Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown
by Stephen Jay Goulding
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- Excellent/Excellent
- ISBN 10
- 0609605410
- ISBN 13
- 9780609605417
- Seller
-
Lake Dallas, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Not a professional bookseller. This book comes from my family's personal collection.
In 1950 at age eight, prompted by an issue of Life magazine marking the century's midpoint, Stephen Jay Gould started thinking about the approaching turn of the millennium. In this beautiful inquiry into time and its milestones, he shares his interest and insights with his readers. Refreshingly reasoned 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 Jesus 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 really begin: January 1, 2000, or January 1, 2001? (Although seemingly trivial, the debate over this issue tells an intriguing story about the cultural history of the twentieth century.) And why must our calendars be so complex, leading to our search for arbitrary regularity, including a fascination with millennia? This revised edition begins with a new and extensive preface on a key subject not treated in the original version.
In 1950 at age eight, prompted by an issue of Life magazine marking the century's midpoint, Stephen Jay Gould started thinking about the approaching turn of the millennium. In this beautiful inquiry into time and its milestones, he shares his interest and insights with his readers. Refreshingly reasoned 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 Jesus 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 really begin: January 1, 2000, or January 1, 2001? (Although seemingly trivial, the debate over this issue tells an intriguing story about the cultural history of the twentieth century.) And why must our calendars be so complex, leading to our search for arbitrary regularity, including a fascination with millennia? This revised edition begins with a new and extensive preface on a key subject not treated in the original version.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Betty's Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- B01011
- Title
- Questioning the Millennium
- Author
- Stephen Jay Goulding
- Format/Binding
- Like new
- Book Condition
- Used - Excellent
- Jacket Condition
- Excellent
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First - Revised Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0609605410
- ISBN 13
- 9780609605417
- Publisher
- Harmony Books
- Place of Publication
- New York
- This edition first published
- August 24, 1999
- Bookseller catalogs
- Nonfiction;
Terms of Sale
Betty's Books
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About the Seller
Betty's Books
Biblio member since 2019
Lake Dallas, Texas
About Betty's Books
My mother and my grandmother both loved books, so of course I do as well. Being the third generation of a book loving family, my inventory is larger than my home can handle. I have chosen some of the more special books to offer to you in the hope of finding new loving homes for them. Perhaps there is a treasure for which you've been looking, or maybe just an interesting book you would like to read. You may find our names inscribed in some of them. My grandmother's name was Lucy (1900-1987). My mother's name was Betty (1929-2014). And my name is Dinah. I prefer to know these books have been acquired by a fellow book lover, rather than to give them away where their value may not be recognized. For that reason, I intend the prices to be modest, and always negotiable. I'll pass a book along gladly to be cherished again.
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