Author of Time at Home

If the little hand is on the eight and the big hand is on the twelve, what time is it?
Do you remember the triumph, the magic of that moment as a child when you first solved the mystery of time; when that jumble of numbers and the movement of little hands and big hands suddenly made such perfect sense? Maybe you were taught with one of those bright, colorful toy clocks. When you pushed the hands with the tips of your fingers, you could see the gears, the wheels behind the face as they turned around and around. Eight o'clock. Time to get up. Twelve o'clock. Time for lunch. Six o'clock. Time for dinner. In learning how to tell time, you acquired a degree of mastery over it. You were no longer at its mercy. It had meaning.

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Published by Harry Abrams