Timekeepers; How the World Became Obsessed With Time by Simon Garfield
Summary: SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE BOOK OF THE
YEAR 2016
OBSERVER SCIENCE BOOK OF THE
YEAR 2016Not so long ago we timed our lives by the movement of the sun. These days our time arrives atomically and insistently, and our lives are propelled by the notion that we will never have enough of the one thing we crave the most. How have we come to be dominated by something so arbitrary?
The compelling stories in this book explore our obsessions with time. An Englishman arrives back from Calcutta but refuses to adjust his watch. Beethoven has his symphonic wishes ignored. A moment of war is frozen forever. The timetable arrives by steam train. A woman designs a ten-hour clock and reinvents the calendar. Roger Bannister becomes stuck in the same four minutes forever. A British watchmaker competes with mighty Switzerland. And a prince attempts to stop time in its tracks.
Timekeepers is a vivid exploration of the ways we have perceived, contained and saved time over the last 250 years, narrated in the highly inventive and entertaining style that bestselling author Simon Garfield is fast making his own. As managing time becomes the greatest challenge we face in our lives, this multi-layered history helps us tackle it in a sparkling new light.
Angie’s comments: An interesting read about how our cultural perception of time has
changed in the last few hundred years. Once I read this book, I was able to
look at time differently. This book isn’t focused on the science of time, but
on the cultural view of time.
Recommended for readers interested in history,
culture, and time.
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