A review by albatrossonhalfpointe
Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving by Michael Downing
3.0
I am totally a Daylight Saving Time hater. I'll admit, though, that my hate is due mainly to just one week or so in the spring. For most of my working life (and I think even much of my school life, as I had to get up and bus across town to get there), I've had to get up and leave for work/school between 5 & 7. And right in the middle of there is the sucky spot. Toward the later end of that and beyond doesn't really bother me, and toward the beginning and earlier, well, it's so freaking early at that point that DST doesn't have much noticeable effect. But right in the middle of that period is when it's full dark for much of the winter, and that kinda sucks, but it happens gradually, and you deal. But as the year progresses, it starts to get lighter at that time. And just when you start to really notice the fact that the sun is actually up before you've left your house, which, if you're me at least, puts a little spring in your step, and the earliness doesn't feel so bad. But then, just as this is happening, DST hits, and BAM! You're slammed back into darkness for that hour. Sure, the sun still seems to rise sooner once you are out, and sure this new darkness at that hour only lasts for a week or so before the sun is, once again, getting up before you are, but that week or so? Just about kills me every year. I'm more tired, I'm depressed, I just feel all lethargic and miserable... Ugh. I just hate it.
Oops, that got a bit ranty. Anyway, though, that's why I picked up this book in the first place. And this book did explain at least a little bit of the logic behind this annual back-and-forth shuffle of the clocks — although the logic at times appeared to be largely a pissing contest, if this book is to be believed. I also learned just how recent an invention even standardized time at all is. Apparently it's only within the last 200 years that this happened, and I can't even begin to imagine trying to function in the chaos that existed before that, which was actually made somewhat worse in the early stages of standardized time adoption, I think. It sounded insane, in any case, and then to throw in this twice annual extra shift? Yowza. I have to admit that I'd kind of been under the impression that these things had been settled long ago, and that the occasional flutters you hear about trying to repeal DST legislation were just that — little flutters. But I gather from this book that those flutters happen in at least one somewhere every time the clocks shift, and that, really, they're just the same debate, still not over. The other fascinating thing I learned is that China, as massive as it is, operates under just one time zone, which means that the poor suckers in the western part of the country don't see sunrise until close to noon for much of the year. How crazy is that? Oh, and one final note: you know how everyone always blames the farmers for Daylight Saving? Don't. The farming communities have been opposed to it from the beginning, and were basically forced into it by, guess who? Big business.
Oops, that got a bit ranty. Anyway, though, that's why I picked up this book in the first place. And this book did explain at least a little bit of the logic behind this annual back-and-forth shuffle of the clocks — although the logic at times appeared to be largely a pissing contest, if this book is to be believed. I also learned just how recent an invention even standardized time at all is. Apparently it's only within the last 200 years that this happened, and I can't even begin to imagine trying to function in the chaos that existed before that, which was actually made somewhat worse in the early stages of standardized time adoption, I think. It sounded insane, in any case, and then to throw in this twice annual extra shift? Yowza. I have to admit that I'd kind of been under the impression that these things had been settled long ago, and that the occasional flutters you hear about trying to repeal DST legislation were just that — little flutters. But I gather from this book that those flutters happen in at least one somewhere every time the clocks shift, and that, really, they're just the same debate, still not over. The other fascinating thing I learned is that China, as massive as it is, operates under just one time zone, which means that the poor suckers in the western part of the country don't see sunrise until close to noon for much of the year. How crazy is that? Oh, and one final note: you know how everyone always blames the farmers for Daylight Saving? Don't. The farming communities have been opposed to it from the beginning, and were basically forced into it by, guess who? Big business.