Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar Hardcover - 1999 - 1st Edition

Summary

First line

Fifteen miles south of Washington, D.C., abreast the Potomac River where it flows through the verdant countryside of Virginia, stands Mount Vernon, the home and tomb of George Washington, first president of the United States.

From the rear cover

"Our various calendars are part of the music and art of life, not stark science." --Duncan Steel Did you know?...

• Russia's October Revolution in 1917 actually occurred on November 7th
For centuries, Britain and the colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th
• The Roman Empire originally observed an eight-day week
The anno Domini (A.D.) year-counting system is wrong, and Jesus' birth actually occurred some years before December 25, I B.C.

These are just a few of the little-known facts that you will find in acclaimed author Duncan Steel's eye-opening chronicle of the evolution of the calendar, Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. Steel takes you across the full span of recorded history, behind the seismic shifts within politics., religion, and science, and examines the ways in which people and events forged the calendar that we have today. Starting with Stonehenge and the first written records of the year and the day by the Sumerians around 3500 B.C., Marking Time charts the calendar's ever-changing, erratic trajectory--from the Egyptians' reliance on the star Sirius to the numbering of the years, linked to the celebration of Easter in Christian churches. You will also gain insight into:

• The mystery of the missing ten days
The Venerable Bede and the origins of the anno Domini dating system
• How and why comets have been used as clocks
Julius Caesar's 445-day-long Year of Confusion
• Why there is no year zero between I B.C. and I A.D.
Whether the year 2100 should be a double-leap year

A provocative history lesson and a unique, entertaining read rolled into one, Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the random, hit-or-miss nature of our calendar's development--a quality that parallels the growth of civilization itself. What results is a truthful, and, above all, very human view of the calendar as we know it. After reading Marking Time, you will never look at the calendar the same way again.

From the jacket flap

"Our various calendars are part of the music and art of life, not stark science." --Duncan Steel Did you know?...

• Russia's October Revolution in 1917 actually occurred on November 7th
For centuries, Britain and the colonies rang in the New Year on March 25th
• The Roman Empire originally observed an eight-day week
The anno Domini (A.D.) year-counting system is wrong, and Jesus' birth actually occurred some years before December 25, I B.C.

These are just a few of the little-known facts that you will find in acclaimed author Duncan Steel's eye-opening chronicle of the evolution of the calendar, Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. Steel takes you across the full span of recorded history, behind the seismic shifts within politics., religion, and science, and examines the ways in which people and events forged the calendar that we have today. Starting with Stonehenge and the first written records of the year and the day by the Sumerians around 3500 B.C., Marking Time charts the calendar's ever-changing, erratic trajectory--from the Egyptians' reliance on the star Sirius to the numbering of the years, linked to the celebration of Easter in Christian churches. You will also gain insight into:

• The mystery of the missing ten days
The Venerable Bede and the origins of the anno Domini dating system
• How and why comets have been used as clocks
Julius Caesar's 445-day-long Year of Confusion
• Why there is no year zero between I B.C. and I A.D.
Whether the year 2100 should be a double-leap year

A provocative history lesson and a unique, entertaining read rolled into one, Marking Time will leave you with a sense of awe at the random, hit-or-miss nature of our calendar's development--a quality that parallels the growth of civilization itself. What results is a truthful, and, above all, very human view of the calendar as we know it. After reading Marking Time, you will never look at the calendar the same way again.

Media reviews

Citations

• Booklist, 10/15/1999, Page 402
• Kirkus Reviews, 10/01/1999, Page 1564
• Publishers Weekly, 10/25/1999, Page 62