About Time

A horological history of human civilisation, told through twelve world-changing clocks

The measurement of time has always been essential to human civilization, from early Roman sundials to the advent of GPS. But while we have one eye on the time every day, are we aware of the power clocks have given governments, military leaders and business owners, and how they have shaped our lives and our world?

In this spectacularly far-reaching book, David Rooney narrates a history of timekeeping and civilization in twelve concise chapters. Over their course, we meet the most epochal inventions in horological history, from medieval water clocks to Renaissance hourglasses, and from stock-exchange timestamps to satellites in Earth’s orbit. We discover how clocks have helped people navigate the globe and build empires, but also, on occasion, taken us to the brink of destruction.

This is the story of time, and the story of time is the story of us.

Author Biography

David Rooney is a historian and museum curator. Born in north-east England, he moved to London in 1995 to take a traineeship at the Science Museum, where he first encountered the aeroplane that completed the Big Hop in 1919. Over an almost thirty-year career, David has curated timekeeping, transport and engineering collections at institutions from the National Maritime Museum to the Science Museum, bringing historical stories vividly alive. He is the author of About Time- A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks (2021), which has been translated into eleven languages.

About The Big Hop, David says- ‘It is 30 years since I first walked beneath the canvas wings of an ungainly biplane and wondered what must have possessed two young men to fly it across the Atlantic. Writing this book is my way of paying tribute to the pioneers of aviation – men and women from all walks of life – who risked everything- for freedom, for progress, and for us.’