{"product_id":"9780198607816","title":"What is Time? The Classic Account of Nature of Time","description":"\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\u003eThis reissue of the classic and authoritative What is Time? 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"OUP Oxford","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47011563372784,"sku":"9780198607816","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780198607816_p0.jpg?v=1763667179","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780198607816","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}