5 comments about Calendrical Calculations.

1. The book explains the structure of 14 calendars, and gives easily comprehensible formulae for the conversion of a date in any of these calendars into a day count, and back to the calendar date. It also includes many holidays for these calendars.

   Rather than on the history of calendars or their cultural background, the focus is on a lucid, correct, and complete exposition of their functional principles. Extensive bibliographic references are given to the primary sources for each calendar.

   A highlight is the complete specification of several calendars depending on fairly precise timings of astronomical phenomena (Chinese calendar and some Hindu religious calendars).

   To make it self-contained, the book explains the necessary mathematical and astronomical background. The astronomical models are taken from the classic 1991 book "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus.

   I especially like the presentation of the calendrical formulae in an essentially non-algorithmic manner, using normal mathematical notation. This makes it easy to further analyze these formulae.

   For instance, if one wants to know how good an approximation to the spring equinox is March 21 in the Gregorian calendar, one finds from the formula on page 36 in the book that midnight of March 21 in Gregorian year Y is exactly

   Y·365.2425 - (Y mod 4)·97/400 + (floor(Y/4) mod 25)·3/100 - (floor(Y/100) mod 4)/4

   days after midnight of March 21 in Gregorian year 0, which ranges from Y·365.2425 - 1.4775 up to Y·365.2425 + 0.72. Thus, even assuming the Gregorian approximation of 365.2425 days to the tropical year, spring equinoxes are distributed over at least three dates in March in the Gregorian calendar.

   Such reasonings would be very difficult if the book specified the calendars only in terms of programming language code.

   The formulae are designed so that it is easy to incorporate them into code written in the programming language of your choice. This use is further supported by a set of test dates in an appendix. Another appendix lists an example implementation of all the formulae, in the programming language Common Lisp. This code (intended for personal use) can also be downloaded from the internet.

   But this book is much more than a collection of programming recipes for many calendars -- it makes you understand the structure of those calendars. Ambitious readers can even find the data and the methods to construct their own calendrical formulae.

   What would I like to be changed in the book? Not much. Some of the calendrical formulae could be further simplified, the astronomical terminology could be modernized in places, and perhaps some additional historical information could be added. And, of course, even more calendars! For instance, some of the proposed reformed calendars, a more widespread version of the Persian calendar, or an historic Japanese calendar.

   This book is a must for everybody wanting reliable and highly readable information on the functional principles of the world's calendars.

   Michael Deckers




2. An excellent book on the history and workings of various calendars. But don’t use the source code! The licensing agreement is a trap. Use the code in GNU Emacs from the Free Software Foundation distributed under the General Public License. It does everything the authors code does (except for two obscure calendars) and it's free and always will be.



3. The reason why these people use the code in Emacs is that they wrote it. The authors virtually created the field of computerised calendaring, and then published the algorithms in two landmark papers in SPE in 1990 and 1993.



4. This is an interesting little book that provides a unified algorithmic presentation for more than two dozen calendars of current and historical interest. The book gives precise descriptions of each calendar and makes accurate calendar algorithms available for computer programmers. The complete workings of each calendar are described in verbage and then mathematically. Working computer programs are included in an appendix and on the accompanying CD.
   
   The one thing I didn't care for was the choice of Lisp as the implementation language in appendix B. However, this isn't too big of a problem since equivalent Java programs are on the book's website along with the Lisp implementations. Also, since the mathematical equations of conversion are clearly given, you can choose your own implementation language with few problems. The following is the table of contents:
   
   1. Introduction
   
   Part I. Arithmetical Calendars:
   2. The Gregorian calendar
   3. The Julian calendar
   4. The Coptic and Ethiopic calendars
   5. The ISO calendar
   6. The Islamic calendar
   7. The Hebrew calendar
   8. The Ecclesiastical calendars
   9. The Old Hindu calendars
   10. The Mayan calendar
   11. The Balinese Pawukon calendar
   12. Generic cyclical calendars
   
   Part II. Astronomical Calendars:
   13. Time and astronomy
   14. The Persian calendar
   15. The Baha'i calendar
   16. The French Revolutionary calendar
   17. The Chinese calendar
   18. The modern Hindu calendars
   19. The Tibetan calendar
   20. Astronomical lunar calendars coda
   
   Part III. Appendices:
   A. Function, parameter, and constant types
   B. Lisp implementation
   C. Sample data.



5. I am amazed by the clarity and "simplicity" of the text in the book.
   Calendars are not simple at all, but the approach taken by the authors makes the algorithms involved very accessible. I also appreciated the decision to focus on clarity rather then performance.

1 comments about The Nick of Time: Politics, Evolution, and the Untimely.

1. I first became interested in this book after seeing it in a bookshop. Having read some Darwin and a fair bit of Bergson I was interested. It is rare indeed nowadays to see any work at all on the concept of time in any other form than the typical linear classical physics/relativity idea. This posits time as something that either acts as a medium through which matter moves or in the case of relativity as another dimension much like the three known space dimensions. In both cases time is strongly spatialised i.e. thought of in the same way that space is.
   
   Time is of course strongly linked to change whether it is the idea of change prevalent in ancient times e.g. Plato and Aristotle, Heraclitus or the more modern versions used in science. Grosz has studied time's presence through three well known figures Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche and Henri Bergson. Darwin's concern was how organisms evolved over time, Nietzsche how the human being uses the "Will to Power" to become more and Bergson was interested in both. That is in how organisms evolved and what duration (time) actually is, especially in comparison to space.
   
   Grosz analyses all of them in turn. She does something unexpected with Darwin, she suggests that natural selection is in fact a positive "force" rather than a purely negative influence on species. I did not find myself believing this, it makes more of natural selection that it is originally posited to be. In turn she considers the ideas of Nietzsche who did foresee Bergson to some degree in that he proposed "The Will to Power" which can be recognised a little in Bergson's elan vital. Finally she discusses Bergson's ideas on time/duration, evolution, intelligence, instinct and so on. She studies Bergson far more deeply than either of the other two.
   
   She also relates these concepts to politics especially those of feminism, racism and other forms of political struggle. Her discussion of Bergson is deep and she understands his work well. At times I found myself impressed at her whole grasp of Bergson's issues. She locates a kind of complete whole within his work which eluded me. I had read Creative Evolution, Time and Free Will and The Creative Mind but have not as yet covered Duration and Simultaneity or Mind-Energy.
   
   I find that she takes the most from Bergson and relates it at the highest level to much else in our current cultural and political reality. However I did not feel convinced by her study of Darwin and the earlier parts of the book felt a little disjointed. Some parts, especially those on Bergson flowed well together. A good piece of work with more potential.

5 comments about Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine.

1. If you're fascinated with the science of light and time travel but not a physicist or mathematician, this book is a great read. It's written in easy to understand language, backed up by appropriate research. Jenny Randles is excellent at writing these kinds of books and I recommend her other recent publications.



2. I adore books like this, stretching one's concepts beyond their comfort zone to consider new possibilities. At the same time, however, I feel compelled to approach such works as "Breaking the Time Barrier" with a healthy measure of skepticism. Of course, most people believe that crossing boundaries of time is impossible, although from a theoretical perspective it appears possible at the same time that it is unlikely. Jenny Randles, a British science writer, tracks in "Breaking the Time Barrier" efforts beyond science fiction and wishful thinking to crack that barrier. There are enormous challenges, probably insurmountable ones at least for the projected future, in overcoming the speed of light, understanding and moving beyond of three dimensions into higher dimensionality, and navigating the space-time continuum of a black hole.
   
   Recent investigations undertaken by serious scientists may yield answers to at least some of these questions. The result might be a workable time machine in some distant unimaginable era. Then watch out, fascinating possibilities exist. Read and enjoy, but don't rush out and invest money in a company offering time travel vacations immediately. It will be quite a while before we see that.



3. I have read many books pertaining to time travel and I must say this is one of the best. It is a "must read".



4. Have not read the entire book yet, but what I have read has been written very well. Not a big fan of most female authers as I notice a different writing style from that of men, but this woman has done an execellent job of creating a book that is both interesting and factual. It is printed in what I would say is 1 1/2 spaced lines so it makes for an easy and enjoyable read. Just let your imagination go and visualize the future with such possibilities, the potential is enormous! We can already travel in time in a limited way, get up in the morning and relive the afternoon all over again in the same day, but what is suggested may be around the corner is mind blowing. Buy the book!



5. I bought "Breaking The Time Barrier" as a companion to the most excellent "Time Traveler" by Ronald Mallett, and if you are after a good book with time travel science in it, get Mallett's book.
   
   I found Ms. Randles book a disappointment on two levels. First, it's filled with "gee whiz!" statements that upon further reading are discounted. Examples:
   
   p. 102: "He (Frank Tipler) was the first modern scientist to design a time machine that could be constructed in the laboratory ... ". Later, on p.104, Ms. Randles backs away from that stating that, "Tipler's time machine was a worthy effort but is not likely for the foreseeable future ...". Because it would require a super dense cylinder over 60 miles long.
   
   p.107 "The photo of Christ was a fake and the chronovisor did not work - but the device was built and the theory behind it was sound."
   
   Antigravity experiments of Podkletnov are discussed (p. 174- 176). "Tests followed and many further experiments revealed the remarkable truth. Gravity was being reduced in the area above the floating superconductor." Then (p. 176) "But Podkletnov's research proved disappointingly difficult for others to verify."
   
   Secondly, Ms. Randles, although seemingly familiar with modern physics ideas, sometimes misinterprets them. Example:
   
   (pp. 77 - 78) Ms. Randles misunderstands Einstein Rosen bridges to mean that particles themselves travel through the bridges rather than quantum information.
   
   If you do not have a science background and you are interested in time travel ideas then this could be a good starting book. For those who have had exposure to science there are a few jewels in the book such as the (brief) discussion of the delayed choice experiment.

3 comments about The Oxford Companion to the Year: An Exploration of Calendar Customs and Time-Reckoning.

1. More than just a scholarly reference, this mind-bogglingly comprehensive book is masterfully written and offers something for everyone. From the historical significance and traditions of each day of the year to the calendars and time-reckoning systems used all over the world throughout history, the Oxford Companion to the Year is chock-full of obscure bits of history, poems, quotations, and illustrations. Absolutely fascinating reading--a must-have for the new millennium!



2. This 937 page reference work of calendar customs and time-reckoning is a modern day version of Robert Chambers's "Book of Days" (1864), and is now surely THE definitive reference work on the subject. For every day of the year (including February 30, which has been observed three times in past calendars, once in Sweden and twice in the Soviet Union), there is a listing of the date (e.g., 25 Abril), the Roman date (e.g., a.d. VII Kalendas Maias), a list of Holidays and Anniversaries (e.g., Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga: ANZAC Day) or Holy Days (e.g., Mark the Evangelist) or perhaps something from Ancient Rome (e.g., "On this day was held the ceremony for keeping rust off crops, the Robigalia,"). Moreover, there are usually one or two paragraphs given to explain the origins of various holidays or as biographical background. Sometimes poems or literary excerpts are inserted to further enliven the entry. Additionally, a generous amount of humor and bonhomie are sprinkled throughout the text.

   Other calendar customs such as the moveable feasts of the western church year, days of the week, Red-Letter days, Dog Days, terms at Oxford or Cambridge, Handsel Monday, Thanksgiving, or the Lord Mayor's Show each have their own entries and explanations. Part II follows, with investigation into calendars and chronology. Here the international scope of the book receives greater exposure, with discussion of the Roman Calendar, Chinese Calendar, Egyptian Calendar, Greek Calendar, Hindu Calendar, Jewish Calendar, Muslim Calendar, Anglo-Saxon Calendar, or Celtic Calendar being some of the many discussed. Explanations of the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars, calculating the date of Easter, use of symbolic calendars, as well as many other topics round out a thoroughly researched section.

   My only demurring remark about this excellent book is that sometimes the academic writing can be a little dry and murky, drifting into the pedantic, so that at times I found myself nodding off to sleep. This style of presentation also led to occasional difficulties when trying to understand the discussion at hand. Nevertheless, on the whole, the book is most interesting. A great deal of research obviously went into this wonderfully thorough and accurate reference work. It may be used either as a source for information, or alternatively its daily entries may be read throughout the year as a short daily entertainment. To sum, it is a book well worth obtaining.




3. This work is the ultimate reference tool for the calendar. It is divided into two parts. In the first part on Calendar Customs we have a rich but not exhaustive chronology of the days of the year (from pages 1-544) recording historic events which occurred on specific dates as well as notable holidays. This is followed by material covering the seasons, months, days, Western moveable feasts, Orthodox moveable feasts and miscellaneous holidays that were not incorporated in the main chronology, e.g Handsel Monday.
   The second part of the work deals with Calendars and Chronology. This section consists of several important world calendars (such as the Hindu, Jewish, Zoroastian and even the French Republican, etc. - yet certain noteworthy calendars like that of the Hopi Indians are absent). There is also information pertaining to the date of Easter, appendices, a glossary, bibliography as well as an index.
   There is a great deal of information contained in this volume. However, the authors' main speciality is classics. Whilst reasonable coverage of folk customs is provided, neither of these prestigious authors are folklorists. This is evident from the lack of certain material. For instance, in the analysis of the days of the week (pp. 571-582), while after each day there are a few phrases like Fig Sunday and Mothering Sunday, these phrases could well have been increased. For example, even though there is a reference to Simnel cakes (once brought to one's mother on Mothering Sunday) there is no reference here to Simnel Sunday. Likewise there is no mention of Sugar Cup Sunday, Spanish Sunday or Shaking Sunday (all synonyms of Palm Sunday - the etymologies of which would have made interesting details). Neither is Stir up Sunday recorded (the is the last Sunday before Advent when traditionally Christmas puddings were prepared - 'stirred'). Also excluded are Refreshment Sunday (a synonym of Mothering Sunday)and Peasen Sunday (a synonym of Carling Sunday - yet this latter term is recorded - so called since peas or 'carlings' were eaten). Moreover, there is no mention of Plague Sunday (last Sunday in August) or Pig Face Sunday in Avening, Stroud (after September 14th). Analogous phrases after the other days of the week are similarly unrepresented.
   On the subject of the days of ther week, it must be noted that the bibliography does not constitute a complete list of works cited. It is merely a collection of published works suggested for further reading. On the whole the text is not annotated and the bibliography does not include all the important articles which have provided the authors with information for this work. For instance, on p. 577 with reference to Tuesday, the authors are correct in observing that in Greece this day not Friday is the unlucky day. This point is followed by an obscure allusion to Digenes Akritas which is only marginally of relevance. The only English-language source of this association (though not acknowledged in the text or bibliography) is a brief article taken from 'FLS News' (newsletter of the English Folklore Society) about 'Tuesday (not Friday) the Thirteenth'(FLS News, No. 21, June 1995). This article should have been cited since it was obviously used ; and in the rare event that this information was taken directly from Greek-language sources (e.g. the folklore journal 'Laographia'), then if this were the case such a reference is likewise missing in the bibliography.
   In a work of such mammoth proportions compiled by just two (rather than a whole team of) distinguished authors, it is inevitable that a certain amount of pertinent material has been excluded or overlooked. Nevertheless I still give this work a five-star rating and (until it is reprinted in larger improved editions)this will still remain the best (or rather only) work of its kind.

5 comments about Introducing Time, Third Edition (Introducing (Icon)).

1. I purchased this book because I hoped to gain a deep or profound insight about Time from educated, intellectual minds. And while I did in fact achieve this goal, it was not thru the manner that I expected.
   
   I support the entire "Introducing..." series by Totem because their illustrations along with genuine, serious educational content make the books highly appealing, attractive and inspiring. And this one was no exception -- in terms of doing its best to present, primarily chronologically, what informed minds from involved and associated fields had to say, or present as theory, about "Time." But -- and this is meant to have a dramatic impact -- BUT... it was through reading what these thinkers and scholars had to say about time that verified to me that nobody knows what it is. Which is a good thing; a great thing! To me this means that a little boy or girl living out in the middle of nowhere has just as much right -- and is equally "correct" -- in whatever they feel or suppose "time" is. After reading this book, I realized that nobody can 'know' what Time is, but rather they attempt to define it in ways, that when one looks at it clearly, should come to see as solely based on the way 'time' is measured. Again, time is not definable; it is open to interpretaion; one must be wary of definitions that purport to define, but really do nothing more than present notions based upon how 'time' is measured. A person who sees "time" as seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years is no more correct than a person who experiences time as an independent, deeply-personal intuitive experience.
   
   The best part of the book is the brief area where Einstein's theories of relativity are introduced. As for the rest, to this reader, it was truly great minds "mentally masturbating." The question is: Do these great minds know they're "m.m-ing" or do they truly believe they are offering a profound contribution to the study of Time?
   
   But, in all fairness to the book, it was not until I read it that I came to understand what I have attempted to present here. And what I would like to say to any person wondering if they should read this book: Yes, do so; but be confident in whatever you get out of the experience, in terms of your idea of time, do know that you too are equally correct!
   
   Nobody knows or understands time. It is open to interpretation. And that is what makes it a beautiful phenomenon. "Time" has not given its secrets over to any one.



2. Time is a concept that all humans have a fundamental grasp of. We all know that there is a direction to the events of our lives and that once an event happens, to the best of our knowledge it will always have happened. We break it down into units of years, days, hours, and minutes and in the last minute of some sporting events, tenths of seconds. However, when we really try to get a precise intellectual handle on it, time becomes fuzzy and it is very difficult to be precise. The passage of time is also relative to the situation; a few minutes in a dentist chair can appear to be much longer, yet a few hours with our true love can seem like minutes.
   In this book, Callender and Edney describe some of the attempts by scientists and philosophers to precisely define what time is. Some argue that to be logically consistent, time cannot exist. That of course seems absurd, whatever else we may know, at least locally, time does have an existence and a direction. Newton, Einstein, Godel and others have refined the concept, Einstein in particular demonstrated that the passage of time is slowed when the objects are traveling at high rates of speed. Although the authors do an excellent job using cartoons and other visual devices, the true nature of time is a difficult topic. Like the apparent fate of the universe, in the end, time simply comes down to an overall increase in entropy, for that is the way we recognize the passage of time.
   This is an excellent book about an apparently simple, yet very complex subject. Time is a subject that we all think we know, until we really start to think about it.



3. Great book. By the time you get to the end, you'll know quite a lot about this topic and the whole theory, but you'll be pretty confused. Why confused? Because it's a hard topic to understand or interpret. And the book explains that as well as it can. But it sure will make you think.



4. Introducing Time starts off with Aristotle's view on time then goes on to talk about many philosophical and scientific views of time. It includes Newton's absolute time, Einstein's special and general relativity as they relate to time, including Godel Universes, and also Boltzman's statistical mechanics based view of time. All in all a lot of information in such a short book.



5. Introducing Time is one of the Introducing series most popular selections. For an Introducing book it is also one of the most detailed, thought provoking, wide-ranging and heady science volumes around. If you want to know anything about time then Introducing Time does just that and then some more, but be prepared for lots of difficult diverse thinking.
   
   In most cases the first 100 pages will be more than enough for most people and the Introducing series could easily have made this book 200 pages long with that material alone but instead has condensed the opening philosophical thought on time into a shorter amount and goes straight into Einstein, relativity, lots on time travel and a great finish on entropy. Most of these topics are actually books in their own right such as Introducing Relativity and Introducing Einstein so Introducing Time really is good value for money.
   
   If you are thinking about starting a collection of science titles from the Introducing series then you would do well to get this book or add it to your collection for two reasons. First of all, Introducing Time includes the best explanation of Boltzmann's statistical mechanics and entropy I have read anywhere. It could be worth it for that alone. You may not expect entropy to have such an impact on the topic of time and that can be a very nice surprise when reading that it does. The second is really just the breath of the coverage that time gets in this book. Even those who have read Stephen Hawking's `A brief history of time' will come away from this one with a whole lot more than thought possible.
   
   Core material:
   Clocks
   Psychological time
   Time scenarios
   Relationalism and absolute time
   Relative and non-relative
   Tenseless and tensed
   Dimensions
   Motion and change
   Time flows
   Galilean relativity
   Einstein's relativity
   Simultaneity
   Lightcones
   Logic
   Time travel
   Impossibility
   Causal loops
   Physics and time travel
   Spacetime curvature
   Godel
   Taub-NUT-Misner spacetime
   Cosmic string theory
   Wormholes
   Mobius twist
   Branching time
   Space and limits
   Geroch's theorem
   Big bang
   Closed and open time
   The direction of time
   Thermodynamics
   Entropy
   Statistical mechanics
   Loschmidt paradox
   Universe's statistical development
   Boundary conditions
   Temporal double-standard
   Time reversal
   Quantum gravity
   Wheeler-DeWitt
   Inexistence of time
   
   This is far from an easy book but time is a detailed topic and should get the full treatment if it should be treated at all. For this reason Introducing Time is quite simply one of the most important and revealing books on something that people take for granted. It's the kind of book you come away with a mind full of awe. If Introducing Time doesn't change your worldview then nothing will.

4 comments about The Direction of Time (Dover Books on Physics).

1. If you didn't know, this book is hard. I am a first year engineering student, and I felt lost through most of it. I gather it was intended for full-fledged physicists, but I was intrigued to read it anyway because of a philosophical thread running through the work. But beware--get ready for some Immanuel Kant and Einstein in only the introduction. This book is as much about the physics of time as the philosophy concerning subjectivity of time. Even though I didn't understand a lot of the probability or almost any of the quantum mechanics math, I still got some pleasure out of some of the more bizzare conclusions of the book. Did you know that for an isolated system (one not interacting with any others), time can't be said to have any direction? Furthermore, time as we know it is just a statistic. Another interesting fact is that on the quantum mechanical level, there is no such thing as time! If these things intrigue you (and you know what a double Riemann sum is) go for this book. Otherwise, be very afraid...



2. It is a beautiful but exterememly difficult book. It covers the concept of time and direction of time from the beginning up to current thinking. Author, being one of the founding fathers of philosophical quantum theory first introduces a good understanding of Thermodaynamics and Statiastical Physics and defines the order of events to lead into statistical definition of arrow of time. A lot of difficult concepts from Classsical Statistical Physics, Probability Theory, Relativity and Mathematical Logic as well as a good understanding of Quantum Physics is assumed to be in the bag of the reader, after all this book is not a Popular Science book. Although the author claims that knowledge of derivations of the formulas used are not critical to understand this study yet time to time the language and logic becames exteremely difficult. This is a must read book in this subject, may be many times or time and time over after increasing the understanding in other subjects that only tools in this book.



3. H.Reichenbach is undoubtly one of the most remarkable scientists that the world has ever witnessed. The interested mind is to be very strongly urged to read the book 'The direction of time' by him. Time is an essential concept to every physics student, as without it nature would be meaningless, and therefore the study of nature would be an empty pursuit. Whenever we wish to understand why we are in the 'world', say rather than in the planet MARS we have to understand thoroughly what actually happenned in the past, beginning from The Big Bang, that is, from the beginning of time. The book gives us a clear understanding into this inquiry ('TIME') developing both classical and quantum mechanical content of the concept of time starting from the first principles. The book carefully clarifies many confusing conceptions about time. For instance, the author clearly explains the contradictions lying in the famous Zeno's paradox which attemts to prove that time does not exist, in such a way that the physics student is now much more confident with such essential concepts as displacement and velocity. Also in the book, another essential concept of statistical physics ENTROPY is developed in a very systematic way and through this concept the direction of time is decisively established. Moreover, the issue of DETERMINACY or INDETERMINACY , an issue which is simply ignored in the text books or mentioned briefly in a few sentences as if it is self-evident and therefore does not need further elaboration, is discussed in depth, so both theoretical and experimental physicists have now a strong ground in arguing their proposals. I, as a physicist of 18 years of university lecturing experience, strongly recommend it to every single physics student or actually every single mind (student or not) who cares about the future, and who needs a decisive explanation (justification) for their potential steps to save (before being too late) our home THE WORLD WHICH WE NOW LIVE IN, only home only home and only home for us and for our childeren including of course our organic bodies, the animals and the plants. The direction of time and equally of The ENTROPY are the key concepts to understand what technology actually is, and to understand why it is inevitable to face more and more polluted environment as technology advances.



4. I can't believe that everyone didn't rate this with 5 stars!
   I had to write this because this was one of those really great books that changed my understanding of something that seems so basic, so obvious, time.
   Well well worth the 5 bucks.

2 comments about Learn Time.

1. This book was a gift for my niece, and she loved using it. She became the first child in her kindergarten class to know how to tell time using a clock face, and this book is definitely the reason why.



2. It was exactly what I expected. Promotes discussion with your kids about how time was kept back in the old days. First preview, for the little ones, of roman numerals. Overall a great study aid for kids that are learning to tell time. I also recommend that parents buy their kids an analog watch to help them practice their time telling skills.

5 comments about The Dance of Time: The Origins of the Calendar: A Miscellany of History and Myth, Religion and Astronomy, Festivals and Feast Days.

1. This is actually the wife of the Amazon member. I bought this back in the summer, at the solstice. How quickly i found myself at another, albeit more starkly beautiful solstice ..... The depth of knowledge and the beauty of the prose is outstanding. As one familiar with world religions, anthropology, mythology and the like, i found this book to be a refreshing change from so much of what is currenty available through the new age/earth religion venue: this book is absolutey stunning and will pass the test of time. I brought it to work with me, and it is my companion for this year's quiet, solitary solstice. Such a balm for the spirit, and a comfort ......highly recommended.



2. It's a little disconcerting writing a review of a book when you know the author himself reads them!
   
   The key word in the title of this book is "miscelleny". I think I was hoping for a more comprehensive and studious tour through the wilds of the history of our calendar and how it came to be what it is today. Although it's clear that research was done and a history of how the calendar came to be is indeed tackled, it's all a bit... well, flowery, for my tastes.
   
   Here's a small sampling of what I mean:
   "...Deneb glittering in her beak like a diamond she's plucked from an Eastern treasure horde. High above both, ruby-red Arcturus marks the heel of the kindly shepherd Bootes, who drives the stars of spring across the sky. Orion flees, humbled, below the western horizon..."
   
   It's all well and good, it's just not for me. I'd guess that references to "lovemaking" and related terms are actually used more often than references to the word "calendar". If you enjoy stories and myths from Greek and Roman times, with a smattering from the Celts, Germans, and other "westerners", told somewhat floridly, you'll like this.
   
   One thing that sticks with me is the disturbing story of the Wicker Man. It, and some of the other tales, made me want to know more (how long did this go on, how wide-spread was it, who was chosen to be the victims, etc.), but I kept coming back to that word "miscellany"... it's not MEANT to be thorough.
   
   So to sum up I'd say the book delivers what the title promises, but didn't satisfy my curiosity about the subject!



3. I came across this little paperback tucked in between more impressive-looking tomes at the bookstore in the European History section. If not for the subtitle, "A Miscellany of History and Myth, Religion and Astronomy, Festivals and Feast Days," I'd never have bought it, because the title proper does not satisfactorily describe the content. I am not interested in TIME, per se, but I did write a master's thesis in folkart and am very interested in all kinds of folklore, genealogy, ritual, and comparative religion. So I bought it and have loved it...great bedside companion on these wintry nights. A huge bonus is the beautiful writing style of Mr. Judge - he makes pictures in my head - the highest praise of this artist/folklorist. The book justifies the deep human yearning to celebrate the cycles of the natural world without having to deny one's more conventional religious upbringing (no doubt a growing concern since paganism is one of the fastest growing religions). Comforting.



4. When I got this book, I expected a history of our calendar and its links to the ancient world written for regular people as opposed to scholars. The writing is fluid, but so florid that it's hard to get actual information out of it. The writing is so self-indulgently flowery that it disguises the message rather than delivering it. Since the subject matter is in fact nonfiction, this is not a particularly effective style.
   
   There are a lot of books out there on the history of the calendar that ARE readable, even to the non-academic. This one is not worth buying.



5. As a general reader, I liked the author's poetical, appreciative and sometimes fascinatingly historical, journey thru the months of the year, from antique times onward. Beneath the simplicity of style lies the author's spirit, wisdom and humor - and I think you can't get all the information on the first reading. Besides the months & seasons, there's the holidaze celebrations. In all, this is an imaginative book.

5 comments about Synchronicity, Science, and Soulmaking: Understanding Jungian Syncronicity Through Physics, Buddhism, and Philosphy.

1. I bought this book based upon the excellent reports others gave it. I cannot be so generous. I found the book to be an exercise in the authors intelligence making the book almost unreadable to me. I just wanted to know what this subject was and how it applied to the world. I'm still reading and have not found out.

   Jimmy




2. This is perhaps the best thought-out analysis of synchronicity that I've read. The author (a professor of physics and astronomy) interweaves quantum physics, depth psychology, and Buddhism into a most satisfying explanation. All the world about us is a creation of mind- matter is not directly knowable, and space and time are outright creations of our mind. We are cocreators of reality (or at least our higher Self is) which explains how such impossible but meaningful coincidences can occur. He holds that our conventional materialist world view is the cause of our spiritual crisis and bankruptcy in the West- as do I.
   This is an extraordinary book- as good or better than the _Tao of Physics_.



3. There are few topics that have generated as much heat - and as little light - as the concept of synchronicity, or meaningful coincidences. The subtitle to Carl Jung's original paper introducing the concept, was "An acausal connecting principle," implying that two or more events may be linked without any kind of force binding them together. Since we live in a world in which we can see causal links every day that can be a hard concept.
   
   On the one hand, many proponents of synchronicity tell us that everything in the universe is meaningful and connected; while opponents say that they have "magical thinking" or do not understand mathematical chance.
   
   Part of the problem has been that many writers have not tried to tackle Jung's work in the original German, and some of what he had to say has been "editorialized."
   
   Victor Mansfield's book is exceptionally good. He is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Colgate University who has had long-standing interests in Buddhist philosophy and in the work of Carl Jung. Here he weaves together these three strands - physics, Jungian psychology and Buddhism - into a superb synthesis in which he proposes that "synchronicity is soul-making in action." There have been a great many books about synchronicity, but this is one of the most critical and creative.
   
   One of the unusual things about the book is the way in which Victor inserts remarkable "synchronistic interludes" into the text. It took me a few pages to "get it." These interludes introduce a remarkable living experience into a book that could otherwise have been a little dry.
   
   The central idea of the book is that there are correlations between our inner psychological states and events in the "external" world. What this book does is to develop that concept to show that a distinction between "inner" and "outer" is artificial. A great many popular books would now start talking about the mind causing changes in the material world. Although that may happen, that is not what Jung or the author of this book means. They are instead talking about linked events, in the same way that a clock tells us the time, but nobody thinks that the hands on the clock create time. Both writers warn against over-interpreting trivial events as "manifestations."
   
   Victor traces the development of this false split between "internal" and "external" to the last middle ages, and believes that work in physics, psychology and in brain sciences is putting subjectivity back into our worldview. He finds a great deal of support for his position in Middle Way Buddhism where emptiness represents the lack of any independent existence. He also brings in the work of the English philosopher Paul Brunton and his teacher Ramana Maharshi.
   
   In closing, Victor examines some of the consequences of the key issues raised by synchronicity: acausality, meaning, transcendence of space and time and the essential unity of the whole of creation.
   
   This is a well-written and engaging book that I recommend highly.



4. This book is truly one of my favorites! It is a great exploration of three divergent philosophies on life: Jungian Depth Psychology (especially, of course, Jung's concept of synchronicity - "meaningful coincidence), Buddhism, and Quantum physics (especially the Copenhagen interpretation and its basic tenets of non-local effects, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and complementarity). I highly recommend this book as an introduction to each of these three fascinating fields of knowledge.



5. This product was delivered in a timely manner and was just as the description had listed... Positive purchase experience.

5 comments about Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time.

1. On page 13 of "Time's Arrow and the Archimededs' Point", Huw Price writes:
   
   ".... If time flowed - then as with any flow - it would only make sense to assign that flow a direction with respect to a CHOICE (my emphasis) as to what is to count as the positive direction of time. .... The problem is that until we have such an objective basis we don't have an objective sense in which time is flowing one way rather than the other. In other words, not only does it not seem to make sense to speak of an objective rate of flow of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective rate of time; it also doesn't make sense to speak of an objective direction of time."
   
   There are a number of ways that the world we inhabit seems asymmetric in time. Price believes that these perceptions of asymmetry are due to way we see reality, and less how reality actually is. He reminds the reader of how humanity has struggled before with anthropocentrism. Seeing the second law of thermodynamics as an EXPLANATION of time's arrow is just another anthropocentrism.
   
   On page 17, Price writes:
   
   ".... The leading candidate for the position (the master arrow) has been the so-called arrow of thermodynamics. This is the asymmetry embodied in the second law of thermodynamics, which says roughly that the entropy of an isolated physical system never decreases.... There is nothing to stop us taking the positive axis to lie in the opposite direction, however, in which case the second law would need to be started as the principle that entropy of an isolated system never increases.... It is not an objective matter whether the gradients really go up or down, for this simply depends on an arbitrary choice of temporal orientation."
   
   On page 20, Price writes:
   
   "... We unwittingly project onto the world some of the idiosyncrasies of our own makeup, seeing the world in the colors of the in-built glass through which we view it. But the distinction between these sources is not always a sharp one, because our constitution is adapted to the peculiarities of our region.... It challenges the image physics holds of itself as an objective enterprise, an enterprise concerned with not with how things seem but with how they actually are. It is always painful for an academic enterprise to have to acknowledge that it might not have been living up to its own professed standards!"
   
   On page 39, Price writes:
   
   "... It seems to me that the problem of explaining why entropy increases has been vastly overrated. The statistical considerations suggest that a future in which entropy reaches its maximum is not in need of explanation; and yet that future, taken together with the low-entropy past, accounts for the general gradient... The puzzle is not about how the universe reaches a state of high entropy, but about how it comes to be starting from a low one. It is not about what appears in our time sense to be the destination of the greater journey on which matter is engaged, but about the point from which - again in our time sense - that journey seems to start."
   
   What Price is describing above is what has been referred to as the ready-state paradox (see Chapter 6 of David Albert's book "Time and Chance"). And Price is right in pointing out that many of our "explanations" seems to fall to our anthropocentrism, given that we start out by assuming what it is that we seek to prove by introducing a time asymmetric ASSUMPTION.
   
   Our low entropy birth at the big bang is a boundary condition, and one does not use statistics and determinism to explain such a boundary condition. Boundary conditions are more generally brute force realizations that are beyond explanation. So if you think that the second law of thermodynamics can explain cosmic evolution, and perhaps even the evolution of life, then think again. Or you may go on a meaningless journey to find the first ready-state.
   
   It is quite plausibly that the early boundary conditions are determined by the present, given that time flowing backward is as plausible as time flowing forward. This brings up the possibility of backward causation, something that Price writes much on. But boundary conditions relate to collective properties, something going against the trend of reductionism. And so backward causation may better apply from the whole to its parts, which mirrors reductionism as forward causation generally goes from parts to whole.
   
   Price writes much on Gold's big bang and big crunch model of the universe, and he writes on alternative views too. Having navigated safely from the time-flow anthropocentrism, Price seems to have gotten himself snagged on a second anthropocentrism that we are isolated from everything else. It is true we may see ourselves as all knowing creatures that are competing for our survival in a lifeless pool of chaos we call our universe. But there is no objective basis for this belief (see Thomas Nagel's "The View from Nowhere"). It is just a possible that we are the forgetful universe reflecting hopelessly into the many egocentric bodies that are said to be all knowing. Are we the inside system or the outside system? The question is symmetrical, and cannot be answered. Then why do we answer it by projecting a Gold's universe onto reality by demanding a separate big crunch future that is just as likely as our big bang past?
   
   A two aspect view of reality does not carry this unwanted anthropocentrism. It is that reality has an all knowing aspect that is perceived to be following the thermodynamic arrow, and the SAME reality holds a sublime shadow aspect where time is reversed from the present. In the sublime aspect the many celebrate as one, whereas in the forward aspect the one fragments into many.
   
   The zone where the two aspects connect is the inexpressible core, where symmetries are broken and manifestation unfolds. It is the core where choices are made, and where creative tensions are released. I believe this two aspect model of the universe provides that best model that answers Price's concerns, and yet it does not demand that the future is locked into a big crunch as the evidence now suggests.
   
   This two-aspect capacity to one reality is consistent with panpsychism, but Price does not mention this either. I mention it in my book.
   
   Disclosure: My agenda is declared in my profile.



2. TIME'S ARROW is a remarkably well-conceived exploration of the matter of bicausality. Author Huw Price applies a philosopher's logical approach to the physics of time, as he builds such a solid case for reverse time causality that he is influencing many of today's top physicists with his lucid exploration of the subject. TIME'S ARROW methodically presents information about time in a manner that will delight mathematicians, philosophers and physicists alike, in a book that is best read sequentially from beginning to end, in order to ensure full comprehension. This book is obligatory reading for anyone fascinated by time, or who is intrigued to discover what inspired Stephen Hawking in 2006 to write a physics paper on the subject of top-down cosmology... with the notion that the present is affecting the past.



3. "What if" is perhaps the most significant of all scientific questions because the speculation it causes can lead to remarkable insights.
   
   Likewise, "what if" can also be the inspiration for great fiction as here where the author takes us on many a wild goose chase. While the goose chases aren't necessarily a waste of time, readers should be aware of them nonetheless.
   
   First things first: to understand the physical basis for the arrow of time, we need to understand the basis of reality in which the arrow of time is housed. As currently understood, reality is a confluence of four physical forces:
   
   1) Gravity -- exerted at the macroscopic level and greater consistent with the increasing size of the object in question;
   
   2) Electromagnatism -- exerted macroscopically, it concerns the relationship between electricity and magnatism;
   
   3) The srong nuclear force -- exerted microscopically at the subatomic level, it concerns the relationship between the constituent particles of the nucleus;
   
   SO FAR ALL THE FORCES DESCRIBED ARE TIME SYMMETRICAL, IN OTHER WORDS, THEY OPERATE THE SAME WAY WHETHER ONE IS SEEKING TO UNDERSTAND THE NORMAL SEQUENTIAL PASSAGE OF TIME -- SO CALLED RETARDED TIME -- OR REVERSED TIME SO CALLED ADVANCED TIME.
   
   4) The fourth currently understood fundamental force of nature -- the weak nuclear force -- which also operates microscopically at the subatomic level but relates to proton decay. Since 1957, we have been aware that this force is time asymmetric in that so called K particle decay (so called because the decay pattern in a bubble chamber resembles the letter K) operates in a fashion consistent with retarded time.
   
   While one might think that a fundamental force of nature showing a selective prejudice for the type of time that we physically observe might merit some serious reflection, Price's response is to simply disregard the matter as being physically insignificant because the interactions happen on such a minute scale (viz. the subatomic realm).
   
   In other words, by Price's reasoning the fact that after the Big Bang, matter only outnumbered antimatter by a measure of one billion and one particles to one billion would enable him to say that we live in an antimatter universe because the enumerated differences between the number of particles was so small.
   
   While his discussion of quantum entanglement is fascinating, his insights invariably serve as yet another wild goose chase. Disdained by Albert Einstein as "spooky action at a distance" quantum entanglement is the phenomenon that exists wherein two particles become entangled with a similar subatomic signature. Amazingly, research has shown that regardless of the seeming physical distance between the particles, a change in the signature to one of them can cause a similtaneous change in the signature of the other.
   
   While fascinating, follow up research has failed to show that any useful information can be communicated through this immediate process and therefore -- though interesting -- it doesn't defeat Einsteinian causality.
   
   Indeed, properly understood, it best inspires us to better understand what locality really is when we discuss the quantum level...a discussion not significantly fostered by Price's speculations.
   
   Probabaly a better -- though harder -- read on this topic is Deiter Zeh's Physical Basis for the Direction of Time.



4. This is a very difficult, closely reasoned treatise. It defends -- indeed, it virually assumes -- the "block universe" view of reality. That is, all events are "permanently fixed" in space/time, the way the dimensions of a block of wood are fixed in space at any one time. Naturaly, Price assumes that time is symmetrical with respect to past and future, the way the block of wood is symmetrical with respect to front and back or bottom or top. With these assumptions in tow, Price goes on to argue that our belief that time "flows" from past to future is a prejudice. He goes on to give draw some provocative and highly counterintuitive conclusions from these premises, such as: (1) it is as likely that ripples move toward a stone in a pond and toss it up into child's hand as that a child throws a stone in a pond and the ripples spread out from its entry point; (2) it is likely that radio signals flow into an antenna as broadcast out to radios and other receivers; (3) it is as likely that the "big bang" lies at the end of the universe as that it forms its beginning.
   
   Price's arguments are deep, ingenious and difficult, but every student of science and of philosophy of science should encounter them. One question nags at me, though. This book was written in 1996, and cosmology has made great strides in the last 12 years. First rate scientists and philosophers have undoubtedly encountered the arguments of Price and thinkers like him. Are his ideas considered sound?



5. Huw Price's book is one of the best, but also most demanding, popular science books on the market. Actually it is a mixture of science and philosophy. Depite now being over 10 years old, there is little in it that has lost its relevance or been knocked down in those intervening years.
   
   The great thing about the topic of time is that it is something that we all experience and have an intuitive feeling for. But if asked to explain it, to others or ourselves, we start to tie ourselves in knots. That is where this author shines most - at tackling the problem a step at a time, clearly, in simple language and with great attention to possible misunderstandings. His whole argument centers on the question of why the laws of physics are time symmetric whilst the world that we observe appears to have a preferred direction - from past to future. It turns out that many fascinating concepts are involved in untangling this problem. Entropy, causality and dependence, micro- versus macro-events. Psychological factors (based on human experience) are shown to strongly influence the way we think about the world, and to obscure our view of what time symmetry really implies.
   
   The central claim of the book is that microscopic processes actually are time reversible and admit backwards causation. This idea is applied in quantum mechanics (in a non-mathematical but logical fashion) to suggest that Bell's theorem and non-locality can be explained (away) by assuming that particles can be influenced in their present state by a measurement that lies in the future. Sounds crazy? No its not, really. This is not wishful thinking, or trying to open a 'scientific door' to supernatural phenomena. What Price shows, very convincingly, is how difficult it is, even for famous physicists, to step outside our human perspective as actors in time. However, with a little effort to adopt the Archimedean perspective 'outside' of time, the reader is rewarded with a truly mind-bending new view of time, and the challenges it poses for physics and philosophy. An excellent, carefully argued and thoroughly stimulating book!