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A horological history of human civilisation, told through twelve world-changing clocks
Since the dawn of civilization, we have kept time. But time has always been against us. From the city sundials of ancient Rome to the era of the smartwatch, clocks have been used throughout history to wield power, make money, govern citizens and keep control.
In About Time, time expert David Rooney tells the story of timekeeping, and how it continues to shape our modern world. Over twelve chapters we discover how clocks have helped us navigate the world, build empires and even taken us to the brink of destruction.
This is the story of time. And the story of time is the story of us.
Author: David Rooney
Hardback Published 28 September 2021 336 pages
'Enthralling and important, About Time takes us deep into the past and far into the future. With David Rooney as personable guide, we peer inside clocks from Kyoto to Cape Town, discovering what they meant to the diverse people who made them, used them, whose lives were ruled by them. . . . This is a gripping and revealing account of time, and humanity's changing relationship with it' -SEB FALK, AUTHOR OF <I>THE LIGHT AGES: THE SURPRISING STORY OF MEDIEVAL SCIENCE
'The measurement of time is a convenience, a jailor, a tyrannical device. David Rooney's delightful and discursive work anatomises that tyranny. Page after page offers up instances of time's ubiquity and its mercurial power to get into the interstices of the everyday'-JONATHAN MEADES