Measure for Measure: The Story of Imperial, Metric, and Other Units

by Alex Hebra

From the cubit used by Noah to build the ark to the angstrom in spectroscopy, units of measure have been integral to science and engineering. Throughout history, countless systems of measurement have been devised and then discarded as more precise and more logical systems have come along. While most of the world has adopted the metric system, the United States―with the curious exception of soda bottles―adheres to the imperial system, even though the country has officially been a metric nation since 1893, when Thomas Corwin Mendenhall declared metric prototypes the country's "fundamental standards of length and mass." The convenience of the base-ten metric system is undeniable, and so are the costs associated with not converting to metric. Yet, Americans still cling to inches, quarts, and ounces. Clearly, there is more to measurement than logic. In Measure for Measure , Alex Hebra offers a delightfully engaging and instructive history of measurement systems from ancient times to the present, exploring how and why such units as the stadium, the span, and the parsec first came about. Tracing civilization's various efforts to calculate distance, volume, mass, energy, and time, he explains how units of measurement are applied in such fields as mechanical engineering, physics, optics, and astronomy. In particular, Hebra focuses on the development of the metric system, arguing that even the United States will eventually join the worldwide metric community. Deeply informed and imaginatively told, Measure for Measure chronicles humanity's imperfect search for the perfect system with which to quantify reality.

Genres: Science

232 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2003

Reviews

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

The enjoyment of this book depends on what you want out of it. If you're looking for something you can read at length, sinking your teeth into an idea or a narrative, well...this isn't for you. But if you're looking for something that comes in bite-sized pieces, little bits of knowledge to keep and entertain your friends later, you may just be in luck.

I personally had a hard time with this book. I don't "read" equations very well, and there were a lot of them here. There was also no overarching narrative, which made it difficult for me to want to come back to the book after stepping away. Eventually, I did finish it, and I did feel like I learned some things about science history. But overall, I didn't find it particularly enlightening.

I feel like this book is better for quick spurts of reading. It might also be more interesting to someone who hasn't lived and breathed these units as a science major.