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What is time? Any child knows the answer, and yet even the most advanced theoretical physicist is hard put for a fully satisfactory definition. He cannot say for certain when time started, when it will end, or even if it really exists in a philosophical sense. Yet the measurement of time is the basis of all science, for the scientist can study only what changes with time. Astronomers chart the history of the universe in "big time," the passage of billions of years. Physicists and engineers subdivide "little time" into billionths of a second. Biologists have discovered that animals and plants measure time, too - that even the lowliest of single-celled organisms depend on biological clocks to keep themselves synchronized internally and externally. This book explores all of these facets of the meaning of time.
200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
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September 27, 2013
A fascinating meditation on time. Covers early attempts to create calendars and watches and ends with a beautiful chapter on relativity. These are better than textbooks. Textbooks are written with the assumption that there will be a professor there to force you to use the book... with grades and diploma as hostages. These books had to be written with enough style and flair to keep the reader interested for the simple sake of discovery. The difference is astonishing.
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