The Idea of Time

The Idea of Time Charles Hepworth Holland Trinity College, Dublin, Eire What is time? What do we understand when we think about time? What do we mean by 'now'? This book covers concisely all the different aspects of time with an anchoring point within the geological sciences. Here successions of strata are seen as representing successions of events in the long history of the earth; palaeontology provides a record of organic evolution through nearly the whole of these several thousand million years. The rest of the book diversifies in discussing the measurement of time both physically and biologically; our human perception of it; the ending of personal time in death; the pervading presence of time in the arts; out through astronomy to cosmology; into philosophy and religion. The idea of time is a very complex one but this book undertakes a journey to prove that it is not beyond comprehension.Was ist Zeit? Wann beginnt sie, wann endet sie? Werden wir von der biologischen Uhr bestimmt - oder liegt die Wahrheit gar im physikalischen Begriff der dehnbaren Zeit? Der Autor beleuchtet diese Fragen von allen Seiten: Aspekte der Biologie, Physik, Geschichte, Literatur, Musik, Philosophie, Religion und Kosmologie fügen sich zu einem bunten, unterhaltsamen Mosaik zusammen, das wissenschaftlich klar und präzise ist, dessen Verständnis aber keine mathematischen oder physikalischen Vorkenntnisse erfordert. (05/99)
What Do We Mean When We Talk About Time?

Clocks and Calendars.

Time and Life.

Human Time.

The Artistic View of Time.

A Growing Sense of Geological Time.

Geochronometry.

Stratigraphy.

The Solar System and Beyond.

Cosmology.

The Philosophy of Time.

What Do We Understand When We Think About Time?

Further Reading.

Index.

"... a success...." (Journal of Geoscience Education, Vol 48, 2000)

"... an erudite, cultured and poetic vision." (Palaeontological Association, November 2001)

Charles Hepworth Holland is a British geologist, Emeritus Fellow and former Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at Trinity College, Dublin. The Idea of Time Charles Hepworth Holland Trinity College, Dublin, Eire What is time? What do we understand when we think about time? What do we mean by 'now'? This book covers concisely all the different aspects of time with an anchoring point within the geological sciences. Here successions of strata are seen as representing successions of events in the long history of the earth; palaeontology provides a record of organic evolution through nearly the whole of these several thousand million years. The rest of the book diversifies in discussing the measurement of time both physically and biologically; our human perception of it; the ending of personal time in death; the pervading presence of time in the arts; out through astronomy to cosmology; into philosophy and religion. The idea of time is a very complex one but this book undertakes a journey to prove that it is not beyond comprehension.