Read it after a previous recommendation on HN, and it's one of the most interesting and effectively-written books I've ever read.
Sobel did a great job in editing down the history to an engrossing tale, even if you're not the type of person who would normally be interested in marine chronography.
Made me appreciate the differences between the before-clock and after-clock worlds.
Another related set of differences to appreciate is between before-GMT and after-GMT worlds.
Before standardized time, it was very difficult to coordinate. Most US towns would have their own local time (think church steeples ringing out the hours), and there were 80+ different time standards across the country. In Massachusetts, for example, there were differences between Boston time and Worcester time, two cities that are ~45 miles apart.
Trains had trouble coordinating: if you're using the same sets of tracks, it's essential that you have a very good idea of where trains are going to be. Unfortunately, there were many collisions between trains as a result of mismatched times between the conductors and stations. [1]
In 1849, William Bond (owner of William Bond & Sons’ Boston) partnered with Harvard to offer the first standardized time from Harvard College Observatory. Time standardization between railroads, which started as a voluntary agreement, became mandatory after the Valley Falls collision. [2] As use of the telegraph spread, time standardization began to spread as well.
The idea of a train conductor holding a pocket watch has become quaint now, but it used to be the difference between life and death for passengers. Part of the cause of the Valley Falls collision (and several others) was a train conductor with a faulty pocket watch.
Another interesting rabbit hole to go down is the standardization of the prime meridian, why Greenwich was chosen [3] (hence Greenwich Mean Time [4]), and why the French were so upset about this (part of the reason time today is called UTC). Part of the reason GMT is the standard has to do with what Sobel discusses at the end of the book [5]: Nevil Maskelyne, the primary antagonist, published The Nautical Almanac, which was for many years the primary reference of sailors across the globe when determining time. All measurements for that book were taken from Greenwich; hence, when governments went to standardize a prime meridian, Greenwich was the obvious choice.
Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments has a fun collection of clocks that illustrate the challenges related to this. [6] It's a small but underrated museum when looking at places to go in Cambridge.
Sobel did a great job in editing down the history to an engrossing tale, even if you're not the type of person who would normally be interested in marine chronography.
Made me appreciate the differences between the before-clock and after-clock worlds.