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Author: Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
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Book Description
Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar? The organisation of time into hours, days, months and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than most people realise. The French Revolution resulted in a restructuring of the French calendar, and the Soviet Union experimented with five and then six-day weeks. Leofranc Holford-Strevens explores these questions using a range of fascinating examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year, to the 1920s' project for a fixed Easter. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191578002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Get Book Here
Book Description
Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar? The organisation of time into hours, days, months and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than most people realise. The French Revolution resulted in a restructuring of the French calendar, and the Soviet Union experimented with five and then six-day weeks. Leofranc Holford-Strevens explores these questions using a range of fascinating examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year, to the 1920s' project for a fixed Easter. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
Author: John Arnold
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
ISBN: 019285352X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 152
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Book Description
Starting with an examination of how historians work, this "Very Short Introduction" aims to explore history in a general, pithy, and accessible manner, rather than to delve into specific periods.
Author: Paul S. Boyer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199911657
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182
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Book Description
This volume in Oxford's A Very Short Introduction series offers a concise, readable narrative of the vast span of American history, from the earliest human migrations to the early twenty-first century when the United States loomed as a global power and comprised a complex multi-cultural society of more than 300 million people. The narrative is organized around major interpretive themes, with facts and dates introduced as needed to illustrate these themes. The emphasis throughout is on clarity and accessibility to the interested non-specialist.
Author: Jenann Ismael
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191871238
Category : PHILOSOPHY
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Time: A Very Short Introduction explores questions about the nature of time that have been at the heart of philosophical thinking since its beginnings: questions like whether time has a beginning or end, whether and in what sense time passes, how time is different from space, whether time has a direction, and whether it is possible to travel in time. These questions passed into the hands of scientists with the work of Isaac Newton when the structure of space and time became connected to motion and included the subject matter of physics. This VSI charts the way that the history of physics, from Isaac Newton through Albert Einstein's two revolutions, wrought changes to the conception of time. There are parts of physics that are in a state of confusion, but this strand of development is a story of philosophical illumination and conceptual beauty. The discussion here provides an opportunity to see what distinguishes the methods of physics from those of philosophy. It brings together physics, cognitive science, and phenomenology in the service of reconciling what modern theories tell us about the nature of time with the everyday living experience of time.
Author: Gary Thomas
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199643261
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 161
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Book Description
From the schools of ancient times to the present day, Gary Thomas looks at how and why education evolved as it has. By exploring some of the big questions, he examines the ways in which schools work, considers the differences around the world, and concludes by considering the future of education worldwide.
Author: John Parker
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192802488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 185
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Book Description
Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.
Author: William F. Bynum
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019921543X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 185
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Book Description
Against the backdrop of unprecedented concern for the future of health care, this i Very Short Introduction/i surveys the history of medicine from classical times to the present. Focussing on the key turning points in the history of Western medicine - such as the advent of hospitals and the rise of experimental medicine - but also offering reflections on alternative traditions such as Chinese medicine, Bill Bynum offers insights into medicine's past, while at the same time engaging with contemporary issues, discoveries, and controversies.
Author: Michael J. Benton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199226326
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185
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Book Description
This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct and accessible guide to the key episodes in the story of life on earth - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today.
Author: G. Edward White
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199766002
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 168
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Book Description
A concise examination of the central role of legal decisions in shaping key social issues explores topics ranging from Native American affairs and slavery to business and home life as well as how criminal and civil offenses have been addressed in positive and negative ways. Original.
Author: Michael Hoskin
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191577731
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 136
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Book Description
Astronomy, perhaps the first of the sciences, was already well developed by the time of Christ. Seventeen centuries later, after Newton showed that the movements of the planets could be explained in terms of gravitation, it became the paradigm for the mathematical sciences. In the nineteenth century the analysis of star-light allowed astrophysicists to determine both the chemical composition and the radial velocities of celestial bodies, while the development of photography enabled distant objects invisible to the human eye, to be studied and measured in comfort. Technical developments during and since the Second World War have greatly enlarged the scope of the science by permitting the study of radiation. This is a fascinating introduction to the history of Western astronomy, from prehistoric times to the origins of astrophysics in the mid-nineteenth century. Historical records are first found in Babylon and Egypt, and after two millennia the arithmetical astronomy of the Babylonians merged with the Greek geometrical approach to culminate in the Almagest of Ptolemy. This legacy was transmitted to the Latin West via Islam, and led to Copernicus's claim that the Earth is in motion. In justifying this Kepler converted astronomy into a branch of dynamics, leading to Newton's universal law of gravity. The book concludes with eighteenth- and nineteenth-century applications of Newton's law, and the first explorations of the universe of stars. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
