Mapping Time: The Calendar and its History

'The Calendar' contains descriptions of a selection of the calendars of the world and their history. There are introductory chapters on the nature of calendars, their astronomical background, and the history of writing and counting. There are also Chapters on the Week and on the history of Calendar reform. There is a section on methods of converting dates in one calendar to dates in another which are suitable for implementation on a hand calculator or computer; these include a discussion of the calculation of the date of Easter. The book is intended for the general reader rather than for the specialist but contains much material not otherwise easily accessible. There is an extensive bibliography.

Table of Contents:
List of tables List of algorithms List of illustrations Preface Introduction Part I: The Calendar in Theory 1: The Calendar 2: The Astronomical Background 3: Time and the Clock 4: Writing and Libraries 5: Numbers and Arithmetic 6: The Variety of Calendars 7: The Reform of the Calendar Part II: The Calendars of the World 8: Introduction 9: Prehistoric Calendars 10: The Calendars of Babylon and the Near East 11: The Egyptian Calendar 12: The Calendars of China and Eastern Asia 13: The Calendars of India 14: The Mayan and Aztec Calendars 15: Four European Calendars 16: The Roman and Julian Calendar 17: The Jewish Calendar 18: The Islamic and Bahai's Calendars 19: The Gregorian Calendar 20: The French Republican Calendar 21: The Week Part III: Calendar Conversions 22: Calendar Conversions 23: Mathematical Notes 24: To Calculate the Day of the Week 25: The Conversion of Regular Calendars 26: The Jewish Calendar 27: The Maya Calendar Part IV: Easter 28: A Short History of Easter 29: The Date of Easter Sunday 30: A Book of Hours Appendices I Astronomical Constants: II The Names of the Days of the Week: III The Names of the Days of the Year in the French Republican Calendar: IV Glossary V Further reading Index

About the Author :
E. G. (Edward Graham) Richards was formerly a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biophysics at King's College, University of London. His interest in the calendar was sparked when he wrote and published computer programmes for converting dates from one calendar to another. An historical note on the various calendars included in the exercise was intended to accompany the programmes but as the author's appetite for knowledge about the calendars grew, so did the note. It eventually became, after many years of research, this book. Dr Richards and his wife live in London.

Review :
`This is a work of enthusiastic research. Richards makes even the most arcane complications arising from the accident of Earth's spin and orbit seem facinating.' New Scientist Sat 28th November 1998. `..a substantial work, perhaps more useful as a reference tool than David Ewing Duncan's more story-oriented Calender' Library Journal `This is a book full of fascinating snippets of information....a fascinating book to dip into, though not necessarily to read in one great gulp. This is a great buy for Christmas for that pedant in your life, who will enjoy explaining the origins and foundations of calenders and time itself' Morning Star, Monday 14th December 1998 `...an easily accesible mine of material....the mathematics never obtrudes. It gives the book stiffening, and those who are tempted to skip it will be left with a rather weak medley of history...those who read his account carefully will emerge with a good idea of what a lunae-solar calender is....Richards does not flinch from some useful tabulations of his material, and he does grasp the underlying mechanisms' Times Literary Supplement, Friday 11th December 1998 `....there could be no more timely book....a historical and multicultural over-view of calender making' The Sunday Times `This is a work of enthusuastic research.....Ricahrds makes even the most arcane complications arrising from the accident of the Earth's spin and orbit seem fascinating' New Scientist