Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History
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First Sentence
Some have likened the calendar to a clock; this is, of course, a mistake. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Some have likened the calendar to a clock; this is, of course, a mistake. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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7 reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Past Perfect
18 Sep 2001
Format:Paperback
One of several books written in anticipation of the millennium, "Mapping Time: The Calendar and Its History" by E. G. Richards suffers from an especially heavy burden of typographical errors. As can be seen on the author's own web page, the address of which also is incorrect, there are hundreds of errors, some of which affect the accuracy of the account. For example, on page 208, January 1 came to mark the beginning of the Roman civil year in 153 BC, not 158 BC, and was in response to the Second Celtiberian War in Spain. Rather than wait until the middle of March for consuls to assume office, the new year was moved to the first of January so the Roman commander could depart with his legions that much sooner. It is a pity that so many errors compromise an otherwise informative history. Until they can be corrected, a better introduction to the calendar is "The Oxford Companion to the Year."
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Interesting but flawed
18 May 2000
Format:Paperback
Very interesting history of the major calendar systems used around the world, both in the present day and in the past. It also gets into the mathematics of how to convert between calendar systems, including algorithms suitable for computer programming. Unfortunately, there are numerous typographical errors in the narrative and in the algorithms! The word "temperature" where the author clearly meant "temperate", substitution of "*" for "-" in a formula, etc. So far, I have been able to correct the formula for computing the day of the week and the formula for computing the date of Easter. I'm not looking forward to tackling the other algorithms. Did anyone proofread this before it was printed? Maybe the publisher could put up an errata sheet on their web site.
Good for the history, but be prepared to do some algebra if you want to use the algorithms.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Erudite But Fun
18 July 2003
Format:Paperback
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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