The Book of Hours

In 1370, Cologne became the first city to install a large clock in its town square. Almost immediately, a mania developed for precise schedules and timetables. Workers had to start work at the same time, and take lunch breaks of exactly one hour. Three centuries later, Paris became the first city to introduce streetlights, overriding people’s previous inclination to go home to bed when darkness fell. Over the centuries time measurement became ever more accurate, creating the coordination and regimentation that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution.

In The Siesta and the Midnight Sun: How Our Bodies Experience Time, Jessa Gamble, a science writer based in Yellowknife, traces the long history of attempts to manipulate our biological clocks for the sake of progress. In Canada, there have never been so many chains of coffee shops serving so many different kinds of java to...