Time Warped
Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
We 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Whether you conceive of time as a "breeze" or a "crushing weight," Hammond's book is worth yours. Focusing on the experience of time rather than its "objective reality," the award-winning science writer and BBC broadcaster demonstrates how the timely coordination of brain, nerves, and muscles is essential for everything from reading time tables to understanding spoken language. But, as everyone knows, time rarely seems to pass at a constant rate it seems to slow when you are stressed, and go too fast while you are in vacation mode. As such, Hammond explores how time perception (or "mind time") is "elastic"; investigates the various ways in which people conceive of time in spatial terms; and examines the various causes for the experience of distended or contracted time depression, ADHD, chemical processes in the brain, and even temperature can fool us into the belief that time is speeding up or slowing down. Along the way, readers are introduced to curious characters like Bob Petrella, whose hyperthymesia makes it impossible to forget anything, and Michel Siffre, a French speleologist who spent months living underground to determine whether humans have an internal clock. This lively introduction to the psychology of time perception is an intriguing take on the fluidity of reality.
