Beyond Measure

The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published Nov. 1, 2022 by W. W. Norton & Company.

ISBN:
978-1-324-03585-5
Copied ISBN!

View on OpenLibrary

4 stars (6 reviews)

6 editions

reviewed Beyond Measure by James Vincent

A neat but incomplete look at metrology and its evolution

3 stars

The book does a good job at describing the origins of systems of measurement and how they were devised. While it's not an exhaustive account by any means, it paints a broad picture of the processes that led to our modern understanding of measurement. More importantly, the book spends a fair amount of time discussing how society has applied and regarded these; politics and economics are closely entwined with how we measure the world.

While it's clear that the author is ultimately tracing a path towards modernity, following from near eastern thought to the scientific revolution and the enlightenment to contemporary use of fundamental forces as definitions, there is a lot that is left unexplored. There is commentary about identity and how measurements were used to justify things such as as eugenics and colonialism, while also acknowledging the positive evolution of thought, but it feels lacking if only because we …

Review of 'Beyond Measure' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

"Measurement is a tool that reinforces what we find important in life, what awe think is worth paying attention to. The question, then, of who gets to make those choices is of the utmost importance."

This book was a struggle for me. At no point did I feel drawn into the history and science of measurement, and normally I'm all about taken-for-granted concept books like this. There's clearly something here, and it's very well researched, it just felt tedious and maybe not what I was looking for in my non-fiction today.

Rather than a discussion of numbers, this book deep dives into the history and meaning behind why we measure things to begin with. I really did appreciate the look at who developed measurements and why, and why we bother measuring things in the first place. It's important to know who's doling out the food according to what measurement, because …

avatar for wildenstern

rated it

5 stars
avatar for philiporange

rated it

5 stars
avatar for bab

rated it

3 stars