A Brief History of Timekeeping

The Science of Marking Time, from Stonehenge to Atomic Clocks

By: Chad Orzel

Narrated by: Mike Lenz

Predating written language and marching on through human history, the desire for ever-better timekeeping has spurred technological innovation and sparked theories that radically reshaped our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

Chad Orzel, a physicist and bestselling author, continues his tradition of demystifying thorny scientific concepts by using the clocks and calendars central to our everyday activities as a jumping-off point to explore the science underlying the ways we keep track of our time. Ancient solstice markers depend on the basic astrophysics of our solar system; mechanical clocks owe their development to Newtonian physics; and the ultra-precise atomic timekeeping that enables GPS hinges on the predictable oddities of quantum mechanics.

Along the way, Orzel visits the delicate negotiations involved in Gregorian calendar reform, the intricate and entirely unique system employed by the Maya, and how the problem of synchronizing clocks at different locations ultimately required us to abandon the idea of time as an absolute and universal quantity. Sharp and engaging, A Brief History of Timekeeping is a story not just about the science of sundials, sandglasses, and mechanical clocks, but also the politics of calendars and time zones, the philosophy of measurement, and the nature of space and time itself.

©2022 Chad Orzel (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

More about physics than “time-keeping”

I did like this book, it’s very enjoyable. It just wasn’t focused on what I wanted to learn about, which was the social and human behavioral aspects of time keeping—how has time keeping changed the way we live, that sort of thing. Instead it went into great detail about the mechanics of clocks and eventually quantum physics. So my gripe is with the title and marketing but not the content, which was fine.

repetitive

just how long can you stand to listen to someone repeatedly say zero? I quite frankly reached my limit.