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Ana's Reviews > A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks
A Brief History of Timekeeping: The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks
by
by
I received a free eARC from the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A Brief History of Timekeeping is a fascinating micro history looking at time keeping from ancient times up to the present. It starts with pre-historic humans keeping track of the seasons for agriculture - when to plant and harvest crops- by using cues taken from the sun and moon (how high the sun is in the sky and lunar phases).
Orzel takes us on a journey, and we see the sweep of history in this book. We get to explore sundials, astronomical sites such as Stonehenge and Mayan buildings, as well as the creation and maintenance of calendars from all over the world. We also look at time keeping devices such as clocks, watches, and electronic devices such as phones. He also explores how the act of keeping time influences culture (like workdays etc).
In general the writing was simple and easy to understand, with sidebars explaining the more technical or theoretical aspects that are more difficult to understand. However, as the book went on these sidebars got longer and longer, and more difficult to understand, especially when he gets into the science of atomic clocks and quantum physics.
Still, this is an excellent overview of human attempts to keep track of time, and despite the pace slowing a bit at the end, I would recommend this to readers who are interested in science, history, timekeeping, and micro-histories.
A Brief History of Timekeeping is a fascinating micro history looking at time keeping from ancient times up to the present. It starts with pre-historic humans keeping track of the seasons for agriculture - when to plant and harvest crops- by using cues taken from the sun and moon (how high the sun is in the sky and lunar phases).
Orzel takes us on a journey, and we see the sweep of history in this book. We get to explore sundials, astronomical sites such as Stonehenge and Mayan buildings, as well as the creation and maintenance of calendars from all over the world. We also look at time keeping devices such as clocks, watches, and electronic devices such as phones. He also explores how the act of keeping time influences culture (like workdays etc).
In general the writing was simple and easy to understand, with sidebars explaining the more technical or theoretical aspects that are more difficult to understand. However, as the book went on these sidebars got longer and longer, and more difficult to understand, especially when he gets into the science of atomic clocks and quantum physics.
Still, this is an excellent overview of human attempts to keep track of time, and despite the pace slowing a bit at the end, I would recommend this to readers who are interested in science, history, timekeeping, and micro-histories.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
January 9, 2022
– Shelved
