About Time

“Abundantly clever…. Lovely and engaging … with myriad fascinations on every page.” – Simon Winchester - New York Times Book Review“Fascinating…. A valuable intellectual journey at a moment ripe for contemplation.” – Michael O’Donnell - Wall Street Journal“Insightful, globe-spanning.” – James Gleick - New York Review of Books“Fascinating…. with [Rooney’s] book in hand, and an eye on the world that sustains us, we might just save ourselves.” – Jonathon Keats - Forbes“People say time is money, but David Rooney knows better. In this information-packed swoop through history and into the future, he exposes time’s many identities along with the hidden agendas of clocks. Time is knowledge. Time is power. Time is faith. Time is destiny.” – Dava Sobel, author of Longitude“Not merely an horologist’s delight, but an ingenious meditation on the nature and symbolism of time-keeping itself. From the medieval hourglass to the Doomsday Clock, from Jaipur to Jodrell Bank, from GMT to GPS, Rooney ticks off time in a highly entertaining series of historical tales and parables which also give pause for thought and sometimes alarming reflections. I will never hear the pips, or ask ‘what’s the time?’ in quite the same way again. A striking success.” – Richard Holmes, author of The Age of Wonder“About Time is an utterly dazzling book, the best piece of history I have read for a long time. From sundials in ancient Rome to astronomical, water-driven, mechanical, and atomic timepieces used throughout history and across cultures, Rooney has written the definitive book on these remarkable objects that give order to everyday life. It is a moving and beautifully written book that even takes us 5,000 years into the future with plutonium clocks ticking away beneath our feet. There will be many puns about this as a timely book; in fact, it is timeless.” – Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in Twelve Maps“The measurement of time is a convenience, a jailor, a tyrannical device. David Rooney’s delightful and discursive work anatomizes that tyranny. Page after page offers up instances of time’s ubiquity and its mercurial power to get into the interstices of the everyday.” – Jonathan Meades“Enthralling and important, About Time takes us deep into the past and far into the future. With David Rooney as personable guide, we peer inside clocks from Kyoto to Cape Town, discovering what they meant to the diverse people who made them, used them, whose lives were ruled by them…This is a gripping and revealing account of time, and humanity’s changing relationship with it.” – Seb Falk, author of The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science“David Rooney’s passionate enthusiasm for everything clock-related leaps off every page. The vivid writing, engaging stories, and autobiographical details combine to offer a rich and generous picture of the history of clocks, from China and Japan to Central Europe, the Middle East and outer space. In clear, pacey, and evocative prose, Rooney’s volume takes in ancient wonders and modern marvels, leaving us at once enlightened and moved.” – Ludmilla Jordanova, author of History in Practice“Lovely, personal, idiosyncratic…. Throughout, Rooney entertains with witty clock trivia and anecdotes alongside illuminating sketches of famous horologists. Go slowly when devouring this charming, intelligent, highly informative history.” – Kirkus, starred review

David Rooney is a historian and curator specializing in transport, technology, and engineering, and the author of About Time and The Big Hop. For almost twenty years he worked at the London Science Museum, which houses the 1919 airplane first flown across the Atlantic. He lives in London.