Dr. David Prerau has been called the world's foremost authority on Daylight Saving Time (DST). He is the author of the highly acclaimed and definitive book on the story of DST, Seize the Daylight: The Curious and Contentious Story of Daylight Saving Time.

Seize the Daylight is the culmination of his many years of research into the history, science, and politics of daylight saving time. It is filled with lively anecdotes, engaging history, as well as the stories of DST's many colorful heroes and opponents, who fought often-bitter battles over control of the clock.

In addition to his in-depth research into the history of DST, Dr. Prerau was a key contributor to the largest technical study ever performed on the effects of DST. He has coauthored three major U.S. Government reports to Congress on the effects of daylight saving time.

Dr. Prerau acted as a consultant to the U.S. Congress on the recent law extending daylight saving time, and also has been a consultant on DST to the United Kingdom Parliament. He holds a Ph.D. from M.I.T.

As an expert on daylight saving time, Dr. Prerau has appeared on The NBC Nightly News, NBC's Today Show, ABC's Good Morning America, CNN NewsNight, CNN Headline News, PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CNBC's Morning Call, Fox Business Network's Money for Breakfast, Bloomberg TV's Bloomberg on the Economy, MSNBC's Countdown, NECN's Wired, NPR's Morning Edition, Weekend Edition, Weekend America, Talk of the Nation, and Bryant Park Project, BBC TV One's BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio Four's You and Yours, BBC Radio Five's Radio Five Live, Canadian CBC-TV's Your Call, Euranet Radio throughout the European Union, Australian Broadcasting's NightLife and Life Matters, Radio New Zealand's Morning Report, and over one hundred other radio and television programs in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and elsewhere.

Dr. Prerau has written Op-Ed pieces on daylight saving time for newspapers including the New York Times, and he has written articles on DST for magazines such as Discover and BBC's Who Do You Think You Are Magazine. He has been interviewed by newspapers and magazines in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Japan, including the Associated Press, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Congressional Quarterly, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star, Financial Times, Yomiuri Shimbun, and over one hundred others.

He first became involved with daylight saving time when he worked as a researcher for the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). At the DOT, he was a major contributor to what was probably the most extensive analysis of daylight saving time ever performed. This study examined the effect of daylight saving time on energy usage, motor vehicle accidents, crime, and many other areas.

While immersed in the detailed analysis of daylight saving time, he became intrigued by the subject. No one seemed to know much about the history of DST, and he determined to find out more about it. As he delved deeper into the story of daylight saving time, he found that DST had caused a great deal of passion and contention in the political and scientific worlds for many years. And in addition, he discovered a large number of remarkable DST incidents and fascinating anecdotes.

Seize the Daylight is the result of Dr. Prerau's many years of research—gathering information relating to daylight saving time from numerous sources, including newspaper articles, government records, legal documents, personal histories, and even cartoons, songs, and poetry—yielding an enjoyable and exciting book that presents an eye-opening look into all the many reasons why we spring ahead and fall back each year.

In 2005, when the U. S. Congress was considering an extension of the daylight saving time period as part of the Energy Policy Act, Dr. Prerau acted as a consultant to the U.S. Congressmen who sponsored the DST measure. The law, including the DST extension, passed in July 2005, with the DST change taking effect in 2007. Most of the U. S. Representatives and Senators who hammered out the final version of the DST provision of the law had copies of Seize the Daylight with them.

And in 2006, Dr. Prerau conferred with several members of the United Kingdom's House of Commons and House of Lords to advise them concerning possible bills in Parliament to extend British Summer Time. When a Summer Time extension was considered in Parliamentary debate in 2007, Dr. Prerau and his work were cited several times.

Dr. Prerau is a senior computer scientist and knowledge engineer, specializing in artificial intelligence. He lives in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.