Thoughts on time

We talk about time all the time, and it's one of the nouns we use the most. Yet we have a very limited understanding of what time actually is, and it's hard for us to explain it. We have become infinitely more adept at measuring time and have agreed on common global standards for time. It has proven extremely useful in shaping our personal and professional lives, and is fundamental to a range of technological innovations, communication, transportation and much more.But time is also a source of frustration and stress - we never have enough time in our busy lives, we fret about our biological clock ticking away, and we worry about the lack of long-term thinking by decision-makers. But what if we could preserve the good aspects of time and learn to manage the bad by gaining a better understanding of what time really is? This book looks at the concept of time through 10 different lenses including literature, art, philosophy, religion, history, business and biology. The aim is to give the reader a better understanding of time and to illustrate the benefits of overcoming our self-inflicted bad time habits.

JACOB DAHL is a senior partner emeritus at McKinsey & Co. and a board member and investor. He holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Copenhagen, has worked as a management consultant for 26 years and has lived in Denmark, Europe, Africa and Asia with his wife and four children. Jacob has always been very interested in history, philosophy and physics.