"My Own Right Time--An Exploration of Clockwork Design," by Philip Woodward, is a welcome new addition to horological literature. It is published by Oxford University Press (Oxford; New York; Tokyo). ISBN 0 19 856 522 4.

Specialist booksellers in the U.S. may have copies before Christmas. It is an attractive book and is readable without a great deal of sophistication while simultaneously being a feast and a challenge for the very knowledgeable. The author is a professional mathematician and a lifelong amateur clockmaker. He takes the reader quickly through his adolescent experiments with Meccano, to a series of pendulum clocks he has built through the years (Named W2, W3, etc), to his present W5, a totally-mechanical, weight-driven slave pendulum/free pendulum clock, described in text, drawings, and photographs. He also presents much material in addition to describing his own clocks, and adds excellent discussions of stability, "flicker noise" and the problems which arise as one approaches the limits of pendulum accuracy. There are many very useful charts and graphs and a welcome absence of difficult equations. Finally, it must be said that Woodward is one of those technicians who also comes up with mechanisms which are well-proportioned, appropriately finished, and elegant. W5 can hold its own, aesthetically as well as technically, with the finest works of the masters.

Review by Alan Heldman

/ Clock Books / New Books