Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World, Revised and Enlarged Edition - Softcover

Landes, David S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674002822 ISBN 13: 9780674002821

Publisher: Belknap Press, 2000

Synopsis

More than a decade after the publication of his dazzling book on the cultural, technological, and manufacturing aspects of measuring time and making clocks, David Landes has significantly expanded Revolution in Time.

In a new preface and scores of updated passages, he explores new findings about medieval and early-modern time keeping, as well as contemporary hi-tech uses of the watch as mini-computer, cellular phone, and even radio receiver or television screen. While commenting on the latest research, Landes never loses his focus on the historical meaning of time and its many perceptions and uses, questions that go beyond history, that involve philosophers and possibly, theologians and literary folk as well.

About this title

About the Author

David S. Landes is Coolidge Professor of History and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Harvard University, and the author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.

Review

Reviews of the previous edition: A wonderful book...It's richly detailed and illustrated, extremely informative, and thoroughly enjoyable. (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

Probably the most widely praised book ever written about the history of timekeeping, this book offers an encyclopedic and colorful account of time measurement from the first weight-driven clocks of the Middle Ages to the atomic clocks of today. (American Time 2000-12-01)

The book is a pleasure to read, for the quality of the author's thinking, for the slightly acid perceptiveness of his observations, and for the often enchanting aptness of his quotations and examples. (E. J. Hobsbawm New York Review of Books)

Stunning...Revolution in Time fairly radiates the author's own delight. Like the classic clocks it so lovingly describes, it is an exhilarating monument to human ingenuity. (Jim Miller Newsweek)

[Landes] has an eye for the odd, amusing detail and manages to convey a great enthusiasm for his subject...His book contains a wealth of piquant information that left me musing when I closed it. (Tracy Kidder New York Times Book Review)

The text scintillates with wise and witty aphorisms...Landes notes that clocks are the product of "ingenuity, craftsmanship, artistry and elegance": so is this book. (David Cannadine London Review of Books)

David Landes is a splendid storyteller...The book abounds with anecdotes about people, not only those who made the clocks and watches but also those who bought and used them...Without doubt, this book will become a standard work in the history of timekeeping--and it's also fun to read. (Derek Howse Washington Post)

Edition details

• Publisher: Belknap Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0674002822
• ISBN 13: 9780674002821
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 544