Fraser's first major work on time,1 published in 1966, led me to anticipate that this volume would be stimulating and scholarly, but its excellence exceeded my expectation. It is a beautifully written, thought-compelling presentation of the evolution of Fraser's theory of 'time as conflict'. The reader is treated to a critical review of the author's thirty-year study of the subject, a study that ranged from classical philosophy and religion to modern science and art. The great poets who had much to say about time are represented by numerous quotations in the text.

The book defies simple categorization. It is, among other things, an incisive affirmation of the complexity of knowledge in general, and of the human brain and mind in particular—an antidote against the current plague of reductionist, eclecticist, and faddist prescriptions for personal and social problems. Fraser's orientation is indicated by the following statement: