Time: 10 Things You Should Know

Colin Stuart Seven Dials £9.99  HB

For such a familiar concept, time is actually a rather complex topic. There are subtleties, such as how exactly we measure it, but also debates as to what it even is in a physical sense. But it turns out that discovering more about the nature of time doesn’t have to take a lot of it. In Time: 10 Things You Should Know, you can cover a lot of ground in just 100 pages.

The book is made up of 10 essays, each 10 pages, covering a different aspect of time. To begin with, they’re fairly straightforward, starting with the definition of how we measure time – you’ve heard of leap years, but why on Earth do we need leap seconds? It moves on to other ways we mark and measure time, both here on

Earth and with timetravelling telescopes.

The middle chapters cover the very nature of time and how we experience it, and it’s not long before you find yourself discussing the implications of general relativity. The later chapters of the book investigate how time can be manipulated and what that might mean. Whether that means trying to slow time (or even stop it!) or travel through it (being careful not to kill your grandfather!), it can be quite philosophical at times.

The book is incredibly easy to read and very enjoyable. It’s full of little facts and turns of phrase that you can share with others. And with its slightly philosophical angle, it might even get you thinking about how you spend your time.