Sundials: Their Theory and Construction

by Albert Waugh

Book Overview

Have you every wanted to build a sundial or to understand how one works? Then you have probably been frustrated as you search vainly for help. Most books on the subject are either rare out-of-print works published centuries ago and available only in highly specialized collections, or highly complicated treatises whose information is hidden behind frightening arrays of involved formulas. But now your search is over. This book is designed to meet sundialing...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486229475
• ISBN13: 9780486229478
• Release Date: June 1973
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Great

The book is very good and easy for everybody to learn about sundials, I indicate the book as a great product.

Excellent book

I learnt a lot from this book and the one by Mayall. I strongly recommend you to purchase this if you are looking for technical details on sundial construction. My eagle eye picked up some spelling errors but none that were too serious.

For the dial-builder

No other book, as far as I know, gives such clear detail about making your own sundials. That word seems so narrow; Waugh covers much more of solar time-telling than just dials. One thing that amazes me is his passion. He writes with clear pride about his own sundials, good to within (he says) ten seconds! This book covers graphical or analytic techniques for laying out sundials on just about any surface that doesn't move, horizontal, vertical (facing any direction), slanted, or even the ceiling. He also discusses the movable kind, like a "shepherd's dial". It has nothing inherently to do with sheep, but can be used anywhere, even without knowing true north. The historian may be disappointed. This is not a catalogue of sundials through the ages, although bits of history are scattered throughout. In one sense, though, this is a view into the time of its writing (1973). A modern reader, with access to modern calculators and computers, will be amused if not puzzled by some of tricks used to make hand computation more feasible. I don't know anyone any more who multiplies by adding logs, and the circumlocutions around negative logarithms look positively quaint. The only real flaw in this book is its systematic omission of half the world: the southern hemispehere. It wouldn't have been so hard to add just a paragraph or two about sundials that work "backwards".Although this book celebrates the craft and art that can go into a sundial, its real value is technical. This book gives the essential methods for the functional side of a solar time-piece; bring your own artistry.

Best book on sundials I've ever seen

This book not only covers everything from time itself to noon marks to fancy sundials, it is well written and fun to read - a rare combination in a "technical" book.

The all-time classic work on dialing.

Albert Waugh's "Sundials: Their Theory and Construction" is a veritable treasure-house of information on the ancient science of gnomonics. As a dedicated dialist of several years, I never could have achieved such wonderful results without Waugh's classic book. The work presents the art of building sundials from two perspectives: for the advanced dialist, Waugh's book approaches the theory from a highly complex, mathematical viewpoint, including some aspects of celestial mechanics; for the average "do-it-yourself-er", Waugh presents several projects that are simple and well-explained. Accompanying this fine work is a collection of solar tables, astronomical information, and various data of inestimable value that would alone justify the purchase price of the book. So whether your purpose is to further your technical interest in the fascinating science of gnomonics, or merely to build an attractive sundial for your garden over the weekend, "Sundial! s: Their Theory and Construction" should be in your collection. It is considered the very "bible" of dialmaking. I couldn't brag about it more had I written it myself!