There is a charming second hand bookshop, not too far away, that boasts,'No book costs more than £3'. A visit to this Aladdin's Cave regularly unearths a missed gem.
I had never, to the best of my knowledge, heard of Martin Gorst or his book but, it looked interesting and, at £1, I would not be too disappointed were the initial impression to be proved erroneous: it wasn't. I was hooked, from the first few pages where I learned of Bishop Ussher's calculation of the date - and time!- for the start of the World. Should you be interested, it's 6pm on Saturday 22nd October 4004bc. If you want to know how the reverent gentleman came to this conclusion, then you'll have to read the book.
The book then leads one from this early attempt to the latest view upon the age of the Universe. One of the things that impresses me most about this tome, is that Mr Gorst does not ridicule the early attempts at dating this mortal coil, or become too enamoured of the latest efforts. He treats both with the respect, and scepticism, that they deserve, whilst making a novice in the field, such as myself, feel that they have some grasp of the concepts being discussed. I never felt patronized, or bamboozled by the science and, when dealing with a reader as pernickety as myself, that takes some doing.
This is one of those books which leads one to read the science section of the newspaper with renewed interest. ( )