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Time Traveler: In Search of Dinosaurs and Other Fossils from Montana to Mongolia
by Michael NovacekTrue stories of fossil-hunting adventures around the globe from “a world-class field scientist [and] a highly entertaining writer” (The American Scholar).Michael Novacek, a world-renowned paleontologist who has discovered important fossils on virtually every continent, is an authority on patterns of evolution and on the relationships among extinct and extant organisms. Time Traveler is his captivating account of how his boyhood enthusiasm for dinosaurs became a lifelong commitment to vanguard science. He takes us with him as he discovers fossils in his own backyard in Los Angeles, then goes looking for them in the high Andes, the black volcanic mountains of Yemen, and the incredibly rich fossil badlands of the Gobi Desert.Wherever Novacek goes, he searches for still-undiscovered evidence of what life was like on Earth millions of years ago. Along the way he has almost drowned, been stung by deadly scorpions, been held at gunpoint by a renegade army, and nearly choked in raging dust storms. Fieldwork is very demanding in a host of unusual, dramatic, sometimes hilarious ways, and Novacek writes of its alluring perils with affection and discernment. But in addition to being an enthralling adventure story, Time Traveler makes sense of many complex themes—about dinosaur evolution, continental drift, mass extinctions, new methods for understanding ancient environments, and the evolutionary secrets of DNA in fossil organisms.Includes photos and illustrations“A superb introduction to paleontology.” —Edward O. Wilson“An engaging book [that] gives us an excellent sense of the way paleontologists have arrived at their world-shaking conclusions.” —The New York Times Book Review“Novacek offers a spellbinding natural history of our planet, as well as the equally fascinating story of how he fell into the profession.” —Publishers Weekly
Time Travelers: Victorian Encounters with Time and History
by Adelene Buckland Sadiah QureshiThe Victorians, perhaps more than any Britons before them, were diggers and sifters of the past. Though they were not the first to be fascinated by history, the intensity and range of their preoccupations with the past were unprecedented and of lasting importance. The Victorians paved the way for our modern disciplines, discovered the primeval monsters we now call the dinosaurs, and built many of Britain’s most important national museums and galleries. To a large degree, they created the perceptual frameworks through which we continue to understand the past. Out of their discoveries, new histories emerged, giving rise to fresh debates, while seemingly well-known histories were thrown into confusion by novel tools and methods of scrutiny. If in the eighteenth century the study of the past had been the province of a handful of elites, new technologies and economic development in the nineteenth century meant that the past, in all its brilliant detail, was for the first time the property of the many, not the few. Time Travelers is a book about the myriad ways in which Victorians approached the past, offering a vivid picture of the Victorian world and its historical obsessions.
Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception
by Claudia HammondWe are obsessed with time. However hard we might try, it is almost impossible to spend even one day without the marker of a clock. But how much do we understand about time, and is it possible to retrain our brains and improve our relationship with it? Drawing on the latest research from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and biology, and using original research on the way memory shapes our understanding of time, acclaimed writer and broadcaster Claudia Hammond delves into the mysteries of time perception. Along the way, she introduces us to an extraordinary array of colourful characters willing to go to great lengths in the interests of research, such as the French speleologist Michel, who spends two months in an ice cave in complete darkness. Time Warped shows us how to manage our time more efficiently, speed time up and slow it down at will, plan for the future with more accuracy, and, ultimately, use the warping of time to our own advantage.
Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception
by Claudia HammondAn award–winning BBC podcast host “has a steady touch . . . adding user-friendly charm” to “intriguing” research on the psychology of time perception (New York Times).Why does life seem to speed up as we get older? Why does the clock in your head move at a different speed from the one on the wall? Why is it almost impossible to go a whole day without checking your watch? Is it possible to retrain our brains and improve our relationship with it? In Time Warped, Claudia Hammond offers insight into how to manage our time more efficiently, how to speed time up and slow it down at will, how to plan for the future with more accuracy, and she teaches how to use the warping of time to our own benefit.“An ideal read for those looking for science-based theories of time perception without the scientific jargon. . . . Hammond demonstrates how life’s circumstances can make minutes seem an eternity and decades the blink of an eye.” —Library Journal“A well-researched meditation on how we see the future.” —Slate“This lively introduction to the psychology of time perception is an intriguing take on the fluidity of reality.” —Publishers Weekly“. . . a fascinating foray into the idea that our experience of time is actively created by our own minds and how these sensations of what neuroscientists and psychologists call “mind time” are created.” —Maria Popova, The Marginalian
Time and Chance
by David Z AlbertThis study is an attempt to get to the root of the tension between the best scientific pictures of the physical structure of the world and the everyday, empirical experience of it. It examines the problem of the direction of time - the notion that whatever can happen, can happen backwards.
Time and Chance
by David Z. ALBERTThis book is an attempt to get to the bottom of an acute and perennial tension between our best scientific pictures of the fundamental physical structure of the world and our everyday empirical experience of it. The trouble is about the direction of time. The situation (very briefly) is that it is a consequence of almost every one of those fundamental scientific pictures--and that it is at the same time radically at odds with our common sense--that whatever can happen can just as naturally happen backwards. Albert provides an unprecedentedly clear, lively, and systematic new account--in the context of a Newtonian-Mechanical picture of the world--of the ultimate origins of the statistical regularities we see around us, of the temporal irreversibility of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, of the asymmetries in our epistemic access to the past and the future, and of our conviction that by acting now we can affect the future but not the past. Then, in the final section of the book, he generalizes the Newtonian picture to the quantum-mechanical case and (most interestingly) suggests a very deep potential connection between the problem of the direction of time and the quantum-mechanical measurement problem. The book aims to be both an original contribution to the present scientific and philosophical understanding of these matters at the most advanced level, and something in the nature of an elementary textbook on the subject accessible to interested high-school students. Table of Contents: Preface 1. Time-Reversal Invariance 2. Thermodynamics 3. Statistical Mechanics 4. The Reversibility Objections and the Past-Hypothesis 5. The Scope of Thermodynamics 6. The Asymmetries of Knowledge and Intervention 7. Quantum Mechanics Appendix: Gedankenexperiments with Heat Engines Index Reviews of this book: The foundations of statistical mechanisms are often presented in physics textbooks in a rather obscure and confused way. By challenging common ways of thinking about this subject, Time and Chance can do quite a lot to improve this situation.--Jean Bricmont, ScienceAlbert is perfecting a style of foundational analysis that is uniquely his own...It has a surgical precision...and it is ruthless with pretensions. The foundations of thermodynamics is a topic that has accumulated a good deal of dead wood; this is a fire that will burn and burn.--Simon W. Saunders, Oxford UniversityAs usual with Albert's work, the exposition is brisk and to the point, and exceptionally clear...The book will be an extremely valuable contribution to the literature on the subject of philosophical issues in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, a literature which has been thin on the ground but is now growing as it deserves to.--Lawrence Sklar, University of Michigan
Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands (Historical Ecology Series)
by William Balée Clark EricksonThis collection of studies by anthropologists, botanists, ecologists, and biologists is an important contribution to the emerging field of historical ecology. The book combines cutting-edge research with new perspectives to emphasize the close relationship between humans and their natural environment.Contributors examine how alterations in the natural world mirror human cultures, societies, and languages. Treating the landscape like a text, these researchers decipher patterns and meaning in the Ecuadorian Andes, Amazonia, the desert coast of Peru, and other regions in the neotropics. They show how local peoples have changed the landscape over time to fit their needs by managing and modifying species diversity, enhancing landscape heterogeneity, and controlling ecological disturbance. In turn, the environment itself becomes a form of architecture rich with historical and archaeological significance. Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology explores thousands of years of ecological history while also addressing important contemporary issues, such as biodiversity and genetic variation and change. Engagingly written and expertly researched, this book introduces and exemplifies a unique method for better understanding the link between humans and the biosphere.
Time and Economics: The Concept of Functional Time
by Željko RohatinskiThis book links the philosophical perception of time and Einstein’s theory of special relativity to economic processes, showing that the phenomena of time dilation and length contraction seen in physics can be identified within – and adapted to – an economic framework. The author expands on Marx’s model of reproduction with the additional variable of time, which is represented as a relative or functional category. In addition to allowing a more precise understanding of both static and dynamic relations between economic systems, this concept examines approaches to time proposed by Smith, Marshall and Keynes, and challenges the equilibrium and disequilibrium economic models. Rohatinski suggests that by understanding the differences in economic activity perceived across different time periods we are better able to influence that activity at micro- and macroeconomic levels.
Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire
by Paul J. KosminUnder Seleucid rule, time no longer restarted with each new monarch. Instead, progressively numbered years, identical to the system we use today, became the measure of historical duration. Paul Kosmin shows how this invention of a new kind of time—and resistance to it—transformed the way we organize our thoughts about the past, present, and future.
Time and Literature (Cambridge Critical Concepts )
by Thomas M. AllenTime and Literature features twenty essays on topics from aesthetics and narratology to globalization and queer temporalities and showcases how time studies, often referred to as “the temporal turn,” cuts across and illuminates research in every field of literature, as well as interdisciplinary approaches drawing on history, philosophy, anthropology, and the natural sciences. Part I, “Origins,” addresses fundamental issues that can be traced back to the beginnings of literary criticism, while Part II, “Development,” shows how thinking about time has been crucial to various interpretive revolutions that have affected literary theory. Part III, “Application,” illustrates the centrality of temporal theorizing to literary criticism in a variety of contemporary approaches, from ecocriticism and new materialisms to media and archive studies. The first anthology to provide a synthesis of recent scholarship on the temporality of literary language from across different national and historical periods, Time and Literature will appeal to academic researchers and interested laypersons alike.
Time and Money: How Long and How Much Money is Needed to Regulate a Viable Economy
by Jean-Pierre AubinThis authored monograph presents an unconventional approach to an important topic in economic theory. The author is an expert in the field of viability theory and applies this theory to analyze how an economy should be dynamically endowed so that it is economically viable. Economic viability requires an assumption on the joint evolution of transactions, fluctuations of prices and units of numeraire goods: the sum of the "transactions values" and the "impact of price fluctuations" should be negative or equal to zero. The book presents a computation of the minimum endowment which restores economic viability and derives the dynamic laws that regulate both transactions and price fluctuations. The target audience primarily comprises open-minded and mathematically interested economists but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.
Time and Narrative, Volume 2
by Paul RicoeurIn volume 1 of this three-volume work, Paul Ricoeur examined the relations between time and narrative in historical writing. Now, in volume 2, he examines these relations in fiction and theories of literature. Ricoeur treats the question of just how far the Aristotelian concept of "plot" in narrative fiction can be expanded and whether there is a point at which narrative fiction as a literary form not only blurs at the edges but ceases to exist at all. Though some semiotic theorists have proposed all fiction can be reduced to an atemporal structure, Ricoeur argues that fiction depends on the reader's understanding of narrative traditions, which do evolve but necessarily include a temporal dimension. He looks at how time is actually expressed in narrative fiction, particularly through use of tenses, point of view, and voice. He applies this approach to three books that are, in a sense, tales about time: Virgina Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway; Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain; and Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. "Ricoeur writes the best kind of philosophy—critical, economical, and clear."—Eugen Weber, New York Times Book Review "A major work of literary theory and criticism under the aegis of philosophical hermenutics. I believe that . . . it will come to have an impact greater than that of Gadamer's Truth and Method—a work it both supplements and transcends in its contribution to our understanding of the meaning of texts and their relationship to the world."—Robert Detweiler, Religion and Literature "One cannot fail to be impressed by Ricoeur's encyclopedic knowledge of the subject under consideration. . . . To students of rhetoric, the importance of Time and Narrative . . . is all too evident to require extensive elaboration."—Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar, Quarterly Journal of Speech
Time and Narrative, Volume 3
by Paul RicoeurIn the first two volumes of this work, Paul Ricoeur examined the relations between time and narrative in historical writing, fiction, and theories of literature. This final volume, a comprehensive reexamination and synthesis of the ideas developed in volumes 1 and 2, stands as Ricoeur's most complete and satisfying presentation of his own philosophy. Ricoeur's aim here is to explicate as fully as possible the hypothesis that has governed his inquiry, namely, that the effort of thinking at work in every narrative configuration is completed in a refiguration of temporal experience. To this end, he sets himself the central task of determing how far a poetics of narrative can be said to resolve the "aporias"—the doubtful or problematic elements—of time. Chief among these aporias are the conflicts between the phenomenological sense of time (that experienced or lived by the individual) and the cosmological sense (that described by history and physics) on the one hand and the oneness or unitary nature of time on the other. In conclusion, Ricoeur reflects upon the inscrutability of time itself and attempts to discern the limits of his own examination of narrative discourse. "As in his previous works, Ricoeur labors as an imcomparable mediator of often estranged philosophical approaches, always in a manner that compromises neither rigor nor creativity."—Mark Kline Taylor, Christian Century "In the midst of two opposing contemporary options—either to flee into ever more precious readings . . . or to retreat into ever more safe readings . . . —Ricoeur's work offers an alternative option that is critical, wide-ranging, and conducive to new applications."—Mary Gerhart, Journal of Religion
Time and Timelessness in Fundamental Physics and Cosmology: Historical, Philosophical, and Mathematical Perspectives (Fundamental Theories of Physics #216)
by Silvia De Bianchi Marco Forgione Laura MarongiuThis book offers a clear account of timelessness together with the discussion of temporality in fundamental physics and cosmology. The multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of time and timelessness shows the remarkable difference between pre-relativistic debates and current developments. This book thoroughly discusses notions of timelessness and time emerging in the most recent literature on Quantum Gravity, String Theory and Cosmology. The contributions explore, among many aspects, the historical-philosophical roots of the notions of temporality and atemporality, the role of mathematics in defining time and temporality with respect to both order relations and causality, approaches to quantum gravity and cosmology that make use of quantum fluids and condensate to approximate space–time in general relativity, time and timelessness in black holes and the problem of cosmological time in bouncing cosmologies. The novelty of this volume lies in the interaction among scientists, philosophers, and historians in exploring the nature of time and timelessness and the origin of these concepts. The book represents a valuable toolkit for researchers and graduate students in physics, cosmology, philosophy and the history of those fields.
Time and the Brain (Conceptual Advances in Brain Research)
by Ian MuehlenhausSince the days of Galileo, time has been a fundamental variable in scientific attempts to understand the natural world. Once the first recordings of electrical activity in the brain had been made, it became clear that electrical signals from the brain consist of very complex temporal patterns. This can now be demonstrated by recordings at the singl
Time and the Technosphere: The Law of Time in Human Affairs
by José ArgüellesA groundbreaking study that distinguishes the natural time of the cosmos from artificial mechanistic time. • Reveals September 11 as the signal of the end of artificial time according to the Law of Time. • Long awaited sequel to the author's bestselling book The Mayan Factor. • Explains the Great Calendar Change of 2004 and its enormous potential for the future of humanity. In Time and the Technosphere, José Argüelles presents a groundbreaking study that distinguishes the natural time of the cosmos from the artificial mechanistic time under which we currently live. Argüelles defines the actual nature of time as the frequency of synchronization. Applying this Law of Time to an understanding of the entire system of life on Earth, he shows that in order to not destroy Earth's ability to sustain life, we must change our definition of time and adopt a natural harmonic calendar based on the 13-moon 28-day cycle. Until the creation of the Gregorian calendar and the 60-minute hour, most of humanity lived by the 28-day cycle of natural time. The adoption of artificial time has subjected us to a 12:60 time frequency that governs the entire global industrialized civilization--the technosphere. With the collapse of the Twin Towers on September 11, a fissure was created in this artificial technosphere, opening up the noosphere (Earth's mental envelope). Humanity has a golden opportunity to leave the strife of the past and enter a time of peace by adopting a harmonious natural calendar that will repair the damages caused by the irregular tempo of technospheric time. Our last best chance to adopt this natural time and step into the bright new future promised by the galactic shift of 2012 is the Great Calendar Change of 2004, a new discovery based on the author's mathematical research into the Mayan calendar first begun in his landmark work The Mayan Factor. In Time and the Technosphere, Argüelles reveals the clear distinction between third-dimensional astronomical time and the fourth-dimensional synchronic order of the Law of Time, which holds enormous potential for the future of humanity.
Time for a Checkup
by Amy TaoPeople visit the doctor at least once a year–even when they’re not sick! Doctors ask questions to check that your mind and body are healthy. Doctors use different tools to find out if you’re healthy like stethoscopes, thermometers and blood pressure cuffs. The nurse will measure your height and weight, too! Find out other ways doctors check if you’re healthy?
Time in Control Theory: On Concepts, Measures and Uses (Synthesis Lectures on Electrical Engineering)
by Blas M. VinagreControl Theory is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and mathematics that studies the behavior of dynamic systems with external stimuli and how to modify such behavior through feedback, and the very concept of dynamic system implies the study of how the trajectories of a point in a geometric space evolve in time. Thus, time is at the very foundation of control theory, and its development and achievements are conditioned both by the conception we have of it and by our way of measuring and using it. Following a quasi-chronological order, this work aims to give an overview of how these conceptions and these ways of measuring and using time are reflected in the paths followed by control theory from its origins to the present day.
Time in Early Modern Islam
by Stephen P. BlakeThe prophet Muhammad and the early Islamic community radically redefined the concept of time that they had inherited from earlier religions' beliefs and practices. This new temporal system, based on a lunar calendar and era, was complex and required sophistication and accuracy. From the ninth to the sixteenth centuries, it was the Muslim astronomers of the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal empires who were responsible for the major advances in mathematics, astronomy and astrology. This fascinating study compares the Islamic concept of time, and its historical and cultural significance, across these three great empires. Each empire, while mindful of earlier models, created a new temporal system, fashioning a new solar calendar and era and a new round of rituals and ceremonies from the cultural resources at hand. This book contributes to our understanding of the Muslim temporal system and our appreciation of the influence of Islamic science on the Western world.
Time in Ecology: A Theoretical Framework [MPB 61] (Monographs In Population Biology Ser. #80)
by Eric PostEcologists traditionally regard time as part of the background against which ecological interactions play out. In this book, Eric Post argues that time should be treated as a resource used by organisms for growth, maintenance, and offspring production.Post uses insights from phenology—the study of the timing of life-cycle events—to present a theoretical framework of time in ecology that casts long-standing observations in the field in an entirely new light. Combining conceptual models with field data, he demonstrates how phenological advances, delays, and stasis, documented in an array of taxa, can all be viewed as adaptive components of an organism’s strategic use of time. Post shows how the allocation of time by individual organisms to critical life history stages is not only a response to environmental cues but also an important driver of interactions at the population, species, and community levels.To demonstrate the applications of this exciting new conceptual framework, Time in Ecology uses meta-analyses of previous studies as well as Post’s original data on the phenological dynamics of plants, caribou, and muskoxen in Greenland.
Time of the Quickening: Prophecies for the Coming Utopian Age
by Susan B. MartinezA guide to the science of prophecy, why so many predictions never come to pass, and the Golden Age ahead • Presents a mathematical means of divining the future, revealed in the Oahspe Bible, using the Egyptian Tables of Destiny, a 12,000-year-old system so exact it can foretell every day of the year • Reveals that we are not headed for Rapture and the Apocalypse but for “the Quickening,” the embryonic stage of a Utopian Age • Examines the cycles of history and explains why many prophecies have not come true Reviewing the cycles of history from biblical times to the present and prophecies of the future from Nostradamus to Edgar Cayce and Jeane Dixon, Susan B. Martinez reveals that our current “time of troubles” is not the beginning of Rapture, the Apocalypse, or Armageddon, but of the embryonic stage of a Utopian Age--the “Quickening” of the human race. Reviving the lost science of prophecy, Martinez explains why so many “great prophecies” have failed and presents the 12,000-year-old Egyptian system of prediction so exact it can foretell every day of the year, a method based not on the planets, astrology, or intuition but on Earth’s magnetic rhythms. Using Earth science, historical research, religious texts, spiritualism, and patterns within the cycles of war and political milestones, she demonstrates that the past is the hidden key to the future and uncovers the prophetic numbers of Earth’s cycles--11, 33, 99, and 363--as set forth in the Egyptian Tables of Destiny, ancient texts brought to light by the 19th-century Oahspe Bible. Explaining how readers can use the Tables of Destiny to make their own predictions of the future, she presents her own forecasts of the risks and costs of technological progress, the destiny of America, the up-and-coming global religion, the truth behind climate change and the cause of earthquakes, and the true life expectancy of planet Earth as well as offering a preview of the Paradigm Shift and Golden Age ahead, a time of global unity and awakening of the soul of the world.
Time to Shine: Celebrating the World’s Iridescent Animals
by Karen JamesonLet yourself be dazzled by creatures around the world in this brilliant nonfiction picture book about iridescence. Have you ever noticed the rainbow-like shimmer on certain bird feathers, insect bodies and animal scales? This effect, called iridescence, changes depending on the angle from which its viewed, and animals across the globe use the effect to both blend in and stand out. In playful rhyming couplets, Time to Shine takes a closer look at these creatures and their sparkly “clothes,” from the mallard duck’s shining green flying “cap,” which allows the birds to coordinate flight movements, to the reed frog’s heat reflecting “vest,” to the hummingbird’s sequinned “costume,” which helps to attract a mate. A secondary level of prose text on each spread gives further context for each animal’s particular environment and adaptation. Light seems to dance off of the book's vibrant pages, with illustrations that bring us up close and personal with animals both exotic and familiar to young readers. An author’s note provides additional information about the science of iridescence. Key Text Features author's note bibliography definitions explanation facts further information illustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5 Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.
Time's Arrow: The Origins of Thermodynamic Behavior
by Michael C. MackeyExploration of Second Law of Thermodynamics details fundamental dynamic properties behind construction of statistical mechanics. Topics include maximal entropy principles; invertible and noninvertible systems; ergodicity and unique equilibria; and asymptotic periodicity and entropy evolution. Geared toward physicists and applied mathematicians; suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. 1992 edition.
Time, Chance and Reduction
by Gerhard Ernst Andreas HuttemannStatistical mechanics attempts to explain the behavior of macroscopic physical systems in terms of the mechanical properties of their constituents. Although it is one of the fundamental theories of physics, it has received little attention from philosophers of science. Nevertheless, it raises philosophical questions of fundamental importance on the nature of time, chance and reduction. Most philosophical issues in this domain relate to the question of the reduction of thermodynamics to statistical mechanics. This book addresses issues inherent in this reduction: the time-asymmetry of thermodynamics and its absence in statistical mechanics; the role and essential nature of chance and probability in this reduction when thermodynamics is non-probabilistic; and how, if at all, the reduction is possible. Compiling contributions on current research by experts in the field, this is an invaluable survey of the philosophy of statistical mechanics for academic researchers and graduate students interested in the foundations of physics.
Time, Communication and Global Capitalism (International Political Economy Series)
by Wayne HopeIn this book Wayne Hope analyzes the double relation between time and global capitalism. In order to do this, he cross-relates four epistemes of time - epochality, time reckoning, temporality and coevalness – with four materializations of time – hegemony, conflict, crisis and rupture. Using this framework allows Hope to argue that global capitalism is epochally distinctive, riven by time conflicts, prone to recurring crises, and vulnerable to collective opposition. These critical insights are not easily thematized in a mediated world of real-time reflexivity, detemporalized presentism, and denials of coevalness associated with structural exclusions of the poor. However, the worldwide repercussions of the 2008 financial collapse and the resulting confluence of occupation movements, riots, protests, strike activity, and anti-austerity activism raises the prospect of a rupture within and beyond global capitalism.