{"product_id":"what-is-time-the-classic-account-of-the-nature-of-time-9780198607816","title":"What Is Time?: The Classic Account of the Nature of Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): G. J. Whitrow | Marlene P. Soulsby | Marlene P. Soulsby\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Time\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eG. J. Whitrow (1912-2000) begins this classic exploration of the nature of time with a story about a Russian poet, visiting London before the First World War. The poet's English was not too good and when he asked a man in the street, 'Please, what is time?' he received the response, 'But that's a philosophical question. Why ask me?'. \u003cbr\u003eStarting from this simple anecdote, Professor Whitrow takes us on a good-humored and wide-ranging tour of the thing that clocks keep (more or less). He discusses how our ideas of time originated; how far they are inborn in plants and animals; how time has been measured, from sundial and hourglass to the caesium clock, and whether time possesses a beginning, a direction, and an end. He coaxes the diffident layman to contemplate with pleasure the differences between cyclic, linear, biological, cosmic, and space-time, and he provides frequent diversions into fascinating topics such as the Mayan calendar, the migration of birds, the dances of bees, precognition, and the short, crowded lives of mu-mesons, particles produced by cosmic-ray showers that exist for just two millionths of a second. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis reissue of the classic and authoritative \u003cem\u003eWhat is Time?\u003c\/em\u003e includes a new introduction by Dr J. T. Fraser, founder of the International Society for the Study of Time, and a bibliographic essay by Dr Fraser and Professor M. P. Soulsby of the Pennsylvania State University. \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"OUP Oxford","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47613910909079,"sku":"9780198607816","price":1519.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780198607816.webp?v=1775088857","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/what-is-time-the-classic-account-of-the-nature-of-time-9780198607816","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}