THE VOICES OF TIME

The idea of Time, once so fashionable in the Bergson-Proust-Einstein days, is evidently back in vogue. There have been several recent volumes, among them Priestley's lavish Man and Time. The presentation here is more austere, and all things considered, quite the best of the lot. As edited by J.T. Fraser, the collection of commissioned essays is as the sub-title accurately states, ""A cooperative survey of man's view of time as understood and described by the scientists and by the humanities."" Thus there are four divisions, corresponding roughly to philosophical and religious realms, the psychological, the biological, and the scientific (physics, thermo-dynamics, the quantum theory, relativity, etc.). The overwhelming majority of contributors are Europeans, all are specialists, none has watered down any of the material. A few are well-known: Piaget, Needham, Capek; while some such as Costa de Beauregard and Joost Meerloo are figures of international importance whose writings have rarely been available in English. In this, as in much else, the book does a great service. Further, the variety of topics, investigations, speculations and so forth is staggering, encompassing both the occidental and oriental views and ranging from antiquity to the dernier cri in contemporary thought. The book, however, can in no way be considered suitable for the layman, even though the editor valiantly tries to clarify things with introductory statements here and there. For students, on the other hand, it can serve as a great source of information. For professionals it is, of course, a landmark.