Rating: 
Summary: Poor writing, questionable observations, bigotry
Review: A poorly written book on a subject that deserves a better treatment. Some parts of this book are truly interesting, such as how time was reckoned prior to the introduction of standard time and how standard time came about. Most of the book, however, rambles on and on with the questionable observations and interpretations of the author. Particularly annoying is his use of the subject to endorse his quaint belief in Darwinism, his odd environmental views (somehow he finds his view that the world is "warming" relevant to the 19th century quest for standard time)and to position himself as oh-so-politically-(and academically) correct. He even adds a totally gratuitous afterward to express his bigoted views of Southerners. If you're fascinated with this book because of the title (Dr. Who fans are most likely to be deceived) forget it, it doesn't live up to it. If you must read this book, wait until the public library makes the mistake of buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Huh?
Review: As a cartographer, I looked forward to reading this book with the same professional interest that I gave Longitude by Dava Sobel. What I discovered was a very thin topic, fattened up with the author's personal observations and weak ties to the era of Fleming.Ten pages on Fleming and Standard Time in Wired magazine would have been a better use of print.
Rating: 
Summary: A good article, not a book
Review: I too came into Blaise's Tim Lord with the outstanding book Longitude on my mind. While Blaise made some very good points to set the situation up, his failure to realy follow through is disappointing. The author has taken what was at heart a very good article and stretched it out into a thin book. Unfortunately, something had to suffer. It is obvious that the author is impressed by Sanford Fleming, but his fondness is for the whole man's accomplishments, not just Standard Time. So as a result we are treated to a lot of forshadowing of Fleming's role with the trans-pacific cable, but of course since it does not relate to the Standard Time issue, it is left hanging. Some of his observations about time were very interesting, and helped set the whole story in context very well. But then he would go off ruminating about the aesthetics of time, or try to set the whole time issue in the context of Victorian changes and Sherlock Holmes, which was just fluff. It didn't say much. It read like a school child trying to puff up his report so it matches the teacher's minimum requirements. Maybe I'm being harsh because I misread Blaise's thesis, but it seemed that he spent more time on time than on society and the effects of time standardization. The conference itself, setting time zones and the prime meridian is almost anticlimactic in it's place. I came away learning about why we have 24 time zones, why the Prime Meridian is in Greenwich, and that the railroads set their own time for a good part of the 1800's. Other than that, I took very little form this book, and very little about who Sanford Fleming was, outside of someone who missed a train and did something about it. This book could have been so much more.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed in Blaise's book about Sandford Fleming and the Creation of Standard time. The book goes into some background about Fleming, which I found very interesting. The point incident that leads Fleming into developing and advocating a Standard Time is also very good. Unfortunately, Blaise loses me by changing the topic to the impact that the railroads had on the Victorian lifestyle, and his pages regarding Sherlock Holmes. I was hoping for more insight into the Prime Meridian conferences, but it didin't happen. I thought Hochschild's 'King Leopold's Ghost' a much better historical book.
Rating: 
Summary: Time Lord is definitely worth the time
Review: If you are looking for a straightforward and potentially superficial narrative on the history of standard time, Time Lord is unlikely to satisfy. But if you enjoy writers who challenge and delight with bold ideas and stirring insight, Time Lord by Clark Blaise will surely earn a favored spot on your bookshelf. Blaise is no ordinary writer and Time Lord is no ordinary history book. It may not be an easy read throughout, but it is definitely a compelling and rewarding one for any reader who revels in being roused to think and reflect. Rather than take the obvious and well-trodden paths of conventional biographies, Blaise has produced an enlightening treatise on time in a style that is at once literary and accessible. Yes, dates, places, people and events are offered. Sir Sandford Fleming's story is ably told. And wonderful anecdotes are related. "Notes on Time and Victorian Science" is a particularly fascinating chapter, especially in its description of what happened when the telegraph came to outlying Scottish villages in the early 1850s: "Country folk appeared with their messages tightly rolled, imagining they'd be able to jam them, literally, through the copper wires." (It gets even better!) But what Blaise does best is to transport the reader beyond the obvious, providing unexpected insights (personal and historic) on the creation of standard time and its impact on the world around us - including art, literature and, of course, the standardization of train schedules. On first read, "The Aesthetics of Time" would seem to be the most problematic chapter. Although beautifully written, it initially begs the question: does it really belong? On second reading, however, it emerges as the most daring and rewarding chapter, with the potential to forever influence the way you read a classic novel or view a great work of art. Time Lord is a remarkable tour of the Victorian Age and Clark Blaise is a skilled and illuminating guide. It is most definitely worth the journey.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating and provocative
Review: In one of the most fascinating books I have recently read, Clark Blaise discursively recounts the story of Sanford Fleming -- who devoted many years of his life to the creation of a world-wide standard time -- pursuing every congruent topic that he touches on along the way. It is hard to imagine a world without a universally accepted standard for measuring time, and Blaise makes us aware of what the stakes were, both practially and philosophically, when the need for such a standard finally reached critical mass in the late 19th century. Blaise's discursive approach is not to eveyone' s taste -- see the wide discrepancy of rankings this book has received -- but for those who like to follow tangents, it makes for fascinating reading. This book is in many ways a revelation on a subject that we take for granted but that thinking persons should know about: Time and its measurement. If it leads you to seek out other, more traditional narratives on the subject, so much the better. But if this is the only book you read on it, it will stimulate thought on several levels -- and that's not a bad thing.
Rating:
Summary: How one scientist founded the basis for standardized time
Review: Painstaking researched and accessibly written by Clark Blaise, Time Lord: Sir Sandford Fleming And The Creation Of Standard Time is the scientific history of how one scientist founded the basis for standardized time. The time system developed by Sir Standford Fleming and which was formally adopted in 1884, divided the world into two dozen global time zones and is a system that is utilized by everyone on Earth today. An amazing history of science, politics, nationalism, and one of the great accomplishments of the Victorian Era, Time Lord is a remarkable presentation of how one nineteenth century scientist's ground breaking and accurate measuring of the phenomenon of time and geography has changed the world.
Rating:
Summary: Another author needs to do this subject justice
Review: Poor Fleming and his contemporaries at the Prime Meridian Conference - they deserve a much better account of their accomplishments than this mess. There's some great history hidden in this book, including a wonderful drawing of what life was like for a railroad traveler before standard time was established. However, it is totally buried in the author's personal ruminations about time and the railroad's part in cultural history. I suppose this could have been interesting if the author had an engaging and knowledgeable voice - but to be honest, I felt like I was stuck listening to a boring relative go on about his personal theories at a holiday dinner. It also was a bad sign for me when the only time I found these analysis sections interesting was when he was reporting other historian's theories - as soon as he put his take on things, I found the arguments far more wandering, strained and pointless. I am also not heartened to learn, glancing through other reviews, that some of his facts are apparently erroneous. What a disappointment. I hope someone else takes up this fascinating subject, dusts off the useless analysis, and lets the world discover one of the greatest and most long-lasting inventions of the 19th century with an engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: The title of this book drew my interest. Unfortunately, the book never delivered on what I thought was a very interesting subject. During an age when the different parts of the world followed their own clocks, it made me realized how confusing and disconnected the world was. I was fascinated to learn how the railroads became the time keepers, but disappointed as the Author seemed to spend more time discussing the impact of the railroad rather than delivering more on Fleming and/or standard time. I had hoped to get a good understanding of Sandford Fleming, his contempararies, and the Prime Meridian Conference. There were parts of this book that where an effort to get through. All in all, I found this book not delivering on the subject. Books that I thought did a better job on regarding historical events were: Longitude - Dava Sobel
King Leopold's Ghost - A. Hochschild
Rating:
Summary: False facts
Review: This book has some important and obvious inaccuracies that any competent fact-checker should have caught. He says that the boulevards of Baron Haussman in Paris as built as a modernist reaction to the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War... but in fact they were built prior to that war. He refers to Ottawa as a backwater known as "Bytown" in the 1840s prior to Confederation, but in fact Ottawa was created as part of the union of Upper and Lower Canada in 1840. He seems unaware of this pre-Confederation union. What worries me is, what is inaccurate that I don't know about?
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