About Time
A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
'An utterly dazzling book, the best piece of history I have read for a long time' Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps
'Not merely an horologist's delight, but an ingenious meditation on the nature and symbolism of time-keeping itself' Richard Holmes
The measurement of time has always been essential to human civilization, from early Roman sundials to the advent of GPS. But while we have one eye on the time every day, are we aware of the power clocks have given governments, military leaders and business owners, and how they have shaped our lives and our world?
In this spectacularly far-reaching book, David Rooney narrates a history of timekeeping and civilization in twelve concise chapters. Over their course, we meet the most epochal inventions in horological history, from medieval water clocks to Renaissance hourglasses, and from stock-exchange timestamps to satellites in Earth's orbit. We discover how clocks have helped people navigate the globe and build empires, but also, on occasion, taken us to the brink of destruction.
This is the story of time, and the story of time is the story of us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rooney, the former curator of timekeeping at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, debuts with a rich survey of how timekeeping has shaped human history. Beginning with the first city sundial mounted in ancient Rome in 263 BCE, Rooney argues that clocks have been used to control behavior and secure power. Built in 1611, Amsterdam's Stock Exchange Clock contributed to the "birth of modern capitalism" by tolling the city's "short, fixed trading hours," which increased trade volume and helped keep prices fair. In the 1830s, British astronomers at the Cape of Good Hope observatory in South Africa helped ships set their navigational instruments to time by firing a pistol and dropping a "time ball" from the top of a wooden mast ("an act of imperial timekeeping shot over the heads of the African people who were being displaced from their land and robbed of their freedom and humanity"). In the late 19th century, a new U.S.-based manufacturing system built on interchangeable parts and specialist machines brought the British clockmaking industry to its knees before revolutionizing manufacturing around the world. Rooney is an enthusiastic and well-informed guide, and doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the story. Readers will gain newfound appreciation for what it means to keep the time.
