Book Review: A Geography of Time by Robert V. Levine

This book doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it a sociology textbook, travel guide, history book, or guide to the mysteries of the world? Subtitled "the temporal misadventures of a social psychologist" it veers between hard data and well-worn anecdotes until it becomes a sort of self-help book for the time-poor 1990s American executive.

Despite being well-caveated against the "dangers in making generalization about the characteristics of places" and the dangers of stereotyping, it does do a lot of both! There's an unhealthy obsession with then en-vogue Type A Personality Type and a little bit of over-reliance on anecdotes and just-so stories. Yet, at the same time, the data kind of bears that out. Certain countries and communities do have different concepts of time and this leads to markedly different behaviour.

It doesn't quite go down the Sapir–Whorf path - but there's certainly something about the way cultures refer to chronological concepts which shapes how prompt they are to appointments!

The data are fairly brief and presented only in tabular form. I assume, much like Hawking, they were told data and graphs turn away casual readers. The book is extensively referenced, although there's not much about reproducibility of either their or others' data. It is stuffed with great quotes about the nature of time and how technological developments have wreaked havoc on otherwise idyllic communities. Some of the history stuff is revelatory.

While it does span the world, the book orbits the twin loci of American and its then-archrival Japan. The Japanese economic miracle was in full swing when this book was written and there's some hand-wringing about whether Japanese concepts of time are incommensurate with Western (read American) notions of productivity.

The end section contains eight lessons which can be applied by anyone who is changing country and culture - they're designed to help you mesh with your new community as you adapt to their rhythm of life.

If you're happy with a meandering philosophical Smörgåsbord of ideas, this has plenty to keep you interested. I'm sure it is rather dated now, but it is fascinating to see exactly what value people around the world place on time.