Customer Reviews

Clocks and Culture: 1300-1700

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's surprising to learn that English was not Cipolla's first language. The language of this book is beautiful and terse, and able in a few words to capture entire eras and centuries. Speaking as a practicing horologist, I'm particularly impressed by the depth and width of Cipolla's research and the fluency with which it is all brought together. Like his "Guns, Sails and Empire", this is one of the best books written on the subject. Cipolla's ability to take a long view spanning centuries is unequaled and memorable.

My dad's always been interested in clocks; when I saw this book, I bought it for him for his birthday.

I've received TWO emails telling me how much he's enjoyed it. :)

This book was a real surprise - the title doesn't sound very promising, but it was fascinating. The development of reliable time-keeping devices had a revolutionary impact on society, and we're unlikely to grasp the significance from our perspective on this side of the revolution without a book like this. It was a good read, and an enlightening one.

This review will be like the book: short and to the point.
While there is a lot about the development of clockwork in the time period, there seems to be very little about how clocks and timekeeping devices actually shaped the culture of the time. This deficiency disappointed me.

This is a great book on the evolution of time measuring machines. But its real value is in the large amount of bibliographic references.

This book is average. There are some interesting parts, but Cipollo can also be very dull in his writing.