Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar - Hardcover

Steel, Duncan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471298271 ISBN 13: 9780471298274

Publisher: Trade Paper Press, 1999

Synopsis

If you lie awake worrying about the overnight transition from December 31, 1 b.c., to January 1, a.d. 1 (there is no year zero), then you will enjoy Duncan Steel's Marking Time.--American Scientist

""No book could serve as a better guide to the cumulative invention that defines the imaginary threshold to the new millennium.""--Booklist

A Fascinating March through History and the Evolution of the Modern-Day Calendar . . .

In this vivid, fast-moving narrative, you'll discover the surprising story of how our modern calendar came about and how it has changed dramatically through the years. Acclaimed author Duncan Steel explores each major step in creating the current calendar along with the many different systems for defining the number of days in a week, the length of a month, and the number of days in a year. From the definition of the lunar month by Meton of Athens in 432 b.c. to the roles played by Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, and Isaac Newton to present-day proposals to reform our calendar, this entertaining read also presents ""timely"" tidbits that will take you across the full span of recorded history. Find out how and why comets have been used as clocks, why there is no year zero between 1 b.c. and a.d. 1, and why for centuries Britain and its colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th. Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the haphazard nature of our calendar's development. Once you've read this eye-opening book, you'll never look at the calendar the same way again.

About this title

About the Author

DUNCAN STEEL, PhD, is a space researcher who works on the dynamics of solar system objects. He has a special interest in the astronomical bases of the calendar. He teaches and directs a space research program at the University of Salford in Manchester, England. He has appeared on numerous TV shows and documentaries, including the Discovery Channel’s Emmy-winning Three Minutes to Impact.

From the Back Cover

Did you know? . . .

• Russia?s October Revolution in 1917 actually occurred on November 7th
• For centuries, Britain and the colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th
• The Roman Empire originally observed an eight-day week
• The anno Domini (a.d.) year-counting system is wrong, and Jesus? birth actually occurred some years before December 25, 1 b.c.

These are just a few of the little-known facts that you will find in acclaimed author Duncan Steel?s eye-opening chronicle of the evolution of the calendar, Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar.

Steel takes you across the full span of recorded history, behind the seismic shifts within politics, religion, and science, and examines the ways in which people and events forged the calendar that we have today. Starting with Stonehenge and the first written records of the year and the day by the Sumerians around 3500 b.c., Marking Time charts the calendar?s ever-changing, erratic trajectory?from the Egyptians? reliance on the star Sirius to the numbering of the years, linked to the celebration of Easter in Christian churches.

You will also gain insight into:

• The mystery of the missing ten days
• The Venerable Bede and the origins of the anno Domini dating system
• How and why comets have been used as clocks
• Julius Caesar?s 445-day-long Year of Confusion
• Why there is no year zero between 1 b.c. and 1 a.d.
• Whether the year 2100 should be a double-leap year

A provocative history lesson and a unique, entertaining read rolled into one, Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the random, hit-or-miss nature of our calendar?s development?a quality that parallels the growth of civilization itself. What results is a truthful, and, above all, very human view of the calendar as we know it. After reading Marking Time, you will never look at the calendar the same way again.

What are the origins of the years, months, and days that give our lives their familiar rhythm?

In Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar, astronomer and acclaimed author Duncan Steel marches through human history to deliver a fascinating, milestone-by-milestone look at how the modern-day calendar came to be. From the definition of the lunar month by Meton of Athens in 432 b.c., through present-day proposals to reform our calendar, Steel captures the often-flawed but always fascinating story of the calendar?s evolution.

Here, you will discover fun facts and surprising anecdotes as the author visits with some of the seminal figures of the past?Julius Caesar, William the Conqueror, and Benjamin Franklin among them?as well as some lesser-known names, all of whom left an indelible mark on how we record time. You will also gain an in-depth look at the role science, astronomy, religion, politics, and even war played in various calendrical systems, including the one hanging on your wall. Open up a copy of Marking Time and, as the author puts it, "read, puzzle, and enjoy."

"Guaranteed to satisfy the appetite of interested lay readers for all the facts. Gourmet reading!" ? Library Journal on Steel?s Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets

From the Inside Flap

"Our various calendars are part of the music and art of life, not stark science." —Duncan Steel Did you know?…

• Russia’s October Revolution in 1917 actually occurred on November 7th
• For centuries, Britain and the colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th
• The Roman Empire originally observed an eight-day week
• The anno Domini (A.D.) year-counting system is wrong, and Jesus’ birth actually occurred some years before December 25, I B.C.

These are just a few of the little-known facts that you will find in acclaimed author Duncan Steel’s eye-opening chronicle of the evolution of the calendar, Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. Steel takes you across the full span of recorded history, behind the seismic shifts within politics., religion, and science, and examines the ways in which people and events forged the calendar that we have today. Starting with Stonehenge and the first written records of the year and the day by the Sumerians around 3500 B.C., Marking Time charts the calendar’s ever-changing, erratic trajectory—from the Egyptians’ reliance on the star Sirius to the numbering of the years, linked to the celebration of Easter in Christian churches. You will also gain insight into:

• The mystery of the missing ten days
• The Venerable Bede and the origins of the anno Domini dating system
• How and why comets have been used as clocks
• Julius Caesar’s 445-day-long Year of Confusion
• Why there is no year zero between I B.C. and I A.D.
• Whether the year 2100 should be a double-leap year

A provocative history lesson and a unique, entertaining read rolled into one, Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the random, hit-or-miss nature of our calendar’s development—a quality that parallels the growth of civilization itself. What results is a truthful, and, above all, very human view of the calendar as we know it. After reading Marking Time, you will never look at the calendar the same way again.

Reviews

Australian astronomer Steel (Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets) appears to have packed three disparate books into this single volume: a general history of the development of the calendar system, a more advanced version larded with astronomical information for the science buff or professional, and a reassessment of why England settled the mid-Atlantic coast of North America. According to Steel, Elizabeth I's colonization activities were part of her maneuvering against Pope Gregory XIII. Well aware of the Gregorian calendar's flaws, English scientists thought that if they developed a superior calendar, it would help effect a rapprochement with European nations fence-sitting in the quarrel between London and Rome. Possession of territory on the 77th meridian, in the vicinity of what is now Washington, D.C., was crucial, because English calendar reformers considered it to be "God's longitude." Steel's account of this grand, somewhat daft scheme makes an intriguing study in its own right, yet it gets lost amid a tangle of unrelated facts. He advances other interesting theories with abundant background information to back them up: that Jesus was born in April 5 B.C.E. and that there was no room at the inn because it was Passover, not because of an empire-wide census; that the Star of Bethlehem was a comet; and that some major celestial event occurred around 3000 to 4000 B.C.E. because so many of the world's calendar systems began around that time. Steel seems to have never met an interesting fact he didn't like to repeat, and this unfortunate habit bogs down an otherwise excellent study of calendar systems. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A topical but pedantic study of how our calendar's development has owed as much to human choice as scientific precision. Australian astronomer Steel (Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets, 1995) explains the origins of the Western calendar. It's a story of incremental change, with contributions from such famous figures as Julius Caesar, The Venerable Bede, Pope Gregory XIII, and Isaac Newton. Steel contends that our ``imperfect'' calendar is a product of ``the intricacies of astronomy, history, and human foibles.'' Other civilizations have chosen different calendars. The ancient Egyptians, for example, based their calendar on the flooding of the Nile. Islamic nations use the moon. By necessity, Steel's narrative is as much about history as science. We learn that Julius Caesar decreed the 365-day year and divided it into months. Alas, the Julian calendar created problems because it was slightly too long. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decreed the Gregorian calendar, which deleted ten days from the old system. Some Protestant nations, like England, rejected the Gregorian calendar until the 18th century. While astronomers will find Steel's narrative lucid, the non-scientist can expect some heavy lifting. For example, Steel tells us that the ancient Greek astronomer Callippus ``suggested that the year should be precisely 365.25 days long on average, and invented a cycle of 4 X 19 = 76 years from which one day was deleted, the 76 years thus lasting for (4 X 6,940) - 1 = 27,759 days spread over 940 months.'' This sort of sentence is sure to try the non-mathematicians' patience. That said, Steel provides some fascinating history, such as how daylight savings time originated as a wartime necessity and how Greenwich Mean Time became the universal standard. With the year 2000 on the horizon, Steel hits the shelves at an opportune time; unfortunately, the general reader will have to look elsewhere for a more accessible history of our often illogical calendar. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Edition details

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471298271
• ISBN 13: 9780471298274
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432