Tempus Edax Rerum Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick

by Jeff Gainer

Those who could stand to learn the most from James Gleick's Faster: The Acceleration of Just about Everything are those least likely to read it, let alone learn anything from it. It is unfortunate that Faster is a book that can be read, well -- quickly. It brings to mind Francis Bacon's observation that there are three kinds of books. In the first category are those ephemeral books that need only to be tasted. Then there are more significant tomes that should be swallowed. Finally, there is the third, more rarefied, category of books that should be chewed and thoroughly digested. Faster belongs to the third category, but the paradox is that the digestion of a book -- reflecting on and analyzing its ideas -- requires unhurried time.