Time Beings

Perfect for fans of The Soul of an Octopus and An Immense World, Time Beings by Jackie Higgins—whose last book was hailed as a “masterpiece of science and nature writing” (The Washington Post)—offers an engaging exploration of time as it might be experienced by different members of the animal kingdom, and what their experiences reveal about our own human perception of time.

We are living through a crisis of time. More people than ever report feeling chronically short of it, with serious repercussions for our wellbeing. Yet what if the animal kingdom could redeem our vexed relationship with time?

In Time Beings, Jackie Higgins shows us what the natural world reveals about life beyond the clock. Each chapter examines how a distinct species—from the blue whale to the dragonfly to the hummingbird—experiences the elusive flow of time, from milliseconds to millennia. With these emissaries from the animal kingdom as her guides, Higgins explores the elasticity of the present, the relativity of internal and external clocks, the mercurial role of memory, and so much more.

From a chorus of glimmering fireflies in the Great Smoky Mountains to a herd of elephants lumbering through the East African savannah, Higgins brings us face to face with the species and the scientists who are transforming our understanding of a fundamental dimension of our universe.

Perspective-shifting, wise, and consoling, Time Beings shows us that time is not some external force controlling us, but an inherent part of every cell in our bodies. Time is ours to reclaim.