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I give this book eight out of ten. Don’t miss reading it.
Chad ORZEL is the author of the international bestseller ‘How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog”. His recent title ‘A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks’ is another bestseller. The title is published by Oneworld Publications and distributed by Simon & Schuster. The price of the book is Rs 741. The title has a thick spine of over 300 pages. Chad Orzel is a professor of physics and a science author, noted for his book ‘How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog’, translated into 9 languages. His other similar-sounding title is ‘How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog’. Chad as a science communicator is a regular contributor on Forbes.com, his website and on ScienceBlogs.com, while continuing with his work as an associate professor at Union College.
The book has a long list of contents. It is divided into 16 chapters. The chapter headings seem to be very interesting: They are as follows: 1. A Clock is a Thing That Ticks 1. Sunrise 2. The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars 3. “Give Us Our Eleven Days!” 4. The Apocalypse That Wasn’t 5. Drips and Drops 6. Ticks and Ticks 7. Heavenly Wanderers 8. Celestial Clockwork 9. To the Moon … 10. Watch This 11. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It is? 12. The Measure of Space-Time 13. Quantum Clocks 14. Time and Gravity 15. Time Enough for Everyone and 16. The Future of Time.
The author teaches in the picturesque campus of Union College in Schenectady, New York. The college features lush green quads surrounded by columned buildings full of classrooms, labs, and offices. Like most college campuses, it’s also full of clocks. There is the tower clock in Memorial Chapel, whose chimes regularly ring out to mark the hours. The subject title is a virtual journey through the science that grew up alongside centuries of human efforts to measure the passage of time. Beginning with the oldest known solstice-marking monuments, the narrative explores the astronomy of the solar system and the features that determine the sun’s path across the sky. The efforts to better understand the motion of the sun and planets led to the development of Newtonian physics, and we’ll see how this enables the technology to build mechanical clocks. The book discusses revolutionary developments in the physics of electromagnetism and quantum mechanics that eventually led to the alterations of standards of timekeeping based on the motion of physical objects (like the pendulum of a mechanical clock) by modern atomic clocks that count the oscillations of light. The narration is not only a story of abstract science and technology. It also includes intriguing elements of politics and philosophy. The narrative looks at the social aspects of calendar systems like the intricate mix of cycles in the Mayan calendar at their peak around 500 CE, the theological considerations that led Europe to adopt the Gregorian calendar nearly a thousand years later, and the political negotiations that produced our modern system of time zones.
When one year ends, another begins. This is how we discipline time into manageable units. But what sort of time order does a calendar impose, and what is it based on? With another new year, the same old conundrum of calendars begins. Calendars are inexact efforts to track time. The book narrates how the science of tracking time has obsessed every era and location. Human beings have explored the patterns and cycles of the sun, moon and stars in different combinations to mark time. While it may seem universal, the modern calendar of 12 (almost) equal months in a rigid sequence was shaped by thousands of years of theology and politics, but also astronomy: the seasonal motion of the sun and moon across the horizon and the variable lengths of day. Human beings have divided the year into 12 segments, but the stars and planets are not so accommodating says the author. If the moon went a little slower, to take exactly 30 days, and if Earth orbited, the sun a little quicker, in 360 days, celestial timekeeping would be a breeze, there would be no irregular months, and no need to remember that September has 30 days and July 31. Between the sun and the moon, something’s got to give. A perfect calendar where the solstices and equinoxes fall on the same dates is impossible to construct, though much effort has gone into it. One way to deal with the incompatible cycles of the sun and moon is to forget the moon altogether. The ancient civil calendar of Egypt, with 360 days and 12 months in three seasons, did exactly this. It hitched to the position of the star Sirius and the flooding of the Nile. The Roman or Julian calendar learnt from this to go with 365.25 days, with months between 30 and 31 days, and a leap year every four years with an extra day. This calendar brought much-needed stability to agricultural and astronomical events, synced with the civil months and seasons. Calendar reform became a pressing issue for mathematically minded Christians who wanted to fix the date of Easter, with an English monk in 1297 describing the Julian calendar as ‘intolerable, horrible and laughable’. Pope Gregory XIII in 1572 set up a committee to settle the matter. The Gregorian calendar is most successfully synced with the tropical year, with a mere 26 seconds of difference; it will take 3,323 years before the date of the March equinox slips by a day. In counterpoint to these calendars is the highly sophisticated system of Mayan timekeeping. There was a widespread notion that Mayan astronomers considered December 21, 2012, to be the end of the world, but this trivialises their complex astronomical and mathematical learning. Their numbers were based on 20s, rather than 10s, and their 260-day cycle has to do with the experience of light in the tropics, marked by ‘zenith crossing’ days when the sun is directly overhead. They didn’t have a concept of doomsday but imagined time in endlessly repeating cycles. Calendars are social constructs, the book says we standardised railway schedules and time zones to facilitate industrial modernity, and we need this precision to keep our world ticking, but the eccentric orbits of celestial bodies don’t fully cooperate.
Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi
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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com
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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life-threatening diseases, especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers, including children and adults, and have a huge variety in content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate to the cause? The bank details are given below:
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Kamlesh Tripathi’s Publications
GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE
(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 8 prestigious libraries of the US which include Harvard College Library; Harvard University Library; Library of Congress; University of Washington, Seattle; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Yale University, New Haven; University of Chicago; University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill University Libraries. It can also be accessed at MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in libraries and archives of Canada; Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai; Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India; Shoolini University, Yogananda Knowledge Center, Himachal Pradesh and Azim Premzi University, Bangalore).
ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY
(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi; It is also available for reading in the Indian National Bibliography, March 2016, in the literature section, in Central Reference Library, Ministry of Culture, India, Belvedere, Kolkata-700022)
AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES
(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity, which is the undying characteristic of Lucknow. The book was launched at the Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2014. It is included for reading in Askews and Holts Library Services, Lancashire, U.K; Herrick District Library, Holland and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Mecklenburg County in North Carolina, USA; Black Gold Cooperative Library Administration, Arroyo Grande, California; Berkeley Library, University of California).
REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD
(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched at the Lucknow International Literary Festival in 2016).
TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN
(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his way through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February 2018 at Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
RHYTHM … in poems
(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day-to-day life. A few poems from the book have been published in Shillong Times, Bandra Times and Bhavan’s Journal. The book is available on Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)
MIRAGE
(Published in February 2020. The book is a collection of eight short stories available on Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press)
AWADH ASSAM AND DALAI LAMA … The Kalachakra
(The story of the man who received His Holiness The Dalai Lama and his retinue in 1959 as a GOI representative when he fled Tibet in 1959. The book was launched on 21st November 2022 by His Holiness The Dalai Lama at Dharmshala. The title is archived in the library of the Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR) Government of Tibet, Tibet Policy Institute (TPI) and the personal library of His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The title is also archived in The Ohio Digital Library, USA. It was recently included in the digital library of the world-renowned company APPLE).
BHAVANS JOURNAL
Short stories, Book reviews and Articles published in Bhavan’s Journal: 1. Reality and Perception, 15.10.19; 2. Sending the Wrong Message, 31.5.20; 3. Eagle versus Scholars June, 15 & 20, 2020; 4. Indica, 15.8.20; 5. The Story of King Chitraketu, August 31 2020; 6. Breaking Through the Chakravyuh, September 30 2020. 7. The Questioning Spouse, October 31, 2020; 8. Happy Days, November 15, 2020; 9. The Karma Cycle of Paddy and Wheat, December 15, 2020; 10. Power Vs Influence, January 31, 2021; 11. Three Refugees, March 15, 2021; 12. Rise and Fall of Ajatashatru, March 31, 2021; 13. Reformed Ruler, May 15, 2021; 14. A Lasting Name, May 31, 2021; 15. Are Animals Better Teachers? June 16, 2021; 16. Book Review: The Gram Swaraj, 1.7.21; 17. Right Age for Achievements, 15.7.21; 18. Big Things Have Small Beginnings, 15.8.21; 19. Where is Gangaridai?, 15.9.21; 20. Confront the Donkey Within You 30.9.21; 21. Know Your Strengths 15.10.21; 22. Poverty 15.11.21; 23. Top View 30.11.21; 24. The Bansuriwala 15.1.22; 25. Sale of Alaska 15.2.22; 26. The Dimasa Kingdom 28.2.22;27. Buried Treasure 15.4.22; 28. The Kingdom of Pragjyotisha 30.4.22; 29. Who is more useful? 15.5.22; 30. The White Swan from Lake Mansarovar 30.6.22; 31. Bhool Bhulayya 15.9.22; 32. Good Karma 30.9.22; 33. Good Name vs Bad Name 15.10.22; 34. Uttarapath—The Grand Trunk Road 1.12.22; 35. When Gods Get Angry 1.1.23; 36. Holinshed’s Chronicles 15.1.23; 37. Theogony 15.2.23; 38. Poem: Mother 14.5.23; 39. THE NAG MANDIR 30.6.23; 40. The Story of Garuda 30.7.23; 41. Janmabhoomi vs Karmabhoomi 31.8.23; 42. The Ghost Town of Kuldhara 15.9.23; 43. The Tale of Genji 15.10.23; 44. The Soul Connection 1.12.23; 45.Book review: Jungle Nama … a story of the Sundarban 16.3.24; 46. Book review: A Forgotten Chapter 16.5.24;
THE SHILLONG TIMES
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: HAPPY NEW YEAR 8.1.23; 2. POEM: SPRING 12.3.23; 3. POEM: RIGHT AND WRONG 20.3.23; 4. THE GUSH OF EMOTION—WRITING, 26.3.23; 5. THE NAG MANDIR, 7.5.23; 6. POEM: MOTHER 7.5.23; 7. POEM: RAIN RAIN 9.7.23; 8. POEM: YOU COME ALONE YOU GO ALONE 6.8.23; 9. RAIN RAIN (SECOND TIME) 10.8.23; 10. POEM: GURU TEACHER 10.8.23; 11. POEM: AUTUMN … THE INTERIM HEAVEN 15.10.23; 12. POEM: HAPPY DIWALI 12.11.23; 13. OVERCOMING BLINDNESS: LEARN IT THE JOHN MILTON WAY 10.12.23; 14. THE HAPPY PRINCE AND THE HAPPY MAN’S SHIRT 31.12.23; 15. ANNUS MIRABILIS 2024 7.1.24; 16. GANDHI TO MAHATMA GANDHI- Incidents that Shaped Gandhi in South Africa 28.1.24; 17. POEM: TOGETHER BUT NOT MADE FOR EACH OTHER, 11.2.24; 18. THE BIRDS BEES AND THE SPIDERS OF NICHOLAS GUILDFORD AND JONATHAN SWIFT 25.2.24; 19. THE OVERCOATS OF NIKOLAI GOGOL AND RUSKIN BOND 10.3.24; 20. THE ETHNIC COLOURS OF HOLI 24.3.24; 21. A LESSON FROM DALAI LAMA, 21.4.24; 22. POEM: MORNING WALK 28.4.24; 23. TRIP TO RHINE FALLS, SWITZERLAND, 19.5.24;
THE ASSAM TRIBUNE
ARTICLE: 1. THE MAGIC OF READING 11.12.23; 2. GANDHI TO MAHATMA 29.1.24; 3. GEOGRAPHY OF SOLITUDE 8.4.24; 4. A LESSON FROM DALAI LAMA, 22.4.24; 5. A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, 29.4.24; 6. THE FOUR-LEGGED LIBRARY, 12.5.24;
BANDRA TIMES, MUMBAI
ARTICLES & POEMS: 1. POEM: SPRING, 1.4.23; 2. POEM: MOTHER, 1.6.23; 3. POEM: RAIN RAIN, 1.8.23;
ARTICLES IN THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE ESAMSKRITI
29.12.2020: INDICA BY MEGASTHENES; 14.3.22: ABOUT THE DIMASA KINGDOM ASSAM; 10.12.22: GRAND TRUNK ROAD-UTTARAPATH; 5.10.23: THE GHOST TOWN OF KULDHARA NEAR JAISALMER;
(ALL THE ABOVE BOOK TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE ON AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)
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