(poor old fashioned layout; select the beautiful 62,61 mb pdf-file instead!)This fascinating book fully addresses a topic of much general interest by drawing together a wealth of diverse material on the much-trusted (and rarely disputed) phenomenon we know as the calendar. From the fundamentals of astronomy to the world's ancient time-keeping schemes, from the development of the modern-day calendar to the precise calculation of what happens when (as in, how does one arrive at the date for Easter Sunday?), this is a skillful yet approachable discussion of the calendar from both the historical and contemporary perspectives. Readers will even learn how to perform experiments and calculations for themselves by using such basic techniques as stargazing and simple mathematics.