Speed Limits: Where Time Went and Why We Have So Little Left

A contemplation on “the durability of our fast-tracked, multitasked modern world . . . a stimulating cautionary report for the digital age.”—Kirkus Reviews We live in an ever-accelerating world: faster computers, markets, food, fashion, product cycles, minds, bodies, kids, lives. When did everything start moving so fast? Why does speed seem so inevitable? Is faster always better?

Drawing together developments in religion, philosophy, art, technology, fashion, and finance, Mark C. Taylor presents an original and rich account of a great paradox of our times: how the very forces and technologies that were supposed to free us by saving time and labor now trap us in a race we can never win. The faster we go, the less time we have, and the more we try to catch up, the farther behind we fall. Connecting our speed-obsession with today’s global capitalism, he composes a grand narrative showing how commitments to economic growth and extreme competition, combined with accelerating technological innovation, have brought us close to disaster. Psychologically, environmentally, economically, and culturally, speed is taking a profound toll on our lives.

By showing how the phenomenon of speed has emerged, Taylor offers us a chance to see our pace of life as the product of specific ideas, practices, and policies. It’s not inevitable or irreversible. He courageously and movingly invites us to imagine how we might patiently work towards a more deliberative life and sustainable world.

“With panache and flashes of brilliance, Taylor, a Columbia University religion professor and cultural critic, offers a philosophically astute analysis of how time works in our era.” —Publishers Weekly

© 2014 Yale University Press (Ebook): 9780300210187

Release date

Ebook: October 28, 2014