Description

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

‘An exquisite book, beautifully put together… What a very wonderful book.’ STEPHEN FRY
‘Forty-thousand years of our relationship with time condensed into 288 pages: a hugely entertaining achievement.’ ESQUIRE
‘5/5 A true joy. A work of staggering complexity and bewildering economy.’ TELEGRAPH
‘A rattling, wonderful read.’ OBSERVER
‘Every page glitters’ SPECTATOR
‘Mesmerising’ NEW STATESMAN
‘Absolutely gorgeous. It blew my socks off’ JAY BLADES
‘An intensely personal, finely-tuned meditation. A beautiful book’ EDMUND DE WAAL
‘Beautiful, bewitching and brilliant’ LARA MAIKLEM

In Hands of Time, watchmaker and historian Rebecca Struthers welcomes us into the hidden world of watchmaking, and to a history of time that spans centuries and continents.

The invention of timepieces was more significant for human culture than the printing press, or even the wheel. They have travelled the world with us, from the depths of the oceans to the summit of Everest, and even to the Moon. They regulate our daily lives and have sculpted the social and economic development of society in surprising and dramatic ways.

From her workshop bench, Rebecca explores the ways in which timekeeping has indelibly shaped our attitudes to work, leisure, trade, politics, exploration and mortality, and introduces us to some extraordinary devices, each with their own story to tell. Hands of Time is an intricate exploration of the history, science, philosophy, and craft of timekeeping.

Publisher Review

An intensely personal, finely-tuned meditation on making and time-keeping. This is a beautiful book.' -- Edmund de Waal An absolutely gorgeous book about craft, time and history. Hands of Time really captures what it means to be a craftsperson and why it matters. It blew my socks off. -- Jay Blades 'Rebecca Struthers dismantles and reassembles time as she would an antique pocket watch. Beautiful, bewitching and brilliant.' -- Lara Maiklem As impeccably crafted and precisely engineered as any of the watches on which the author has worked so lovingly over the years, this book is a joy to behold and a wonder to enjoy. -- Simon Winchester 'As exquisitely-crafted as a Georgian pocket-watch, this fascinating book weaves the threads of personal memoir with the story of a profession that has until now been almost entirely overlooked. Through the lens of watch-making, a new understanding of our world history emerges. Beautifully written and endlessly fascinating, it feels like this was a story waiting to be written.' -- Tracy Borman A masterpiece. As intricate and impressive as the watches it describes. -- James Fox From 40,000 year old bone etchings, through the first tick-tock and into the nanoscale atomic world of 21st century clocks, Hands of Time is a meticulously written and captivating history. Struthers brings her unique perspective as artisan and engineer to explore both the evolution of mechanisms and the complicated ways in which timekeeping has changed human life: the more we measure this intangible cosmic property, the more precious it becomes. -- Rebecca Wragg Sykes An enthralling story of time, and of the human passion to understand and control it. Anyone who enjoyed Dava Sobel's Longitude will love it. -- Gavin Francis As an engineer I was enthralled by the intricate mechanisms Dr. Struthers brings to life so vividly. But what really struck me is her personal journey in horology, and her fascinating stories of how timepieces affected society and culture, ultimately shaping our modern lives. -- Roma Agrawal