Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation - Couverture souple

" [Why Time Flies] opens up a well of fascinating queries and gives us a glimpse of what has become an ever more deepening mystery for humans: the nature of time." -- New York Times Book Review

"An insightful meditation on the curious nature of time . . . A highly illuminating intellectual investigation." -- Kirkus Reviews

"[Burdick] is one of the finest science writers at work today, with an uncanny ability explain knotty topics, with humanity, and humor." -- Publishers Weekly staff picks, best books of 2016

"[Burdick] is an engaging writer guided by curiosity." -- Saturday Paper

"Burdick places his readers in the centers of their temporal universes." Publishers Weekly

"In his search for temporal meaning, Burdick takes us on a journey around the world. . . . erudite and informative, a joy with many small treasures." -- Science

"Mr. Burdick sets out on (per the subtitle) a "mostly scientific investigation" into how time works . . . There isn't a single time but many different times that must be imperfectly reconciled, and the ambiguity gives a playful, reflective writer like Mr. Burdick time to shine." -- The Wall Street Journal

"Burdick tackles [time] with wit and wonder, mapping a nuanced exploration through mathematics, sciences, philosophy and observations of his own young sons. . . . The book teems with entertaining trivia and stories. . . . Burdick's compelling research consistently conveys curiosity and awe for the notion of time and its passage. Why Time Flies is not a quick read; it demands contemplation. But, naturally, it's time well spent." -- Shelf Awareness

"A layered, rigorously researched, lyrically narrated inquiry into the most befuddling dimension of existence." -- Brain Pickings

Brilliant, brain-boggling. --New Daily

"To readers of the New Yorker, Burdick's style is instantly recognisable: informal, informed and indefatigably researched... His wit and humour keep the narrative rolling with wry observations." -- New Zealand Herald

"A fascinating premise that we can all relate to... A well-researched volume [with] some fascinating insights." -- AU Review

"[Burdick] is a lucid and well-informed commentator on scientific matters. Here, he takes us by the wrist and leads us through the maze of time. We could not ask for a better guide." -- Stuff NZ

"Time for Burdick is ultimately an adventure of discovery. His wealth of deeply researched and detailed but humorous stories serves to raise our curiosity... Make time to read his fascinating and illuminating book." --Toowoomba Chronicle

"In his lucid, thoughtful, and beautifully written inquiry about time...Burdick offers nothing less than a new way of reconsidering what it means to be human." -- Hanya Yanagihara, author of A Little Life

"Alan Burdick offers a fascinating and searching account of how we perceive time's passage. It will change the way you think about the past, and also the present." -- Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction

"Alan Burdick turns an obsession with the nature of time into a thrilling quest one that brilliantly illuminates a subject that haunts us all. Time may fly by but at least while reading these pages it is never wasted." -- David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z

"Burdick tours that unsettling passage of existence we call "time" how our brains process it, how infants first grasp it, how our conversations encode it and returns with a spellbinding, provocative book that will fill you with wonder." -- Robert Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers

"A marvelous meditation on the subtle mysteries of time." -- Olivia Judson, author of Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation

"This book blew my mind." -- Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

"Burdick is like a charming and witty river guide, exploring the tributaries and side-streams along the river of consciousness the science, the history, the literature, the deep and beautiful paradoxes that make us what we are. Why Time Flies will enhance your experience of what may be, in the end, the most intimate relationship of your liþ your connection with the passage of time." --Jonathan Weiner, author of Long for this World

'Alan Burdick takes a new, interesting and mindful approach to the topic in an effort to understand what we know about that often intangible concept we call time.' --Australian Geographic

Are we born into time, or is time born into us? Alan Burdick takes readers on a quest to understand the clocks that tick inside us all - what time is and how we perceive it.

We all sense that lived time is different from clock time - that our experience of time changes with our moods, with our age, and with our level of busy-ness. Burdick seeks to answer the questions that have plagued him (and which perhaps bother you, too): Why did time seem to last longer when we were children? Does the experience of time really slow down when you're in a car crash? How is it that I'm more productive when I have too much to do, whereas when I have all the time in the world, I seem to get nothing done? Is there a clock in us that counts off the seconds, hours, and days, like the clock in a computer? And if we contain such a clock, how pliable is it? Can I make time speed up, slow down, stop, reverse? How and why does time fly? Why Time Flies is the funny, surprising, often moving, and always insightful story of one man's effort to master his internal clocks. In form, it is also a mixture of science reportage, essay, and cultural critique. Make no mistake, you'll never look at a clock the same way again.