This book does not set out to answer any deep questions about the nature of time, though it does subtly raise some questions about our interaction with time that we may not usually consider. In a series of historical anecdotes it shows us some of the ways we interact with time: with arrogance, precision, individuality, creativity, and so forth.

As the book says, stories are the best way of making sense of time, and I enjoyed this little jaunt through some of the ways we've attempted to make sense of time as humans.

(I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, though due to technical difficulties with the download, the actual copy I read was from the library after publication. Regardless, I have shared my own honest opinions in this review.)

I was expecting more of a history of time. I DNF'd at 10%. I am not a fan of story telling and first person. There was a lot of "I" in the beginning which initially made me loose interest, hence the first person reference above.

I do not think the synopsis gives a proper explanation of what this book is. I would be dissapointed if I had purchased this.

*Side note: I really liked the cover*

With an archive date over a year before publication, I was surprised when I didn't download this in time to read a review copy. I will be unable to review this.

Garfield brings the reader on a journey across time, mainly in the Western tradition, with stops at calendars, clocks, trains, personal injury, the Beatles, and much more. Each chapter unpacks a bit more of what it means to be a time-bound being, with stories, reminiscences, science, sociology, and just enough endnotes to give the interested reader more to go on. A great book for gift-giving, or for high-school students ready to adult non-fiction.

I simply could not stand the anecdotal gabbering. I loved the tone of the novel and was very excited to read it but was highly disappointed.

An expanded version of this originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Time, once passive, is now aggressive. It dominates our lives in ways that the earliest clockmakers would have surely found unbearable. We believe that time is running away from us. Technology is making everything faster, and because we know that things will become faster in the future, it follows that nothing is fast enough now. . . But the strangest thing of all is this: if they were able, the earliest clockmakers would tell us that the pendulum swings at the same rate as it always has, and the calendars have been fixed for hundreds of years. We have brought this cauldron of rush upon ourselves. Time seems faster because we have made it so.


When it comes to non-fiction reads, there are a number of ways I tend to judge them (rightly or wrongly) -- first (always first): Is it well-written? Does the writer know what he's doing? Even if I end up learning a lot from a book, if it's not well-written, I'm not going to like it. Secondly, is it informative? Do I actually learn something, or is it a re-hash of things that any number of books have said (do we really need that many biographies of Abraham Lincoln?)? Thirdly, does it make me think of something in a new way, or challenge my preconceptions (does this examination of Don DeLillo make me re-think White Noise? (I know of no book like this, but would love to read one)). Fourth, this is not essential -- but is the book entertaining? It gets bonus points for that.

Simon Garfield's Timekeepers, clears the bar for every one of these standards. Since he does it more succinctly than I could, I'll let Garfield sum up the book:

This is a book about our obsession with time and our desire to beat it. . . The book has but two simple intentions: to tell some illuminating stories, and to ask whether we have all gone completely nuts.

He begins with telling the well-known (at least in brush strokes) story about the invention of time zones -- but man, did I not understand really how this came about. Then he covers the experiments with the calendar, the clock, etc. tried following the French Revolution (and how some of those experiments live on). We get a couple of chapters on time and the cinema. Music (Beethoven, The Beatles, recording and more), photography, filibustering, the work day, and other sundry topics are covered as well. You can't forget watch-making, watch-marketing, watch-design, watch-capabilities, watch-symbolism, and a few other watch-related notions that I can't think of at the moment.

Let's get to the writing itself. Garfield has a way with words -- the number of sentences that I highlighted because of his use of the language is pretty high. If I quoted every one that I wanted to, this post would quickly move into the tl;dr range -- and into the copyright infringement range not long after that. It wasn't just his style, the book simply displays some well-crafted writing. It's not perfect -- but it's good. I'll freely admit that not every topic he covered really interested me, but his writing kept me reading -- and I was rewarded pretty frequently. Even when my interest waned, his writing would stand out here and there so I could appreciate the how he said it, even if the what didn't interest me. Rarely, the topics that did grab me would have a paragraph or so that didn't rise to that level, however. I'm not going to go into specifics on this point, though -- I didn't bother to note those, and I bet that comes down to taste and others won't think of those passages the same way, and they were brief moments, so they didn't detract from the whole.

Did I learn something from the book? Much more than I expected to. The chapter on the French experiments alone probably taught me enough to justify the whole book. I didn't/couldn't stick with the details of watch-making (I have a hard time visualizing that kind of detail), but even that was fascinating and informative on the surface. Most topics broadened my understanding and taught me something. Also, the sheer amount of trivia that I picked up was great (the amount of time spent recording the first Beatles LP, why pop music tends to be about 3 minutes long, etc., etc.

But it's not just about the information gained -- it's what that information means (both in terms of the book's argument(s), but in how the reader considers that information in the light of what they already know and personal experience. Every time that Garfield moves from the "here's what happened" or the "here's how this works" bits to the "because this happened" or "because this works" bits, it was something I don't know that I'd spent too much time thinking about previously. Sometimes those took the form of quick "huh," moments -- but occasionally he brushed against profundity, which I really appreciated.

And yes, Garfield picked up bonus points for entertainment. After the first paragraph in Chapter 1, my notes read "Between the Introduction and this paragraph, I've laughed four times. Am going to dig this book." Later on, I wrote that I didn't care about the content, really, I was having too much fun reading it to worry about it being right.

There's room for improvement, I think. If there's a design to the organization, I'm not sure I see it. He appears to hopscotch around between his topics. I'm honestly not sure how he could have arranged them to flow from one to another, but I do believe it could've been done. I think he could've lessened the detail occasionally (and increased it in a spot or two). But generally, this is me being nit-picky for the sake of not being a push over. There's really almost nothing to complain about.

Garfield scores across the board with this one, however. I do think the survey hops around a bit too much without obvious connections between the ideas so that the cumulative punch is less than it could be. In his concluding thoughts, Garfield raises some issues and asks some pointed questions that could be more forceful, more pointed if the preceding chapters had been more clearly linked. Nevertheless, the points were made and I, like most readers (I suspect), had to give some serious thought about my relationship to time and what I actually value. I'll have to continue this thinking for a while, actually -- the fact that I have to -- and want to -- is because of this book forcing me to consider things I've taken for granted about time and how my life is governed. I suspect I am not alone in this.

Thought-provoking, interesting, educating, well-written and generally entertaining -- Timekeepers really covers all the bases and covers them well. You'd do well to check it out.

This was really interesting since I studied anthropology and one of the most unique things we talked about that varies over cultures is how we perceive time. Very much enjoy this read.

Fascinating, well-written, and very thought-provoking. How time drives us, and we drive time, through discussions of various technologies and events - some obvious (watches), some not so obvious (trains, CDs, movies...). Some of it is historical, some the author's adventures while researching (including the event, a bike crash, that triggered the notion of the book). I found the style very enjoyable - light but not fluffy. Some of the origins of words are amazing (I've been telling everyone about the origin of "commuter": someone who "commuted" - that is, shortened - their trip to work by using those newfangled trains). I don't admire watch advertisers nearly as much as he does, but it's interesting to read about, at least - every section is at least mildly interesting, some are simply wonderful. I'll definitely be looking for more by Garfield.

In "Timekeepers" Simon Garfield takes us on a journey into the noun, Time. 

Follow this and other reviews on my blog It's Good To Read - http://ebookwormssite.wordpress.com

Time is defined in the dictionary as:

1: the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole. "travel through space and time", or

2: a point of time as measured in hours and minutes past midnight or noon.

This is an interesting topic, dealing with an item with which we are all intimately familiar - Time. He hopes to address frenetic standstill, that feeling of hopelessness when faced with time. The premise is about the increasing aggressiveness of Time, at least how we in the modern world perceive Time. He wants to discuss our need to control, film, measure, immortalise and ultimately sell it. It co-incidentally happens that I finished reading this book, on the very day the EU (European Union) has ordered a review of Daylight Saving Time!

The author begins by relating an anecdote about an Egyptian fisherman, and his differing perception of success to that of the author. He then relates the strange true story of William Strachey, the Englishman who, upon returning to England from1840's Calcutta, resolved to and did live his life on Calcutta time, as seemingly they had the most accurate clocks (5 1/2 hours ahead of everyone else in London, albeit!).

Garfield continues with a bicycle accident he had on the way back from a Chelsea football (soccer) match, ruminating on the fact that a second or two either way could have meant it being avoided, then segues into a story about Seneca, the Roman philosopher and statesman.

The book then progresses through what are clearly well-researched chapters - a modern artist trying to recreate how the French Revolution experimented in making the calendar conform to the new politics (it all ended under the guillotine - not for the current artist, the Revolutionaries!); the huge effect the railway barons had in creating the international time zones so familiar to us today, as well as the standardisation of time within each country, finishing with musical anecdotes about the geniuses that were Beethoven & the Beatles. And so on.

For me, however, it's the "and so on" part that began to drag. I followed the author as he tried to make a car, helping out in a Swiss watch construction, and telling us of the two times he met the late great Roger Bannister. Interesting stories in and of themselves, but for me they did not really add to what I was expecting from this book. The auctioneering of Bannister's running shoes surely has only a tenuous relationship with the aggressiveness of Time? Does Poundbury, Prince Charles' model village, really impact the consciousness of the modern world?

We get a whistle-stop tour of Taylorism, JIT manufacturing strategies in Japan, and how art becomes St Pancreas train station. We get to hear of watch brands that would be beyond the reach of most of us, financially-speaking (and morally I could not spend that amount of money on a watch!), and how the Swiss survived the Great Quartz Crisis of the 70's. There are some superb insights and illustrations of the work artists have done, and continue to do, to wrestle with the concept of time, and this parallels nicely with the emergence of the movie industry (e.g the 24-hour film).

However, by the end I felt a bit like Roger Bannister approaching the finishing tape, - if only I could reach the tape without slackening my speed - because by the end it was hard to finish. Even the piece about the Doomsday Clock failed to lift the mood. The author is exemplary in his research, and the book is well put together. In relation to readability and flow, however, I think the author is not to blame here, rather the editorial team, who allowed many items through that seemed merely to pad out the book, as opposed to adding reader value to it.

I learnt some interesting facts, and the book does regain my interest in the last chapter (stories about the speed of internet trading, billions won and lost in less than a blink, and finding out that Assam remans on Tea Garden Time), but as an exploration, Timekeepers' timing was off, and it fell short of my expectations.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for the free copy in return for my review.

Simon Garfield's Timekeepers was very interesting most of the time. The collection of essays exploring how humans have "become obsessed with time" are clearly researched, often interjected with personal anecdotes, and a certain bit of humor. I admit I enjoyed some essays much more than others, but still found most to be informative and easy to read.

Thank you, NetGalley and Canongate for the opportunity to provide an honest review in exchange for the ebook.

I've never come across a story in which the first page, yes, the first page, put me off. But it was darn obnoxious that I was completely turned off to it.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

A very interesting and entertaining book about time, our perception of time, and how we became obsessed with it.
It is also very humorous at time and make laugh.
Really recommended.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate.

Timekeepers is a series of short essays on different views of time. I enjoyed reading the different stories, finding out about how The Beatles recorded their first LP record in less than a day was interesting, and being able to completely read one of the stories and set it aside without missing something. Garfield does a great job of bringing in history and explaining how time has changed. Depending on the situation, time can go by quickly or slowly, and Garfield gives examples of each throughout the book. This is a book I would give to others to help remind them that time is meant to be spent, but shouldn't be taken lightly.

“We work all hours so that we may eventually work less,” points out Simon Garfield in his book 'Timekeepers: How the World Became Obsessed With Time'. We are often at odds trying to reconcile these two extreme points of view: according to Garfield the most commonly used noun in the English language is time. He spends part of the first part of 'Timekeepers' pointing out how much we have structured our language and society around time and concepts of time. The condition of “nostalgia” is actually considered a serious affliction in the middle of the 19th century: a disease associated with time.

The first widespread need for cities to keep a common clock was with the advent of the railroads. Timetables listing departure and arrival times linked cities that previously would set their clocks based on local noon, or some other independent standard. The “aggression” of imposing London time on other parts of the country was met with resistance but ultimately of course lost out. The US was far worse, with almost 50 different time standards across the country. These early differences are in sharp contrast to an airport delay described in a later chapter, caused by adding a single second (a leap-second) to June 30.

Following the history of railroad timetables is a far more fascinating discussion of metronome markings in classical music, the metronome being a new invention at the time Beethoven was composing his Ninth Symphony. Although precise metronome markings should make an interpretation today far more exact, these markings have actually been the root of controversy ever since. Also interesting is Garfield’s short stint in Swiss watchmaking, including the requirements for a “Swiss watch,” and the perspective of individuals that resent the closed-shop environment it creates. As a continuation of his hands-on approach, the author spends time on a MINI car production line, produced using Just-In-Time principles.

Other topics covered in 'Timekeepers' include museum artifacts that mark time, and the setting of the well-known doomsday clock. These topics seem to be straying away from the theme of timekeeping precision (or timekeeping obsession) to a more abstract concept of time: time immemorial. Nick Ut’s famous picture of a Vietnamese girl fleeing a napalm attack is also covered, but it is not clear specifically what this has to do with time. These meanderings aside, Garfield has provided a welcome journey of a few hours’ duration through both well-traveled and less familiar paths.

TIMEKEEPERS is a collection of essays that all touch, somehow, on the topic of time. The author is witty, knowledgeable and wide-ranging in his choice of topics, and perhaps that is part of the problem. There is a lack of cohesiveness to the book; there is no overall obsessiveness as the title suggests. Rather the anecdotes and stories are mildly humorous and engaging rather like NPR radio tales suitable for car rides. The book is fine to read over time but difficult all at once. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

An interesting book on the philosophy of time, the history of clocks, and how the theology of time became an imposed structure by which society currently structures itself. This work is also an interesting reflection on our society with 'black hole' analogies to describe our increasingly fast paced living environment. The structure of the book can be a bit jumpy at times, but it also makes you acutely aware of how you use your own time.

Garfield writes a easy read, smoothly transitioning between his explorations of how we observe, mark, display, portray, are influenced by, and bound to time. From faster ways of getting to one place from another (speed records of trains in the 19th century), timing of Beethoven's symphonies, breaking a four minute "barrier" (I detest that term in its colloquial context, but whether sensational or lazy on the part of writers, it's a common fallback) for a human mile-runner, time management, movie-making, historically long speeches...there's something here that should interest just about anyone. Of course, there are elements that are not of interest to everyone (which some readers/reviewers lazily identify themselves as "bored") - details of watchmaking probably don't hold as much fascination for others as they do for me.

I think there is a good deal more exploration and Garfield did a very good job with his.

The book does not actually address, no less answer, the question embedded in the title.

I was disappointed because I thought this might be a micro-history of the idea of time, but instead was a series of loosely connected essays by the author. Some of them seemed only vaguely about the subject of time, like the long digression on the attempted rural planned village of Prince Charles. (Unsurprisingly, the author does not like the village or, apparently, Charles, who in his dotage has turned into a kind of human pinata for people of a wide variety of views and causes.)

Your enjoyment of the book may depend on the extent you share the author's enthusiasm. For example, the author is very interested in the high-end wristwatch trade, whereas even contemplating the idea of a Rolex makes me want to search the Internet for best methods to construct a life-size guillotine in my own backyard. As a result, the chapter on fancy timepieces failed to hold my fascination.

Although the author has visited, and writes about, many places outside the UK, he seems to have a very vague grasp of what the non-British might know about his native culture. I guess when he refers to the “[t]welve-year-old Margaret Roberts” (Kindle location 588), a many colonial readers will be able to puzzle out that this is future Margaret Thatcher, but perhaps only if they are over 30. They will also will probably be able to figure out from context that something “only a little more ordered than Portobello Market” (l. 4148) is probably pretty messy, even if they don't know where Portobello Market is. On the other hand, Hansard (l. 357), Michael Portillo (l. 833), Caractcus Pott (l. 950), the Potteries (l. 3437), and the slang word “dosh” (l. 2940) are only some examples of things largely unknown outside the Sceptred Isle.

I received an egalley copy of this book free of charge. Thanks to Netgalley and Canongate Books for their generosity.

I really enjoyed the book, I felt the information was displayed well and that background was thoroughly researched. I would recommend this book.

‘We work all hours so that we may eventually work less. We have invented quality time to distinguish it from that other time.’

Many of us are obsessed with time. People like me, for whom punctuality is a virtue of the first order, are continually dismayed and occasionally stressed by those for whom time is a relaxed, relative concept. We measure time, apportion it across the tasks we need to complete, try to allocate enough for human functions like eating and sleeping and, if there is any minute left unallocated, find some other activity with which to fill it. Or, perhaps that is just me?

‘Timekeepers’ was a perfect read for me. It gave me some insight into how (and why) we’ve become fixated on increasingly accurate measures of time. I learned about the French Revolutionary Calendar (and having read about it, can understand why I’d never heard of it before), found out more about the art and science involved in watchmaking than I’ll ever need to know, and wondered about the timing that Beethoven really wanted for his 9th Symphony.

Mr Garfield has included a lot of interesting information in this book. While I knew about US Senator Strom Thurmond’s 24 hour 18 minute speech in August 1957, I didn’t know that the Beatles recorded their first LP (excluding the singles) in less than one day in 1963. There is information as well about developments in recording music: those of us old enough to have heard recordings on the old 78 rpm records will know how much has changed!

‘Time once passive is now aggressive. It dominates our lives in ways that the earliest clockmakers would have surely found unbearable.’

As I read this book, I wondered about a few aspects of timekeeping. When did accuracy become so important? Was it necessary before the advent of train timetables? Has increasingly accurate measure of time driven timetabling, or is it the other way around? Is the level of accuracy in timekeeping required for (say) aircraft and train scheduling as important in other aspects of life?

I was reminded, too, how time can feel different. If you’ve waited in an emergency ward, or waited for a telephone call, minutes can feel like hours. If you’ve been in an accident, it often feels like everything is happening in slow motion. On the other hand, if you’ve been to an enjoyable event, hours seem to pass like minutes. Yes, I guess that time can be relative as well as absolute.

I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in time, and how we measure it.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Canongate Books for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith