Description
Book SynopsisAn approachable, accessible history of timekeeping and the impact of the increasing precision and accuracy of time on humanity. Western culture has been obsessed with regulating society by the precise, accurate measurement of time since the Middle Ages. In On Time, Ken Mondschein explores the paired development of concepts and technologies of timekeeping with human thought. Without clocks, he argues, the modern world as we know it would not exist. From the astronomical timekeeping of the ancient world to the tower clocks of the Middle Ages to the seagoing chronometer, the quartz watch, and the atomic clock, greater precision and accuracy have had profound effects on human societywhich, in turn, has driven the quest for further precision and accuracy. This quest toward automationwhich gave rise to the Gregorian calendar, the factory clock, and even the near-disastrous Y2K bughas led to profound social repercussions and driven the creation of the modern scientific mindset. Surveying th
Trade ReviewThat
On Time is interactive is certainly a bonus. Mondschein provides activities, or exercises, to bring alive the abstract concepts and scientific observations he describes in each chapter—a fabulous idea that should be more widely adopted if a subject lends itself to this type of experimentation.
—Esther Liberman Cuenca, University of Houston, Victoria,
Speculumengaging book
—J. Lennart Berggren,
The CompendiumTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Foreword, by Neal Stephenson
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Scholars and Spheres
Chapter 2. Cities and Clocks
Chapter 3. Savants and Springs
Chapter 4. Navigators and Regulators
Chapter 5. Rationalization and Relativity
Appendix. Chapter Exercises
Glossary
Notes
Suggested Further Reading
Index
