Beyond measure
the hidden history of measurement
- ISBN: 9780571354221
- Editorial: Faber And Faber Ltd
- Fecha de la edición: 2025
- Lugar de la edición: London. Reino Unido
- Encuadernación: Rústica
- Medidas: 21 cm
- Nº Pág.: 432
- Idiomas: Inglés
We measure rainfall and radiation, the depths of space and the emptiness of atoms, calories and steps, happiness and pain. But how did measurement become ubiquitous in modern life? When did humanity first take up scales and rulers, and why does this practice hold authority over so many aspects of our lives?
Written with vim and dazzling intelligence, James Vincent provides a fresh and original perspective on human history as he tracks our long search for dependable truths in a chaotic universe. Full of mavericks and visionaries, adventure and the unexpected, Beyond Measure shows that measurement has not only made the world we live in, it has made us too.
Introduction : why measurement matters
The kindling of civilisation : the ancient world, the first units of measurement, and their cognitive rewards
Measure and the social order : the importance of meteorology for early states and the fabric of society
The proper subject of measurement : how the scientific revolution expanded measure's domain
The quantifying spirit : the disenchantment of the world and the history of hot and cold
The metric revolution : the radical politics of the metric system and its origin in the French Revolution
A grid laid across world : the surveying of land, the colonisation of the US, and the power of abstraction
Measuring life and death : the invention of statistics and the birth of average
The battle of the standards : metric vs imperial and metrology's culture war
For all times, for all people : how metric units transcended physical reality and conquered the world
The managed life : measurement's place in modern society and in our understanding of ourselves
Epilogue : the measures in the head
