Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown

Gould, Stephen Jay

ISBN 10: 0609600761 / ISBN 13: 9780609600764

Published by Harmony, NY, 1997

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 001618

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown
• Publisher: Harmony, NY
• Publication Date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0609600761
• ISBN 13: 9780609600764
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition
• Condition: Very Fine As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Vary Fine As New
• Seller catalogs:
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About this title

Synopsis

In Questioning the Millennium, Stephen Jay Gould applies his wit and erudition to one of today's most pressing subjects:  the significance of the millennium.

In this beautiful inquiry into time and its milestones, he shares his interest and insights with his readers.  Refreshingly reasoned, erudite, and absorbing, the book asks and answers the three major questions that define the approaching calendrical event:
First, what exactly is this concept of a millennium and how has its meaning shifted?  How did the name for a future thousand year reign of Christ on earth get transferred to the passage of a secular period of a thousand years in current human history?  

When does the new millennium begin:  January 1, in the year 2000 or 2001?  

Finally, why must our calendars be so complex, leading to our search for arbitrary regularity, including a fascination with millennia?
As always, Gould brings into his essays a wide range of compelling historical and scientific fact, including a brief history of millennia fevers, calendrical traditions and idiosyncrasies from around the world, the story of a sixth-century monk whose errors in chronology plague us even today, and the heroism of a young autistic man who has developed the extraordinary ability to calculate dates deep into the past and the future.

Ranging over a wide terrain of phenomena - from the arbitrary regularities of human calendars to the unpredictability of nature, from the vagaries of pop culture to the birth of Christ - Stephen Jay Gould holds the mirror up to our millennial passions to reveal our foibles, absurdities, and uniqueness - in other words, our humanity.

About the Author

Stephen Jay Gould was one of the most influential evolutionary biologists and most acclaimed science essayists of the 20th century. He died in May 2002. He was the author of numerous books, including The Lying Stones of Marrakech and Questioning the Millennium.