Overview

Stephen Jay Gould examines the phenomenon of the millennium. He looks at the origins of the term in the Biblical prophecies of the Book of Revelation - if the six ages of man date from 4000BC, will 2000AD signify the end of time? Gould describes how the meaning of the word has evolved to its present day usage and tackles the debate over whether the millennium ends in 1999 or at the end of 2000AD. He also questions the human compulsion to impose our time-schemes on the universe and wonders how far can we go in applying our mathematical principles to nature. Existing methods of calculating time are all flawed to some extent and yet the complexities of lunar months, leap years, and the calculation of dates such as Easter, are part and parcel of our fascination with calendrics as both a hobby and an occupation.

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The author believes that the history of the last 2000 years can be seen as a progression from believing in an imminent glorious new world to counting the present through a calendar unit of a thousand years. In the course of outlining the eclipse of a supernatural millennium to a secular one, Gould takes the opportunity to debunk a lot of nonsense. By far the best thing in the book is a moving description of how and why autistic people are able instantly to tell you the relevant day of the week for any given historical date. (Kirkus UK)

With a humorous Everyman approach, Gould juggles a mind-boggling array of various calendrical concepts as he explains why creating a reliable calendar was one of man's greatest struggles. Whether nailing down the precise date of the birth of Christ or airing his suspicion that God is a New York Yankees fan, Gould teaches rather than preaches.--Daneet Steffens Entertainment Weekly

Gould's personal interest is as exuberant and authentic as ever, and one good reason for it is offered by an epilogue which both fascinates and touches, and is best left as a surprise. -- Michael Viney * Irish Times * Gould not only enriches the texture of his writing with each successive phase...He would not be the great science writer that he is if he were not also a great humanist. -- Marek Kohn * New Statesman * Questioning the Millenium tackles our eternal fascination with round-numbered years from a whole range of historical, philosophical and scientific viewpoints...If you are going to buy one millennial stocking filler, but this one. -- David Jessel * Scotland on Sunday * The approach of the millenium elicits all those responses in Stephen Jay Gould which make him today's finest spokesman for the joys of science. The rationalist in him is horrified yet fascinated by the tradition of Apocalypse soon prophecies...What is clear from this splendid book - crisp, clever and chirpy as ever - is that Stephen Jay Gould will go down as one of the real turns of the century. -- Roy Porter * Independent *

What?, When?, and Why? are the titles Gould gives to the three short essays probing humankind's fascination with thousand-year intervals. He could probably have wrapped it all up in a single essay, but the show of erudition (one can picture Gould poring over ancient texts in Harvard libraries) will please the fans and certainly speaks to a theme that is moving more and more to center stage. What? asks why we are so fascinated with numbers, the ordering of things, and dichotomies, with Gould observing that we have moved from a belief that Christ will reign over a bountiful 1,000 years following an apocalypse to the calendric concept that at some turning of the centuries there will be a thousand-year time span that may precede an apocalypse. There really are no hard answers; Gould even states that the human brain surely did not evolve to do this kind of reckoning. When? deals with whether the 21st century begins Jan. 1, 2000, or Jan. 1, 2001. The conundrum is all the fault of a sixth-century monk who started the B.C./A.D. business but omitted a year zero. To make matters worse, Herod died in 4 B.C., so if he were contemporaneous with Jesus, revision is necessary (and accounts for Archbishop James Ussher's famous start date for the universe of 4004 B.c.). Finally, Why? returns to the issue of why mankind is obsessed with order, endowing God or nature with mathematical precision. Truth is, there is no compatibility in lunar and solar cycles, and all cultures have struggled to develop calendars to make the seasons fall where they should. All this would be a romp for Gould's wit and intellect save for a final discussion on individuals classed as autistic or retarded but who can instantaneously calculate the day of the week for a given date over centuries. Readers will be moved by Gould's personal account of the process and the person involved. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Stephen Jay Gould is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology and Professor of Geology at Harvard University, and the Curator for Invertebrate Palaeontology in the University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His publications include Eight Little Piggies, Wonderful Life, Ever Since Darwin, The Panda's Thumb, Dinosaur in a Haystack and, most recently, Life's Grandeur.

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