Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World, Revised and Enlarged Edition [Paperback]

David S. Landes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 21, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0674002822 | ISBN-13: 978-0674002821 | Edition: Revised and Enlarged Edition

More than a decade after the publication of his dazzling book on the cultural, technological, and manufacturing aspects of measuring time and making clocks, David Landes has significantly expanded Revolution in Time.

In a new preface and scores of updated passages, he explores new findings about medieval and early-modern time keeping, as well as contemporary hi-tech uses of the watch as mini-computer, cellular phone, and even radio receiver or television screen. While commenting on the latest research, Landes never loses his focus on the historical meaning of time and its many perceptions and uses, questions that go beyond history, that involve philosophers and possibly, theologians and literary folk as well.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reviews of the previous edition: A wonderful book...It's richly detailed and illustrated, extremely informative, and thoroughly enjoyable. (Los Angeles Times Book Review )

Probably the most widely praised book ever written about the history of timekeeping, this book offers an encyclopedic and colorful account of time measurement from the first weight-driven clocks of the Middle Ages to the atomic clocks of today. (American Time 20001201)

The book is a pleasure to read, for the quality of the author's thinking, for the slightly acid perceptiveness of his observations, and for the often enchanting aptness of his quotations and examples. (E. J. Hobsbawm New York Review of Books )

Stunning...Revolution in Time fairly radiates the author's own delight. Like the classic clocks it so lovingly describes, it is an exhilarating monument to human ingenuity. (Jim Miller Newsweek )

[Landes] has an eye for the odd, amusing detail and manages to convey a great enthusiasm for his subject...His book contains a wealth of piquant information that left me musing when I closed it. (Tracy Kidder New York Times Book Review )

The text scintillates with wise and witty aphorisms...Landes notes that clocks are the product of "ingenuity, craftsmanship, artistry and elegance": so is this book. (David Cannadine London Review of Books )

David Landes is a splendid storyteller...The book abounds with anecdotes about people, not only those who made the clocks and watches but also those who bought and used them...Without doubt, this book will become a standard work in the history of timekeeping--and it's also fun to read. (Derek Howse Washington Post )

About the Author

David S. Landes is Coolidge Professor of History and Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Harvard University, and the author of The Wealth and Poverty of Nations.

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press; Revised and Enlarged Edition edition (April 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674002822
• ISBN-13: 978-0674002821
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,331,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful history of technology and competitive change December 19, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I read this book in it's first incarnation, when I first became interested in horological collecting. Mr. Landes writes an informative and educational treatise on horological development and history, and in the process creates an illuminating case study of the impact of competitive pressures on established industry. It is fascinating to take one of original "high tech" industries and see how technological change and marketplace behavior affect entire companies and national industries. The long-term history described in this book perfectly illustrates Santayana's "remember the past" concept. There are amazing parallels to technological and marketing revolutions we still see developing today. A good read, which I would recomend heartily for horological afficianados and students of business and technology.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars If you love clocks, you will love this book January 21, 2007

By Interested Reader TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

If you love clocks you will love this book, but if you are merely just interested in them, you may find this book a hard slog. David Landes loves clocks - a fact that comes through loud and clear, but to some degree, I felt that this love actually was detrimental to the book because it caused him to dwell too much on minutia at the expense of a more coherent discussion of the subject. There are numerous drawings of the workings of clocks, but they were not clear enough for me. (I am not that interested in clocks, but if I were and had more background in horology, I would have probably been able to decipher the drawings more readily.)

This book covers all aspects of clocks, from the need for them, to their manufacture and the economics of producing them, to the development of electronic clocks. As such, it was quite interesting. I especially liked the early sections, which discussed the historical need for clocks and those sections that dealt with the impact of external historical events, such as the persecution of French Huguenots. Unfortunately, I did not find some of the middle sections, which dealt with the question of the evolutions of the internal workings of mechanical clocks, to be sufficiently clear for me. This is an area where those who are more familiar with the details of escapement mechanisms will find the book easier to follow than I did. I also found that the details of who made what change in the escapement mechanism to be a bit more information than I needed. All in all, this is a very good book for those who love clocks and know a bit about their workings, but others who are more historically minded, without a particular love of clocks, may find themselves looking to see how much more they had to go.... If I could, I would have given this book five stars for those who love clocks, but only three stars for those, like myself, who are more interested in the historical aspects of the subject. Read more ›

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars pretty excellent October 1, 2007

By S. Pactor VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I'm a lawyer- my time is billable in increments of one tenth of an hour. At larger law firms (I don't work for a firm) lawyers are expected to BILL- BILL- in excess of 2100 hundred hours a year. To "bill" an hour basically means that you not only work the hour, but record the manner in which you spent it. Nowadays, we have computer programs to facilitate this task- but the act of keeping records of how you spend your time- it is deeply unatural, and my expereience as a lawyer has caused me to have a minor interest in the relationship between time and the development of modernity.

How important was the invention of the mechanical clock in the middle ages? Very, for you see... it was the first mechanical clock that gave us... the beat.

"The achievment of the genius who built the first mechanical clock was not that he used an escapment as that he had made use oscillatory motion to divide time into countable beats."

Do you get it? IT'S THE BEAT.

Anyway, I found the actual organization to be overly schematic. In Landes' words, "It is a triptych: a study in cultural history; in the history of science and technology, and in social and economic history. I now offer you one sentence summaries of this book and those subjects, so that you will not have to read a 360 page book.

The first segment of the book answers the question "Why did Europe invent the mechanical clock, as supposed to the Chinese." The Chinese (and the Islamic) world were using sophisticated water driven clocks while Europe was being sacked by the Vikings. However, they never moved on to the mechanical clock- which is superior in design- mostly because um... water clocks are big and immovable....

The second segement of the book looks at the technological/scientific improvements that brough the clock into the shape we know and love today. So we're talking fifty pages on the builiding of tower clocks in the early middle ages, the development of portable clocks in the later middle ages, the development of the marine chronograph- a device that allowed sailors to navigate longitutde accurately without reference to the night sky. The chapters on the marine chronograph was as boring a text as I've read all year.

The final segment briefs the development of the watch industry- as in- the post industrial revolution watch industry. Clockmakers are interesting in that they were making technologically sophisticated devices long before most Europeans ever used a machine, but their industry- because of its early development- retained many of the hallmarks of pre-industrial commerce long after "the handwriting" was on the wall. Thus, the English were supplanted by the Swiss in the 18th and 19th century, the Swiss were challenged by the Americans, both were surpassed by the Japanese. I actually found the information about the Swiss watch making industry to be interesting- a bunch of poor mountain folk taught themselves how to be the best watch makers in the world AND how to sell those watches "world" wide in the course of a generation.

The chapters on the Swiss watchmakers almost makes me want to go to Geneva and the Jura region- but not quite. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing material presented in rather dull style. March 21, 2010

By Bill King

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Full of useful information you can find nowhere else.
But I find Landes' style overly precise and technical. His fans (legion) might describe it differently: sharply exact, accurate and delimited.

Typical sentence: "Multiplicity of function entailed variation in nomenclature".

OK, we all understand that sentence but how much do we enjoy it?

I believe the samples on the 'look inside' feature at Amazon presents a fair example of what to expect (pages 15 and following).

The footnotes are at the back of the book.
The illustrations and figures not easy to make out.
Excellent index and appendices.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars I literally couldn't [help but] put it down!!! February 1, 2013

By DJ MichaelAngelo

Format:Paperback

Like some of the other reviewers have mentioned, this is an awfully dry read. I enjoy non-fiction and learning about new and random things, so I was looking forward to this book. Wow - the text was so boring, overly-thorough, and dull that I first skipped ahead a couple hundred pages to finish it quicker, then just quit completely. If you have a book that you actually DREAD sitting down to read (instead of looking forward to it) that can't be a good sign. I've read literally 100's (1000's?) of books in my life, and this is maybe the 3rd or 4th one that I haven't finished all the way through (I made it about halfway before giving up). I almost NEVER do this - a book has to be really really incapable of holding my attention in order for me to reject it, but Revolution In Time certainly did the trick. If somebody is really REALLY into clocks and their history, they might enjoy this book...well they'll learn from it, I don't know if "enjoy" is the word I'd use. I guess I'm just not enough of a clock-lover to have benefited from this book; in my opinion it could've been 1/4 or 1/8 the length it is now, and been much easier to digest. This is some dry dry reading folks - consume at your own risk!