The Soul Of The World

by Christopher Dewdney

Blending science with an evocative narrative, Christopher Dewdney takes readers on a fascinating journey to the most elusive and fluid of the dimensions lying within human time. As he did with the hours between dusk and dawn in Acquainted with the Night , Dewdney unlocks all of today, tomorrow and yesterday through his wide-ranging narrative. He shows how time has been imagined through the ages in mythology, philosophy, art and science, answering the questions that have engaged inquiring minds since before recorded history. Why does time flow in only one direction? Is time travel actually possible? Why does time go faster the higher you are from the earth’s surface?
     Spun out across the seasons of a year and through encounters with friends, family and strangers, Soul of the World offers extraordinary insights into the nature of time and its influence on us.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2008

About the author

Christopher Dewdney has served as writer-in-residence at Trent, Western, and York universities. Featured in Ron Mann’s film Poetry in Motion with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Michael Ondaatje, and Tom Waits, Dewdney has presented his groundbreaking poetics across North America and Europe.

Reviews

[James Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't exactly the book on time I wanted to read. I know Dewdney as a poet. His approach to time here is poetic, and he relates this book about the nature of time to his personal point of view, the turn of the seasons from spring to winter in his yard, the flow of time as he views it passing through and around him. So it's less a scientific work than it is a meditation or impressionistic observations about time and its impact on the personal. Some books you grow into, like putting on a skin or a costume, and Dewdney's gentle weave of the natural world around with him with the technicalities of time grew on me. To be sure he covers the more esoteric aspects of time. His brief history of clocks is interesting. He discusses how the telephone and photography changed perspectives of time. Most interesting to me was the discussion of classical, cosmic time, the current theories of physicists, the effects of gravity near interstellar objects, black holes, and such. He writes about the possibility or impossibility of time travel. He spends a lot of time trying to explain the notion of "now", that thin knife edge of time between the past and future, but never quite touches it. Dewdney's is an interesting book, but it's a mere Sunfish, and I could have handled a larger craft in sailing across the ocean of time.

[Mike Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very personal, lyrical, almost poetic rumination on the nature of time and the author's relationship with time. There is some reference to scientists, philosophers, and religious thinkers, but the majority of the work is the author's own feelings, experiences, and beliefs.



There were moments when I could relate, when I could say, "Yes! I've experienced that feeling." But I can't say that, overall, the book left me with any brilliant new insights into the nature of time. It is, however, very well written, with a great deal of style. If you'll pardon the expression, it's a good way to pass the time.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. Poetry, memoir, astrophysics,history, quantum theory, and philosophy merge to create an interesting, entertaining, and often mind bending look at what it means to be time bound creatures. Dewdney explores how we experience time, what time is from a physical perspective, and what the flow of time means for the evolution of human intelligence. An enlightening read, even if there were parts of the quantum theory that made me sprain my brain attempting to understand.

[Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

- very interesting insights about the nature of time
- did you know that times passes more slowly at the surface of the earth than it does at a hundred miles above it?
- over the course of a lifetime, the average American will spend twenty-seven years sleeping and four months having sex

[Umar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great slow, organic read. Things are best understood when a poet explains them, and this is one example of that. Very thought-provoking.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars, at it is making me look at everyday things a little differently, and has peeled back my blinders a bit. Also, for the feeling of combined immortality and insignificance.

[Seth Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of a lot of ways we can look at time. Good stories.