of analysis and discussion as the topics he is more familiar with. In conclusion, the author "sees no difficulty in regarding it [time] simply in terms of measuring duration...". The troublesome difficulties of space-time "are not beyond intuitive understanding". However, there are the intractable problems of the extent of space and what happened before the Universe. Finally Holland asks, given the short "time of this mortal life", what are we to do? His granddaughter provides one simple answer--"I like my life". -- Douglas PalmerRead More