Time's Pendulum: From Sundials to Atomic Clocks, the Fascinating History of Timekeeping and How Our Discoveries Changed the World

A perfect balance of science, history, and sociology, Time's Pendulum traces the important developments in humankind's epic quest to measure the hours, days, and years with accuracy, and how our concept of time has changed with each new technological breakthrough. Written in an easy-to-follow chronological format and illustrated with entertaining anecdotes, author Jo Ellen Barnett's history of timekeeping covers everything from the earliest sundials and water clocks, to the pendulum and the more recent advances of battery-powered, quartz-regulated wrist watches and the powerful radioactive "clock," which loses only a few billionths of a second per day, making it nearly ten billion times more accurate than the pendulum clock. A tour of the discoveries and the inventors who endeavored to chart and understand time, Time's Pendulum also explains how each new advance gradually transformed our perception of the world.
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“With Time's Pendulum, Barnett has shown us that there is a mystery and a great story to be found in the very time that flows past us and which rules our lives. There is no need for wild speculation. Time's Pendulum is history. In both senses of an ambiguous phrase, it is the history of our time."-New Scientist

“The story of time and its machines is long, but indisputably interesting. [Barnett's book ]. . . is entertaining and worth a few hours' reading time."-The San Diego Union-Tribune