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Timekeepers / Simon Garfield.

by Garfield, Simon

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Canongate, c2016.

Time perception.

9781782113195 (hc)

1782113193 (hc)

Alternate title:

Timekeepers : how the world became obsessed with time

349 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 332-335) and index.

Introduction: Very, very early or very, very late -- The accident of time. Leaving the ground ; The shortness of life and how to live it -- How the French messed up the calendar -- The invention of the timetable. The fastest thing you ever did see ; Was ever tyranny more monstrous? -- The Beet goes on. The way to play the Ninth ; Just how long should a CD be? ; Revolver -- How much talking is too much talking?. In the time of Moses ; Talking it over -- Movie time. How you get to the clock ; Oncoming train -- Horology. Part one, How to make a watch. A very difficult floor ; Just what is it about the Swiss? -- Roger Bannister goes round and round -- Vietnam. Napalm. Girl. The split second ; 'I am Muybridge and this is a message from my wife' -- The day shift. We will crush, squash, slaughter Yamaha! ; The boss from hell -- Horology. Part two, How to sell the time. Vasco da Gama special edition ; Welcome to Baselworld ; Uh-oh ; In which we name the guilty man ; The most valuable watch on the planet -- Time tactics that work!. The berry season ; The lean email simple system -- Life is short, art is long. The clock is a clock ; White people are crazy -- Slowing down the world. A place where time stands still ; Living Frenchly ; Faster food -- The British Museum and the story of us. The book of hours ; Doomed and marooned ; Those who feel differently -- Epilogue: Humility watch.

"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 Simon Garfield's typically inventive and entertaining style. As managing time becomes one of the greatest challenges we face in our lives, this multi-layered history helps us understand it in a sparkling new light."--Dust jacket flap.

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