Timekeepers. How the world became obsessed by time

Garfield, Simon

ISBN 10: 1782113193 / ISBN 13: 9781782113195

Published by Canongate Books, Edinburgh, 2016

About this Item

Octavo Size [approx 14x22cm]. Near Fine condition in a Near Fine Dustjacket. Dustjacket now protected in our purpose-made clear archival plastic sleeve. An excellent copy. Black & white illustrations. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. 349 pages. Seller Inventory # 326807

Bibliographic Details

Title: Timekeepers. How the world became obsessed ...

Publisher: Canongate Books, Edinburgh

Publication Date: 2016

Binding: Hardback

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Edition: 1st Edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

Not 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.

Review:

Simon Garfield is like the schoolteacher who made the time fly, a one-man Blue Peter team for intelligent adults, a great British explainer * Observer * His great strength is his storytelling * Independent on Sunday * Garfield has a genius for being sparked to life by esoteric enthusiasm and charming readers with his delight * The Times * --The Times