jmatkinson1's review against another edition
4.0
For a book that is a loose collection of essays based around the idea of timekeeping, this is a success. Garfield is an engaging writer and even when his obsessions become a little indulgent he is still interesting to read. My favourite parts were the story of Harold Lloyd's 'Safety First' and the section on the development of watches as jewellery for men and the prices that people will pay for them. Although the section on art dragged a little I was fascinated by the idea of the 24hour film that was relevant to the here and now. In the genre of quirky science books this is a triumph.
grudgemental's review against another edition
1.0
The footnotes on almost every page that were paragraphs themselves often provided no additional information and got so distracting I gave up after the 2nd chapter. I don't need to know every single detail about the Beatles first album in size 6 font
plaidpladd's review against another edition
3.0
This book lacked cohesion. It was almost like a bunch of different essays on the subject of timekeeping. But I liked a lot of them and learned some things so in general it was a good read.
riccii's review against another edition
Honestly, I got halfway, and the thought of having as much left to read as I'd already done so far... no thanks. The writing style is too tangent-y, even for me.
geekylou's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting parts but not what I thought. Expected a lot more on the Psychological aspects of time and what it means in the modern world and just more in depth but instead seemed to be about how watches were made and whole chapters on Train time tables which was not riveting to say the least...
librosconcafe's review
3.0
Interesting book involving the subject of time. You can learn a lot in each chapter. We have all tried to control and understand time for so long, and still can’t add on any time to the end of our lives.
It’s best to just read a little at a time, in order to understand and get more out of the book. That’s just my take, however.
It’s best to just read a little at a time, in order to understand and get more out of the book. That’s just my take, however.
thenovelbook's review
3.0
I enjoyed the concept of this book, though the execution at times felt a little distracting.
Time affects every human on the planet, but the ways in which it does so have changed over the centuries. Keeping time to the minute? It's a relatively recent innovation. The invention of trains and time tables had a lot to do with it. That discussion I found fascinating, as well as contemporary descriptions of how people felt about the hurrying up of their lives after trains became mainstream. I also enjoyed the segments on watchmaking.
Had the book stayed in the vein in which it started--the changing view of time relative to human activity, and the technological innovations that keep altering that--I would have stayed focused and on board. But some chapters wandered quite a bit and brought in lengthy extraneous information and stories that failed to keep my attention.
***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy to review.
Time affects every human on the planet, but the ways in which it does so have changed over the centuries. Keeping time to the minute? It's a relatively recent innovation. The invention of trains and time tables had a lot to do with it. That discussion I found fascinating, as well as contemporary descriptions of how people felt about the hurrying up of their lives after trains became mainstream. I also enjoyed the segments on watchmaking.
Had the book stayed in the vein in which it started--the changing view of time relative to human activity, and the technological innovations that keep altering that--I would have stayed focused and on board. But some chapters wandered quite a bit and brought in lengthy extraneous information and stories that failed to keep my attention.
***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy to review.
creativelifeofliz's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book and the many anecdotes we got throughout. I wish we got a bit more general history/science to go along with these stories.