Faster - the acceleration of just about everything

There are so many self-help books around these days. Visit any serious bookstore, and it is hard to perceive anything you can’t teach yourself over a weekend. Got 24 hours to spend? Teach yourself Spanish. Learn how to build computers. Become an astronaut.

James Gleick isn’t worried about the future of mankind. In fact, he claims that our shortage of time is merely a perception; a way of life which our very society is based upon. Since the Industrial revolution, the value of any human being has drifted from skill and ability to the more simple classification of "how much time can you spare".

Consultants claim that know-how is the real property of the worker. But - perhaps this is a false impression. Rather, if you are able to do more in less time than the next person, you are in some ways a better person, more fit for the job. The quality of your life will depend on your ability to fit everything into your own schedule, and your schedule must have more than 24 hours.

We have become units of months, weeks, hours, days, and in the process we have adapted ourselves to pure multitasking. We talk on the phone while we drink coffee and drive our cars through rush traffic. We read books while we eat while the TV is on.

Perhaps one of the most interesting issues the book raises is that of "timelessness". Everyone can agree that Shakespeare’s works are classics. But why is a Disney movie released last year marketed as one? U2’s latest record is being marketed as a CD with "11 new classics". The entertainment industry churns out one mega-classic after another. And so it is with fashion. We have so little time to adapt new fashions, simply because fashion is modelled after us: one day, jeans. Another, jacket and tie. It is all part of the whirlwind.

Time is what we make of it, Gleick argues. As the book’s title suggests, everything around is moving faster. Speed is the essence of everything. We have started to believe that moving faster and getting things done quicker is the only way to live. This washing detergent removes stains faster. This PC gets your job done quicker. This car gets you there faster.

And here is the key issue: is it true? Are things actually moving faster? Gleick’s answer seems to be yes, and no. It is easy to agree. We can feel the demands of modern living in the pulses of our existence, in our heartbeats and in our stressed minds. Consider how the pace of life has changed over the past 300 years, and ask yourself the question: "are we really working more?" Stress has become a disease for the Western society. But at the same time, we feel a degree of happiness; a sort of pleasure with our own lives. We don’t mind the pace, as long as we don’t sit around with nothing to do.

After all, this book is not a lesson in living. But it is a very interesting lecture on how we perceive the world around us, and how the demands put to us by our work and everyday living has a layer of illusion and restlessness about it.

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