From Publishers Weekly

Just in time for the new millennium comes this enormous, amply illustrated compilation of 23 essays on aspects of time from experts in various disciplines, among them history and historiography, music, geology, literary criticism, anthropology, religion and the history of engineering. The venerated art historian E.H. Gombrich contributes a compact "History of Anniversaries," from the so-called "jubilee" of the Hebrew Bible through a famous 1769 "Shakespeare Jubilee" and on to our present glut of commemorations. John MacDonald's intriguing "Inuit Time" explains how traditional cultures of the North American Arctic taught their children to wake up early in the morning, and how newly Christian tribal communities (who had to know which day was the Sabbath) grappled with the alien concept of weeks. Lorne Campbell describes some temporal problems of portraiture, as when a slow-working painter finds that her subject's appearance has changed over multiple sittings. Jonathan Betts outlines "The Growth of Modern Timekeeping: From Pendulums to Atoms." And Umberto Eco zips from St. Augustine to the modern philosophy of language to the Millennium Bug in a typically provocative foreword. Three hundred color pictures and photos, many with long explanatory blurbs, portray such time-related items as Renaissance sundials and klepsydras (water-clocks), the Hindu god Vishnu (creator and destroyer of world and time) and a bizarre French clock from 1795, which indicated not only 60-minute hours and 24-hour days, but also the short-lived revolutionary system of decimal time, whose 10 hours a day had 100 minutes each. The entire enjoyable and visually impressive volume is timed to coincide with an exhibit at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, where the year 2000 will officially begin. (Oct.)

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Prepared in conjunction with an international exhibition sponsored by the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and the National Maritime Museum, this handsome and informative volume is filled with dozens of enticing perspectives on the subject of time--certainly an appropriate topic at a time of millennial madness. Essays by Eco, John MacDonald, Anthony Aveni, Ken Arnold, E.H. Gombrich, and others are organized into categories that focus on the creation, measurement, depiction, experience, and end of time. Within each section, there is much to learn about the impact of time on almost every aspect of existence--from calendars and timepieces, to major civilizations and their rituals, to art, music, science, and prophecy. In addition to many perspectives on our relationship to time, there is also a rich education in history, philosophy, and world culture here. The captions that accompany the many superb color photos and art reproductions are particularly informative. Essential for academic and humanities collections.

-Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ

Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

剋裏斯滕•利平科特，格林威治皇傢天文颱颱長，著有《天文學》等書。

翁貝托•艾柯，意大利小說傢、哲學傢、符號學傢、美學傢，博洛尼亞大學教授，著有《玫瑰的名字》《美的曆史》等書。

貢布裏希爵士，著名藝術史學者，著有《藝術的故事》等書。

其他作者有約翰•諾思教授（格羅寜根大學）、西爾剋•阿剋曼博士（大英博物館）、安東尼•埃維尼教授（科爾蓋特大學）、戴維•金教授（歌德大學科學史研究所）、邁剋爾•洛伊教授（劍橋大學剋萊爾學院）、喬伊•亨德利教授（牛津布魯剋斯大學）、約翰•麥剋唐納博士（努納武特研究中心）、埃利•德剋爾博士（烏特勒支大學）、喬納森•貝茨（格林威治皇傢天文颱）、伊萬•卡斯剋爾博士（哈佛大學福格藝術博物館）、洛恩•坎貝爾博士（英國國傢美術館）、約翰•豪斯教授（倫敦大學考陶爾德藝術學院）、馬西婭•波因頓教授（曼徹斯特大學）、唐•埃茲教授（埃塞剋斯大學）、伊恩•芬倫博士（劍橋大學國王學院）、肯•阿諾德博士（韋爾康醫學史研究所）、菲利普•費爾南多-阿梅斯托教授（牛津大學）、馬丁•魯德威剋教授（劍橋大學三一學院）、霍華德•莫菲教授（澳大利亞國立大學）、安東尼•斯帕林格博士（奧剋蘭大學）、馬丁•裏斯爵士（劍橋大學天文研究所）。