Details
Synopsis
In an effort to understand what there is about the thousand-year interval that has made it such a calendric fixation of Western culture, author Stephen Jay Gould sets out to answer the questions of what, why, and when in order to explain the growing fascination with matters millennial.
| Size | | Length: | 221 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 12.8 oz |
Industry Reviews
"Foreseeing much ado over the arrival of the year 2000, Mr. Gould provides 'A Rationalist's Guide' to the countdown. He covers the calendrical history--some of it practical, some of it absurd--that has put us when we think we are. He implies, courteously, that for much of the world's population A.D. 2000 has neither religious nor historical significance and is, in fact, not 2000 at all. He presents a sound defense against dateline hysteria."
Atlantic Monthly - Phoebe-Lou Adams (10/19/1997)
"...it beguiles and entertains, even as it teaches us to reconsider our preconceptions about the natural world."
New York Times - Michiko Kakutani (11/11/1997)
"...Gould is a splendid guide through tangled scientific subjects - clear, stylish and full of inspiring confidence."
Times Literary Supplement - Alexander Masters (04/10/1998)
"...Gould's calendrical work is a lively inquiry into the most basic of human traits - the desire to impose order through a clearly defined, if somewhat flawed, system, and then to imbue that system with cosmic significance."
Publishers Weekly (07/28/1997)
"[While] he could probably have wrapped it all up in a single essay, the show of erudition...will please the fans and certainly speaks to a theme that is moving more and more to center stage....a romp for Gould's wit and intellect..."
Kirkus Reviews (07/15/1997)
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