About Time, by David Rooney

Whether understood as a concept or a tool, time is elusive and can be perceived and put to use in myriad ways. History is full of examples, and itself serves to show the ever-increasing importance time has played in regulating our lives. This is the theme of Rooney's engrossing study. Using clocks and other measuring devices as a lens for charting our relationship to time--one that has grown to represent many aspects of our lives--he shows how various leaders, institutions, and ordinary individuals have used time to signify qualities ranging from grandeur to piety to learning.