cover image Big Book of Time: A Magical Adventure Through the Seconds, Seasons, and Ligh

Big Book of Time: A Magical Adventure Through the Seconds, Seasons, and Ligh

William Edmonds. Reader's Digest Association, $15.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-0-89577-579-5

In this lively, oversize volume, Edmonds tackles the intangible concept of time--in his words, ``one of the trickiest, most slippery of all ideas.'' Illustrated with Marsden's busy, lighthearted pictures and peppered with anecdotes, historical facts and trivia, the narrative approaches the subject in increments. The reader moves through moments, seconds, hours, weeks, months, decades, centuries, millennia, ages, light years and, finally, ``forever.'' Along the way, Edmonds covers such topics as how individuals throughout history have told time, the world's time zones, the stages of the lunar month, how various seasonal holidays are celebrated, how distances in space are measured and the Big Bang theory. Avoiding complex scientific explanations, the author keeps his language direct and informal (``four weeks, plus a day or so, make up a month''). Kids won't use this book to prepare a school report, but they will find the various tidbits of learning here well worth their time. Ages 7-12. (May)