Clocks

"Clocks," one of the volumes in the Great Inventions series, is not just about clocks but about keeping time going back to a piece of bone 30,000 years old, found in France, that bears scratch marks that are believed to have indicated the cycles of the moon. In this very informative volume James Lincoln Collier looks at how human beings have attempted to measure time through not only clocks but also calendars. The first chapter provides a lesson in how astronomy, the study of celestial bodies, established the relationship between the regular cycles of the planets, stars, Sun, Moon, and Earth and the measurement of time. The next chatper is devoted to the start of timekeeping in the Middle East and the early methods used by the Romans, Chinese, and Mayans. Collier then focuses on the great "escapement," a term that refers to the device in a mechanical movement that controls the rotation of the wheels and therefore the motion of the hands on a clock. It was the invention of early devices using this principle that shifted people away from the system of unequal hours (just the idea that this was once the practice in Europe gives you a sense of the breadth and depth of detail in this volume). There are diagrams and a model of the legendary Su Sung Clock escapement mechanism that was powered by water and well as the Wells Clock of 1392. Other chapters are devoted to the impact of springs and pendulums of creating new types of clocks, the decision to work out the problems in the Julian calendar (which was fractionally longer than the actual solar year), and how time was important to the question of navigation. The final chapters look at how clocks became inexpensive enough for everybody to have one so that by the end of World War II it was possible for everyone to know what time it was all the time, and the current state of time telling which is now all about atomic time for an atomic world. What makes this an excellent book is that Collier consistently explains how and why things developed when it came to clocks, calendars, and other timekeeping devices and practices. I am one of the least mechanically inclined people on the face of the earth and do not even own a wristwatch, and I found this book fascinating. Collier takes the trouble of explaining how the devices worked in terms that even I can understand. The book is illustrated with historic prints as well as contemporary photographs and diagrams touching on the keeping of time. Other titles in the Great Inventions series look at "The Cotton Gin," "Gunpowder and Weaponry," "The Printing Pres," and "Vaccines."

The book The Clock by James Lincoln Collier was an excellent book, although there were some not so great parts with good detail. There was a lot of talking and traveling about the late 1800s to the early 1900s that became boring and uninteresting, however Mr. Collier still did a good job with the details. The book took place in Connecticut on a farm. The main character is a girl who is forced to work in the mill because her father buys a lot of junk that puts her family in debt. Her brother is already working in the wood shop and her friend Rob is working in the mill. The mill headmaster is believed to be stealing wool and harassing the men and women working there. The ending will really surprise you if like historical fiction. The girl's friend, Robert, dies while deicing the water wheel, and the girl gets in a lot of trouble because no one is listening to her and her father wants her to stay in the mill.

the book was great even the end