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The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction

Online ISBN:
9780191776076
Print ISBN:
9780192804990
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction

Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Leofranc Holford-Strevens
Oxford University Press
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Published:
11 August 2005
Online ISBN:
9780191776076
Print ISBN:
9780192804990
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar? The History of Time: A Very Short Introduction explores these questions using a range of fascinating examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year, to the 1920s' project for a fixed Easter. The organisation of time into hours, days, months and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than most people realise.

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