Unwinding the Clock: Ten Thoughts on Our Relationship to Time - Hardcover

Jonsson, Bodil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151005397 ISBN 13: 9780151005390

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001

Synopsis

A physicist draws on her own inside knowledge of science to discuss the impact of technological progress on human bodies and minds and shares practical suggestions on how to preserve our humanity in the fast-paced, high-tech modern world and how to slow down and enjoy life. 30,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Authors

Bodil Jönsson is a physicist at the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering Research at the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Tiina Nunnally is known for her award-winning translations of novels and short stories from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, including Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow, Before You Sleep by Linn Ullmann, and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Bodil Jönsson is a physicist at the Center for Rehabilitation Engineering Research at the Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden.

Tiina Nunnally is known for her award-winning translations of novels and short stories from Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, including Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow, Before You Sleep by Linn Ullmann, and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Reviews

This bestselling European self-help volume, for which translation rights have sold in more than 10 countries, has a notably Continental feel. It's not just that physicist Jonsson includes local references ("Picture a map of the Swedish countryside before and after the land redistribution"). It's more that her contemplative tone lacks the evangelical earnestness of most American inspirational efforts; she even acknowledges that "[a] book like this can affect only what already exists inside you." "Experienced time" differs from clock time, Jonsson observes, explaining that she favors cell phone-free train compartments so she can experience time, rather than merely spend it (or listen to others do so), as she travels. Be mindful, she advises, that tasks differ in interest and difficulty, and thus require different "setup times"; she urges her readers to "dare to be a hermit." "Thoughts take time," Jonsson muses, and we must soon reassess "the thought patterns of industrialization." To "create a sense of the here and now," she hearkens back to Bertrand Russell's emphasis on knowledge, love and empathy. Not merely encouraging behavioral changes, she illuminates the wisdom in the mundane: in hindsight, she observes, most problems seem diminished, whereas in anticipation, problems loom large. "A combination of problem-dominated visions and problem-reducing backcasting might give us... a realistic perspective on the future." The final chapter urges optimism and drawing on new experiences to create "new standards for measuring new ideas."

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

According to best-selling author and Swedish physicist J nsson, people must learn to internalize time as they live. Computers and other technologies have increased the speed of life and, consequently, she argues, have alienated people from themselves and others. People can better use time by respecting their complex relationship to it, which may entail changing their view of the concept of time. Besides personal reflections, J nsson offers practical suggestions for boosting productivity (e.g., alternating activities and preparing well ahead for various tasks), but readers should note that this is not a time management book. J nsson's sweep is broad but deep, and although her ideas will likely seem foreign to time-crunching Americans, she makes an easily overlooked point: we must match the need for quick turnaround on life's projects with an awareness of how we individually experience time to create rich personal, social, and cultural environments. Recommended for large psychology and philosophy collections in public libraries. Lisa Liquori, Syracuse, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0151005397
• ISBN 13: 9780151005390
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160