It's About Time: From Calendars and Clocks to Moon Cycles and Light Years - A History

by Liz Evers

Beautifully packaged, this book examines the people and places behind time's inventions, as well as reveals oodles of quirky facts related to timekeeping From the ice-age recordings of moon cycles and the earliest calendars, to modern wristwatches and quantum clocks, time and its effects have always enthralled mankind. People have spent centuries developing new ways of measuring time, describing it and quantifying it, and such methods have given rise to some of the most technically and aesthetically beautiful devices ever invented. This book is a tribute to timekeeping in its many forms and takes in the most significant creations as well as countless time trivia. Peppered with time-related anecdotes and quotes, this is an essential handbook for anyone fascinated by the fourth dimension.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 25, 2013

About the author

Liz Evers is a writer and editor who has worked in the publishing industry in the UK and Ireland for many years and is the author of several popular reference books on diverse subjects, from Shakespeare to horology. She currently works as a researcher for the Dictionary of Irish Biography and is a graduate of University College Dublin and Dublin City University.

Reviews

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting facts in here, but nowhere near as compelling as it could have been, given the subject matter. A quick read.

[CM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way more basic than expected. Could have saved time and money just browsing the wikipedia pages of "calendars," "clocks," "moon cycles," and "light years." The narrative voice is mildly entertaining, but almost anti-intellectual - on multiple occasions, an expression akin to "this kind of thing is over my head, so this is all I'm going to say about it," which was pretty disappointing. As if an initial interest in a genuinely fascinating topic then turned out to be too much work to research/understand and so was abandoned and glossed over.

[Jim Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you get some nice stuff in the Barnes & Noble bargain bin. I thought this was an interesting book about, well, time: the history of timepieces, how we live in it and think about it. I knew that time moves slower in a moving vehicle and that light takes 8 1/3 minutes to reach us from the Sun. I did not know that the practice of watchmaking is known as horology. Slightly geeky but I learned a lot.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feeling very equipped for my next pub quiz!!

Wish i could give 5 stars for being gifted this bc of my new found interest in clocks after seeing the 'Big Ben' clock room last month.

But 2 stars for a book that unfortunately did not interrogate its own western perspective, and had some odd references to indigenous peoples. Will be on the lookout for more reading on time as a tool in colonialism as a result!!

[Owen Townend · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a trivia book with extra personality from the writer. It's About Time first attracted me with its colourful, well-cogged cover and the fact that a person with the last name 'Evers' saw fit to compile a history of time.

It's approach is scattershot and imprecise (especially where the science is concerned) but I did really enjoy the section about clocks and horology. For instance, did you know that 'clock' derives from the Latin word for 'bell' and that its resultant meaning was first coined for religious purposes? Also that the 'tick, tock' we often hear originates in the escapement, an internal device that causes timepieces to move and lock into place according to set intervals?

I wish this book had been more focused and holistic with its approach but then I found it a quick read and an easy introduction to the background detail of the mysterious measurements of our daily lives.

I recommend this to those interested in learning more about time and indeed those who simply wouldn't mind passing the time this way...

[Adam Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, informative read. Billions of years of history and science packaged up neatly for the layperson. It lost me for a bit towards the end (talk of fast vehicles and pop culture) but won me back with the philosophy.

[Phil Manougian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but it seemed to be a hodgepodge of fun facts and stories rather than an overarching journey of the history of time in culture and science as I was hoping for. Perhaps my hopes were misplaced, but it would have been a nicer way to write the story. Regardless, I did enjoy it.

[Andre Corvera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es un libro que tiene de todo, un popurrí bastante extenso... A veces habla del tiempo como medida y cómo de a poco se buscó, por necesidad, medir el tiempo de forma muy exacta. Habla de eras, habla de viajes en el tiempo, todo muy por arriba y es más para despertar la curiosidad en ciertas áreas y buscar a alguien que concozca del tema y preguntarle. Solo con esto le daría una estrella... La estrella extra es por la edición: fácil de leer con márgenes extensos y letra grande (no es menor cuando se tocan tantos temas tan distintos entre sí), e ilustrado.

[Book Grocer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Purchase It's About Time here for just $8!

Such an interesting and useful little book full of facts, figures and interesting snippets about time and the human obsession with time. Fun read.

Alicia - The Book Grocer

[Ed Burmila · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, fast-moving read that covers a lot of ground. If you're looking for dissertation-level insights into the topics you should obviously find a book that picks a single aspect of this story and focuses on it extensively. But this is a great overview and most importantly it's enjoyable. Set expectations accordingly.

[Eli Kej · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers basic information about how we measure time, development of watches (water clock, flower clock, bird clock ...), how fast money travel or information, a bit about time traveling, wormholes, speed dating, the fastest cars or mammals .... Very interesting 👍

[Mikeh5972 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains much factual and interesting material about concepts of time and how it is measured. Overall it was a bit too superficial.

[magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly informative story about time, clocks and all the history behind it. Great form of organising the info, without being overwhelming and its friendly to read. Great book!

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Historically interesting, though the science aspects are glossed over and at one point incorrect (it takes 8 minutes for light to reach us from the sun, not 8 seconds as the book states)

[Stephen Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a lot of information pertaining to time. It’s very much written for a popular audience. Even people moderately read or experts in this area might enjoy it as some light reading in a familiar field.

I can’t speak on the accuracy of the contents. There weren’t any major red flags that stuck out to me on my read through.

The end of the book has some references but there are not many. There are no footnotes or endnotes.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very little of interest, unless, perhaps, you are about 12 years old

[Russell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Light-weight, occasionally interesting, but generally an unsatisfying read. The book began well, with an engaging overview of the history of timekeeping, but the author essentially shoots herself in the foot by declaring, after a few chapters, that she isn't a scientist, and that technical explanations are beyond her. Had the author explained that "further technical explanations are beyond the scope of this book," it might have sustained some credibility. However, for me, it was like declaring that the author was only interested in curiosities, and though I read to the end of the book, this tip-off was enough to make me notice the frequent errors and over-simplifications. One of the more annoying aspects was that only the northern hemisphere view was covered, with no acknowledgement that seasons and weather patterns are slightly different in places other than North America.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Evers has brought together a series of stories, facts and anecdotes all linked by the common theme of time. From the ancient methods of recording the passing of time with structures such as Stonehenge she brings us right up to date with atomic and quantum clocks.

There are some interesting bits in here, particularly the tales about individuals who have made or invented timepieces. But, it falls flat in lots of ways. She declares that she is not technical at all, just before going onto write about some highly complex things, and there is an awful lot of blank space in here as some facts are on a single page with a fancy border.

More 1.5 stars, bit disappointing really.

[William Schram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting, but it wasn't superlative or amazing or anything. It contains little tidbits and factoids about time and how we measure it. Since time is a pretty wide ranging subject it also includes stuff on fictional time travelers and geological time scales and other such things.

The book is a quick read, and won't take long to digest. Most of the information is introduced in chunks that are easily taken in.

[Darcie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointing read. It was certainly quick, but just as things were getting interesting in a topic, she drops it and moves on to something else. As others have stated, her declaration of "not being a scientist" really turned me off. You don't have to be a scientist to educate yourself on the topics you are writing an entire book about. I was excited to read this as I love learning new things about time, but this just left me hanging.

[Anne Dunham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This provided a thorough-going chronicle of time, in all it's dimensions. A fact-filled book that helped me know many things about how we have come to view the universe. I learned much and had my mind trying to grasp ideas I had never thought of before. It is not hard to read and provides much food for thought. Anyone could glean a lot of new ideas from this book.

[Kevin de Ataíde · Rating 2 out of 5]

For its tediousness and small-minded hostility to religion, I would have set it three-stars. But in the last chapter, the book quotes Eckhard Tolle as an authority on 'spirituality.' So, with a chuckle, I give it two stars. Pop science books...