Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time

A good history of how we got to now regarding Daylight Saving(s) Time. The author's research appears to have mostly been archived U.S. newspaper articles. He is somewhat skeptical of the energy benefits touted over the years. It is an easy and fun read. He brings a lot to light, though he never discovered exactly where the (s) came from.Here is a synopsis: DST was invented by upper- and upper-middle class city folk who wanted to engage in outdoor leisure activities after work - golf, rifle range time, or whatever. It started in the UK and then spread to the U.S. at the end of WWI. Junk science energy benefits were typically the pretext. It was resisted at first when most people were farmers because farmers live by the sun, and in the era of small farms that made daily deliveries of milk and other produce, the time switch made life difficult - dew still on the ground, farm wives still having lunch ready at high noon, not official noon, etc. There were many confusing and uncoordinated attempts at DST over the years among the various states and municipalities, which played havoc on the lives of people, particularly those riding the rails, as America moved out of the "farm age" and into the "office age". New York City started DST as a permanent fixture in the U.S., and from there it was basically the rest of the U.S. trying to start their day an hour earlier to keep their business day coordinated.Topics not covered that should have been include a more detailed analysis/charting of the hours of daylight and how it varies by time of year and latitude, or how increased home use of A/C in hot areas would negate any of the old minimal light bulb-based energy savings; and psychological/medical studies of changing people's circadian rhythms. I took a quick look at the Wikipedia page on the topic, which has the kind of analysis that this book lacks... but then this book was written in 2005, before Wikipedia was big.

Michael Downing's Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time is one of two books about Daylight Saving Time that were published in 2005, the other being Seize the Daylight by David Prerau. Downing and Prerau cover much of the same ground in their respective volumes, both authors detailing the complex history of DST since its adoption in England and the U.S. during World War I. But there are, of course, differences between the two books. Downing's is a shade more conversational in tone than Prerau's, and Downing seems to be less sold on the benefits of DST than Prerau, his relative negativity toward the time shift perhaps signaled in the "Madness" of his subtitle. Another difference between the two books is that Prerau's approach to telling the story of DST is primarily chronological, while Downing adopts more of a thematic approach to the subject. He offers chapters on DST and sports, for example, on New York City's role in the DST debate, and on the oddities of time management--sidereal days vs. solar days, solar months vs. lunar months, and so on.Certainly Downing provides information in Spring Forward that Prerau does not include in his book. Downing offers a fuller account of the 1966 U.S. legislation that regularized (more or less) DST, and he writes about the attempts of various Pacific island states to profit from the millennial celebrations by tinkering with their clocks. But on the whole Prerau's Seize the Daylight is the more thorough and informative of the two books. Prerau's approach to the subject is easier to follow and, frankly, his book is simply a more interesting read. If you have the time, as it were, by all means read both books. But if you're going to read just one book about DST, I recommend you make it Prerau's Seize the Daylight.Debra Hamel -- author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003)

This a very interesting book telling the story about how the Daylight Saving Time (DST) was established in the U.S. mainly, but also mentions the story of the process in other countries. It is really surprising to learn that the original objective of this practice; which was the energy saving by means of advancing the clocks one hour during the longest days of the year became surpassed by many other commercial interests now rulling the beginning and ending of this not so popular idea. The reading of this book is light and attracting and at the end the reader can definitely pose to himself a lot of questions regarding the adoption of the DST. For instance, the most obvious: If DST is intended to take advantage of the longest days of the year, i.e.: those days in which the daylight lasts for more than 12 hours occuring between the equinoxes (March 21st through September 22nd), how come it has been imposed to last well beyond such time span? Technically, there is no point in forcing DST to go on beyond Fall equinox.I am sure the readers will find this book interesting and definitely worth reading.

This is one of those books that will appeal to those who always wonder why things are the way they are. Downing introduces his subject by listing all of the explanations he's heard for the existence of Daylight Saving Time and the various dates he's heard it was enacted. The stories are inconsistent and none of them make much sense. Dowling's curiosity about what the real story behind Daylight Saving Time was the impetus behind his writing this book and my reading the book. I wasn't disappointed.Downing begins with the origination of the idea of Daylight Saving in England, takes you through its first implementation in Germany during WWI, quickly followed by Allied nations including the United States. The story is interesting in that the debate surrounding Daylight Savings has been more or less active from 1918 forward. The players usually don't come down on the side you've been led to believe by your parents and the media.This is a great book for those who see what most people perceive as non-noteworthy occurences and feel the need to understand how they came to be. Highly recommended.