Lecturer and broadcaster Claudia Hammond's Time Warped: Unlocking the Mysteries of Time Perception continues a great year for brain books (The Power of Habit and Wait being only a few examples). Hammond’s exploration of our perception and construction of time produces some surprising observations about just how elastic and malleable time can be. She explains how time changes speed, how we measure it, and its role in memory and thinking about the future through stories about glider pilots in free fall to scientists secluded for months in caves. Hammond also makes interesting observations about cultural constructions of time; reflecting their respective written languages, most Westerners picture time moving from left to right, while Chinese tend to describe it moving up and down. This was an easy book to relate to because we all experience time and intuitively understand that it can drag, pass by too quickly, or simply warp. Hammond explains that these perceptions are normal and suggests coping strategies. If you're like me and have the occasional (although my wife would say frequent) confusion about time, then you'll certainly enjoy Time Warped.

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