The Order of Time

* Grammatical note: The word “time” has several meanings linked to each other but distinct from one another: 1. “Time” is the general phenomenon of the succession of events (“The inaudible and noiseless foot of time”); 2. “Time” indicates an interval in this succession (“To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, /Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, /To the last syllable of recorded time”); or 3. its duration (“O gentlemen, the time of life is short”); 4. “Time” can also indicate a particular moment (“Time will come and take my love away”; often the current one (“The time is out of joint”); 6. “Time” indicates the variable that measures duration (“Acceleration is the derivative of speed with respect to time”). In this book, I employ each of these meanings freely, just as in common usage. In case of any confusion, please refer back to this note.