Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Islamic History > Item 156
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Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History
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by E. G. Richards
Sales Rank: 462962
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List Price: $48.00
$31.68
At Amazon
on 6-18-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 438 pages
Published by: Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition March 30, 2000
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0192862057
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0192862051
Book Dimensions:
7.6 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
Weighs: 1.1 pounds
From Library Journal
Both of these books are devoted to the question of how the world came to agree on what day it was. Both are written for a general audience although Richards is an academic, and his book is the more scholarly. Richards also has a more global perspective, whereas Duncan focuses on the calendar in the West.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
The approach of the millennium has generated a spate of books on the history of our calendar. Here's an especially good one. According to Richards, the calendar originated in humanitys desire to track the natural phenomena on which life in primiti ve society depended. Seasonal cycles of crop growth and animal migrations relate to the sun; tides relate to phases of the moon; and the cycle of dark and light caused by Earth's rotation makes itself manifest every day. But the relationships among these three astronomical phenomena cannot be expressed simply. Much of the history of calendars has to do with compromises made in trying to juxtapose these three cycles. At the same time, in almost every culture, the religious impulse has imposed its overlay o n the calendar. Days of the week (an arbitrary but convenient division of time) were given names related to ancient gods or to planets associated with them spiritually; each of the major religions boasts its own calendar, with its own succession of season s and holy days. After outlining the science of calendar-making, Richards describes many calendars used over the ages, including the Mayan and Aztec, and the French Revolution's attempt to divorce timekeeping from religion. The mathematics of calendars is given due attention, especially the calculation of the day of the week for past dates, and conversions between calendarse.g., from our Gregorian calendar to the Jewish or Mayan counterparts. A final section discusses problems caused in Western calendars by the shifting date of Easter, estimated by a complex formula, and a major bone of contention among the various denominations. Appendices provide useful astronomical constants, the names of the days of the week in sundry languages, the French Revolutiona ry calendar, and a glossary of technical terms. Clearly written and filled with detail, this will be a strong contender in the calendar-book sweepstakes. (76 illustrations) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This is a nice examination of the different calendars and methods of mapping time that humans have employed over the centuries. On the surface it has the air of a dusty reference book, but inside the author is often witty and amusing as he covers the histories and backgrounds of different dating systems. I'm especially impressed by his inclusion of the different algorithms used to calculate dates, of Easter for example, which are marvelously complex. Most readers will never have occasion to use these algorithms, but its nice to know they're there. I also appreciated the charts and the glossary of the more obscure calendrical terms.
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Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History
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Price: $31.68
Updated on 6-18-2008.
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