The Calendar: The 5000-year Struggle to Align the Clock and the Heavens - and what Happened to the Missing Ten Days

A very good copy of David Ewing Duncan's fascinating exploration into the history and science of timekeeping. This paperback edition, published in 1999, delves into "The 5,000-year struggle to align the heavens with the clock and what happened to the missing ten days." Duncan expertly details how measuring the daily and yearly cycles of the cosmos has always been a complex endeavor, leading to a myriad of calendrical systems – from the Buddhist year 2544 to the Ancient Egyptian 6236, or simply the Chinese Year of the Dragon, all concurrent with the Western year 2000. The narrative weaves through the historical creation of the Western calendar, involving powerful figures like emperors and popes, alongside brilliant mathematicians and dedicated monks. It tracks the evolution of scientific calculation to a point where our modern atomic pulses measure time with an accuracy that surpasses the Earth's own slightly eccentric rotation, which loses half a second a century. The book recounts intriguing tales of time manipulation, such as Julius Caesar adding 80 days in 46BC, Pope Gregory XIII famously ditching ten days in 1582, and Augustus 'pinching' a day from February to inflate his own month. 'The Calendar' brilliantly links politics, religion, astronomy, and mathematics, drawing connections between figures as diverse as Cleopatra and Stephen Hawking. Published on the eve of the millennium, it also touches upon the contemporary anxieties surrounding the 'Y2K' bug, making it a timely and relevant read upon its release. This copy is in Very Good condition, offering a compelling journey through the annals of time.

• Author: Duncan, David Ewing
• Publisher: Fourth Estate
• Year: 1999
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• ISBN: 9781857029796