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

by David S. Landes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Harvard historian Landes' treatise on clocks will rank high with those who delight in discovering the new or curious. True, the text goes on at length, sometimes gets a bit technical, and sometimes repeats itself; but it is sustained overall by a charming drollery, as well as meticulous scholarship. If Landes takes time to make points, he is only underscoring his theme: Western society now lives with the notion of time gained and time lost; of the need to parcel time into precise little packages to be spent or saved - for oneself or in social obligations. The water clocks of antiquity, and the calendrical devices of early dynastic China, would not do for the urbanizing, industrializing societies of pre-Renaissance Europe. Textile workers marked their daily toil by the sounds of belltowers and cathedral clocks - public devices that were the first mechanical contrivances to count the hours and space them evenly over the day (a process that enforced the learning of arithmetic and calculation). At first, the Church was the prime mover in the development of clocks: prayers had to be said, and monks alerted, to the canonical hours. ("Frere Jacques" is really about the fear of missing matins.) Eventually time-consciousness became internalized and affected everyone. Landes notes the shift of urban centers and industry from Mediterranean and Catholic realms to German and Protestant. (Pity Max Weber didn't assume a chronometric point of view, remarks Landes; it fits so well with Protestantism and the rise of capitalism.) Running through this compendium of invention and social history are choice anecdotes, poems, literary references, and commercial developments. Plus lots of minor astonishments. Why clockmakers in Switzerland? Because Louis XIV reversed the Edict of Nantes in 1685, driving out 200,000 Protestants, among whom were a disproportionately high number of clockmakers who went to nearby Switzerland. Later sections deal with endeavors to make better timepieces down to the present. In the last chapter, Landes details the quartz revolution - with telling business analyses of what happened to the Swiss, the rise of Timex, the advent of tuning-fork and then vibrating quartz crystal watches. A fine bit of scholarship, revealing aspects of Western sensibility and economic progress from an unusual standpoint. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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 20001201)

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 )

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 )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 502 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press; Rev Sub 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: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #716,090 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #93 in

  Books > Home & Garden > Antiques & Collectibles > Clocks & Watches

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 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

This review is from: Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World (Belknap Press) (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.

3 of 3 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	Solomon (Colorado) - See all my reviews

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and a joy to read, August 30, 2007

By	Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Everything you ever wanted to know about time and especially the devices created by man to measure it. David S. Landes lovingly traces the history of timepieces, from the earliest Chinese clepsydra (water clocks) to the first spring operated clocks to the most recent quartz watches, in great detail and penache: he obviously is fascinated with his subject and easily conveys that enthusiasm to the reader. He writes with ease and style, and even when the topics become somewhat technical he is able to bring the reader through the rough waters with grace and authority. Landes has the rare but always admirable ability to be both fully knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time. It's a fascinating book from first page to last, a most laudable accomplishment in that it is not just the definitive account of the subject of clocks and timepieces, but also one of the most stylish and entertaining techno/history books ever written.