clock — watching time, the only true currency

Daylight Savings Time provided an excuse for the New York Times to run the Op-Ed column Time Out Of Mind a couple of weeks ago. The author, Stefan Klein, blends scientific studies and literary references to remind us that measuring time leads to changed perceptions of same. Stress and mistakes are also common for those who worry about “wasting” time.

Studies have shown the alarming extent of the problem: office workers are no longer able to stay focused on one specific task for more than about three minutes, which means a great loss of productivity. The misguided notion that time is money actually costs us money.

Hmmm. Klein is a science journalist, writing in German, but his book “The Secret Pulse of Time: Making Sense of Life’s Scarcest Commodity” has been translated into English. On my list now, even if Klein missed the chance to steal part of this blog’s title.