'An utterly dazzling book the best piece of history I have read for a long time' Jerry Brotton
author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps 'Not merely an horologist's delight but an
ingenious meditation on the nature and symbolism of time-keeping itself' Richard Holmes The
measurement of time has always been essential to human civilization from early Roman sundials
to the advent of GPS. But while we have one eye on the time every day are we aware of the
power clocks have given governments military leaders and business owners and how they have
shaped our lives and our world? In this spectacularly far-reaching book David Rooney narrates
a history of timekeeping and civilization in twelve concise chapters. Over their course we
meet the most epochal inventions in horological history from medieval water clocks to
Renaissance hourglasses and from stock-exchange timestamps to satellites in Earth's orbit. We
discover how clocks have helped people navigate the globe and build empires but also on
occasion taken us to the brink of destruction. This is the story of time and the story of
time is the story of us.
