The Book of Time
Time is not something we can see, or grasp. Time is not even linear (or is it?). When is the present over, or why does time feels like it's passing faster as we grow older? The book of time tries to to explain what time is through scientific and journalist articles, images, tables and infographics by giving the reader a chance to experience time differently while reading it.
The book is divided into 3 chapters: The history of time, Division of time and Human perception. Each chapter has a predominant color according to their themes. The first one is black; the second, yellow; the last one, white. As the book spine is visible, we can see this division clearer by looking at it. Each chapter also provides the reader a different experience of time. On the first one, we travel trough space; the second, through time in human scale; and the last one is organized from a social point of view.
The dust cover is also a foldable timeline covering all the history of the universe, according to scientists. On the front, we have the past events that are divided into two categories: animal and human life, the universe. On the back we have the events that are expected to happen in the future, like the end of the human life on Earth. By reading the dust cover, we can see the passing of time in a scale that we are not used to and notice how old the universe actually is.
"A certain period during which something is done. What clocks mesure. A linear continuum of instants. A continuum that lacks spatial dimensions. The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole. What prevents everything from happening at once".
The History of Time
Mythologies
Contemporary theories of time
Big Bang
Dark energy, dark matter
Black holes
The string theory
Theory of relativity
Light travel
Modern philosophy
B theory
Arrow time
Quantum time
Time travel
Absolute time
For the first chapter we wanted the reader to feel like traveling through space. Since the Big Bang is the beginning of time, that's where our journey begins. First we go through the explosion, the creation of the universe, then we travel through the planets (its distances and sizes are in scale) and finally through a worm hole.
Division of Time
Measurement of time
Time measuring devices
Time visualization
The origin of calendars
Calendars
Events around the world
Time Standarlization
Time zones
Daylight saving time
Workshifts
In the first chapter we travel through space, in a scale we're not used to. On the second we experience time as we actually do in our lives. The chapter begins with hours, days, weeks, growing into months and years, each mark represented by lines on the pages. As we browse through these first pages, we can have a better grasp of time by seeing it in a smaller scale.
This chapter focus on the different ways we use to make time visible and understandable, either by using clocks, calendars, charts or timetables.
Human Perception
Societies
How different cultures understand time
How different cultures view time
Time in art
Ageing
Why time passes faster as you age
How do humans age in space?
Small animals live in a slow motion world
Tribes
How we make sense of time
Brazil Pirahã Tribe
Andes Tribe
Papua New Guinea Tribe
The Hopi Indian Tribe
Experiments
Where did the time go? Don't ask the brain
Explorer who discovered human time warp by living in a cave
The fluidity of time
1995 feels so close yet so far
The last chapter talks about time from a human and social point of view. As it's the chapter with the largest number of images, tables and infographics, the predominant color of the pages is white, making it easier to read them.
This book is an academic project developed within the MA in Communication Design at Escola Superior de Artes e Design (ESAD). Compiled, edited and designed by Joana Fernandes, Minna Miná, Teresa Marques and Tessa Spierings under the supervision of Professor Andrew Howard.
