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Time Warped: Unlocking The Mysteries Of Time Perception (2012)

by Claudia Hammond(Favorite Author)

3.42 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0062225200 (ISBN13: 9780062225207)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Harper Perennial

review 1: This was very readable, I enjoyed it a lot. The author tackles the subject of how neurologists are studying the issue of how people perceive time. It's an interesting topic, and the author does a good job of presenting it in general terms using examples that are clear and intriguing. Topics include how time is linked to memory, and how it is linked to the ability to imagine the future.A few quibbles - the author is British and makes some assumptions about how people perceive time that seem very culturally rooted and she doesn't quite seem aware of that. She writes about how rare it is to talk about distance in terms of time ... which is so, so typical in the U.S. ("How far away is it?" "Oh, about 2 hours.") On a more individual note, she has framed the book around an e... morexample of going on vacation -- while you are there, it seems like your time is rushing by (which I agree with) but when you return home, it seems like you have been gone for a very long time ... which, I don't know about that at all. Whenever I get back from vacation, it feels like I was gone for only a flash, almost like I never left. By the end of the book, as she has linked this example to more specific things, I felt like I had a somewhat better idea of what she was talking about (like it is true that one tends to do more exciting things than usual during a vacation, so you have having more memorable times in general) but I will still never describe it as lasting for a long time.
review 2: Nice introduction to the psychology of time perception. With a few minor exceptions, a well-edited book. It's light, but it does introduce you to some interesting theories regarding how we perceive time...and I'm definitely following up with a few of her primary sources. BTW, I bought this book due to a recommendation on Brain Pickings. My lack of enthusiasm for the book sadly translates to a bit less love for Brain Pickings. Eh, but who am I to judge? less

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