Author on adventure of discovery on time

AUTHOR: Alan Burdick PUBLISHER: Text RRP: $32.99

REVIEWER: Mary Ann Elliott

THE two great physicists in history had dramatically different views on time.

Isaac Newton imagined it as a sort of cosmic metronome, ticking away relentlessly for all eternity.

Alfred Einstein envisioned time as fluid, capable of dilating or contracting or even standing still in certain circumstances.

Physicists have long decided in Einstein’s favour but most people do believe in some kind of external clock for our universe.

Staff writer at the New Yorker Alan Burdick investigates the polarity between objective physical time and subjective psychological time.

He examines the ticking clock inside us all, continuing the argument about the true essence of time and asks, how and why does it fly?

It certainly seems to slow down when we are bored, and speed up as we become older!

Burdick opens up fascinating queries and discussions on its curious nature; visiting “the most accurate clock in the world”, discovering that “now” actually happened a split-second ago, finding a 25th hour in the day, and living in the Arctic where he loses all sense of time.

Time for Burdick is ultimately an adventure of discovery. His wealth of deeply researched and detailed but humorous stories serves to raise our curiosity.

What is time? Is it a condition or a product of our consciousness?

Make time to read his fascinating and illuminating book.

❝ What is time? Is it a condition or a product of our consciousness?