Rating: 
Summary: Much more interesting that the subject may seem.
Review: The central theme of this book is the quest to measure the quarter meridian upon which Paris was built, and derive the official meter as 1/10,000,000 of that measurement. Two French savants were sent to measure from the end points of the meridian, one in Dunkirk, the other in Barcelona, and measure their way back to meet in the middle. They were using a new device to measure angles, one whose precision was only limited by the number of measurements taken. Against this story is the backdrop of the French Revolutions, whose violence and capriciousness is startling. The savants were arrested and detained as spies for "the enemy", were often stranded as the currency they set out with became devalued or useless, or were hampered by locals who thought any attempts to standardize measurements were only some government plot to cheat them. And of course, the main plot point, the southern savant, Mechain, had an discrepancy creep into his measurements, one that caused an error of only the thickness of a few sheets of paper, but catastrophic to the mission and eventually to Mechain's sanity.The author brings a day-to-day familiarity to the mission, filling in the historical details without the story becoming a dusty history lesson. Not being one particulary interested in European history, I was nonetheless pulled into the tale and thoroughly enjoyed it. The tale was entertaining, and it also introduces one to the concept of "precision" versus "accuracy".
Rating: 
Summary: A Tangled Web of Science, Personalities and History
Review: The Measure of all Things - Ken Alder This is a fascinating book! The subject (A French expedition to determine the length of the meter) sounds deadly dull, but the author weaves a thoroughly engrossing tangled web of science, personalities and French history around the time of the revolution. Do not be put off getting the book if science scares you: There is little science in it. If you are a scientist and lover of France, as I am, you will find yourself in heaven as the many of the places mentioned are places you may have visited. For example, the Pantheon in Paris, now a final resting place for many famous French, was one of the sites used for triangulation. But I learned more about its history in this book than in any other! In short, buy this book!
Rating:
Summary: A quest for a perfection
Review: THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS is a delightfully written account of the quest by Delambre and Mechain, two astronomers who, in the midst of the French Revolution, attempt to use the latest technology (at that time) to triangulate various points along a meridian to find the perfect measurement, the meter. (One ten millionth the distance between the North Pole and the Equator) Along the way, they combat rapidly changing governments, ignorance and fear of the unknown, and most importantly (in Mechain's case), a crippling fear of error. The twists and turns of this enterprise are amazingly well-researched by Adler, and they are written in a style that is both informative and entertaining. Adler suggests that this quest led to nothing less than the transformation of how science was perceived by its practitioners; the change from the idea of savants (who believed in certain absolutes in science) to scientists (who were "engaged in a struggle to quantify their [scientists] uncertainty. ") The metric systems importance to France and the world at large is explained in political and economic terms that are easily digested by the reader, but at the heart of this book is the basic concept that how man deals with error; it can be his salvation or in the case of Mechain, his downfall. This is a wonderful examination of this momentous undertaking and well worth the time of anyone interested in man's constant efforts to utilize science for the improvement of the human condition.
Rating:
Summary: History, Science and Human Nature
Review: The Measure of All Things tells the incredible story of the Metric System's origin. During the early days of the French revolution, two astronomers are sent on a mission to precisely measure a part of the meridian arc passing through France and Spain. The plan is to use these measurements to calculate the length of the Meter, which was then defined as one ten millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the Equator. The book is exceptionally well researched and written, and Adler is not satisfied with simply relating dry historical facts to his readers. This book truly makes 18th century Europe come to life. What I found fascinating about this book was not so much the story of the creation of a new measurement system, but the fact that this ambitious mission took place in an age of extreme political and societal turmoil. While this mission was in progress, governments in France changed several times, wars and battles were won and lost, and hyper inflation devastated the French economy. My biggest complaint about this book, and it is a major one, is that I often felt that Adler was taking creative freedom with history - conjuring the thoughts and feelings of historical figures without basing his conjectures on any reliable source. I feel that this is not appropriate in a book about the history of science. Bottom line: this is a very good book that I warmly recommend to anyone interested in history in general and in the history of science in particular. For those who enjoy the subject, I would also like to recommend "Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time" by Martin Gorst.
Rating:
Summary: An informative and entertaining read
Review: The Measure of All Things was a wonderful read! I learned so much, not only about the invention of the metric system, but also about the French Revolution and life in France at that time. I enjoyed the descriptions of the people and landscapes. I felt the author did a great job of capturing the characters and personalities of the men, based on their journals and personal letters. I was intrigued by the error in the data and the dilemma they faced because of it. I was completely absorbed in the story from beginning to end.
Rating:
Summary: Why Choose the Metric System?
Review: The Measure of All Things:
The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World
Ken Alder "Man is the measure of all things."
Protagoras Canada converted their national standard of measure to the metric system in 1970, though grudgingly. "But generally Canadians have been puzzled by their own 'sheepish' willingness to accept the meter-to the point where they have come to consider it a point of national pride that their country has gone metric while America has not." However, many do not know the intriguing origin of our national standard of measure. The Measure of All Things is based during the prelude to the French Revolution and into the Napoleonic era of French history. During this time, many "savants," or great scientific thinkers of the day, thought that France should use a standardized unit of measure to ease trade and help the common man avoid being mistreated in transactions. Many thought the fundamental unit of length should be based on the measure of the earth, while others thought it should be based on the length of a pendulum beating one second. The hope was that by creating a universal measure they could create a "political union by the mediation of science. If successful, such a measurement system might extend beyond Europe and around the globe." The measure chosen was one ten-millionth of the distance between the pole and the equator; or, more simply, the meter. Today all but three nations in the world use the metric system and the meter is a standard we rarely give thought to. "This form of measurement is adapted to our modern economy, in which buyers and sellers remote from one another in time and space conduct impersonal exchanges, quite certain that their measures are commensurable." In eighteenth century France, however, this was not the case. Each local area had their own standard of measure that was "inseparable from the object being measured and the customs of the community which performed the measurement. These measurements were not enforced by a remote bureaucracy, but by a local people answerable to their neighbors for their fairness. Far from being irrational or unnatural, this hodgepodge of measures made real sense to the peasants, artisans, shopkeepers, and consumers who used them every day...The advocates of the metric system, like today's advocates of globalization, saw their goal as creating at one stroke a new kind of economy and a radical new kind of politics...The metric system was to be the new language of the material world." To achieve this end, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre and Pierre-Francois-Andre Mechain, two astronomers and leading members of the Academy of Sciences, were selected to triangulate a section of the Prime Meridian from Dunkirk to Barcelona. They were charged to discover a standard unit of measure based from the earth itself so that no nation could claim sole sovereignty over it. Alder, who has biked their entire route, follows these two savants on their seven-year odyssey through tumultuous France during the Revolution. He does so with impressive panache and intelligent insights into their methods and personal struggles to complete this Herculean task. Alder deftly weaves an interesting scientific study from the past with the revolutionary landscape that it took place in while exposing an error that changed our basic unit of measure. Thoroughly researched and carefully footnoted, The Measure of All Things is available at The Peace River Library. 2002. Moderately difficult readability. General content. 422 pages
Rating:
Summary: A great story of science and history
Review: The metric system of measurement is today used in every country except Myanmar, Libya and the United States. But have you ever stopped to think how long a metre is? During the 18th Century, many French were aware of the inconsistencies that existed throughout the country when it came to measurement. For example, a pound of sugar in one town may be twice that found in the town down the road. Therefore, the French Academy of Science decided that the new metric unit of measurement would be the metre and would be defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the equator along the Paris Meridian. The measure of all things traces the journey of two scientists, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre and Francois-Andre Méchain, who had to accurately measure the distance from Barcelona to Dunkirk. This simple task took six years to complete, and along the way a mistake 'slipped' into Méchain's calculations, which plagued Méchain until his death. Because Delambre later concealed this miscalculation, the metre is 0.02 per cent shorter than it should be! This book is a fantastic read, with easy to understand science mixed with a dash of history. It's great to read a book that places science into context and allows the reader to understand how and why things happened the way they did. The author, Ken Adler, has been interested in science since his early days at school, but in recent years he has been drawn to the history of science, in particular, during the French Revolution. "It was a time of Utopian renewal, the end of history and the rebuilding of the world. Many people at the time turned to nature and reason," says Ken. "In the beginning, the French could have stated that this (some arbitrary length) was the metre. But it would not have been accepted. By basing it on nature it was a political coup. It was a grand gesture by the scientists, and had the aura of being exact." According to Ken, the United States is slowly coming around to the metric system. "The USA had uniform measures (based on the English system) early on, so there wasn't the incentive to change, unlike in France. It takes a huge political push to change, which currently does not exist," says Ken. "But it is changing; even Coke in the States is going metric." This review appeared in The Helix science magazine (October 2003).
Rating:
Summary: An informative and entertaining read
Review: The metric system remains a mystique for Americans. It's "foreign" or "the screws don't fit" or some other phrase that distances it from what is still referred to as the "English" form of measurement. Yet, as every other nation knows, nearly every nation uses it, including the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Ken Alder, pandering to American prejudices has subtitled this book in a way designed to lure pro- and anti-metric readers alike. Both will find comfort here, depending on what is sought in its pages. That, alone, is testimony to the diligence he's used in relating the creation of the metre and the science surrounding it. Alder's task was formidable. He presents the personalities of the two prime figures that performed the Herculean task of measurement. The two men were similar in some ways, wildly divergent in others. Using Paris as a base, Delambre and Mechain struck out to measure, in effect, the diameter of the Earth to establish a piece of it as the basis for the new standard of measurement - the metre. Alder places his figures and their mission firmly within their total environment. Setting out under a royal commission, they are overtaken by the French Revolution. Part of the background of that upheaval was the Enlightenment - the age in which traditions were questioned and new ideas about the world and the universe were proposed. From this distance of time, everything appears to have fallen into place. Alder, however, shows that not only were answers only being teased from Nature, it was becoming obvious that many necessary questions had yet to be asked. With a clever narrative style, he portrays the mentally tortured Mechain in agonies over what appears to be an insurmountable error - irreconcilable readings of latitude even after the most careful surveys. He keeps the true secret - a far more fundamental error than poor equipment or bad methodology - until late in the book. Through the story, however, Alder explains the views of the Enlightenment scientists - which he calls "savants", a term rarely used these days - and their struggles to establish and maintain what we now call "the scientific method". Do the research, then do it again. Confirm, repeat, verify, seek endorsement from others. Science, in a word, is an arduous task, not to be undertaken lightly nor performed inattentively. Alder does science a great service in his descriptions. While perfection, precision and accuracy are terms easily bandied about, Alder takes the time and trouble to explain their true meanings and why we must use them carefully. And accurately. Many will grouse about Alder's pedantic style, but he demonstrates that this work goes far beyond the correctness of the platinum bar locked away in a Parisian vault. Science is important and more people need to recognize that fact. Alder points out that the success of the metre was not a scientific achievement, but a political one. As governments recovering from the Napoleonic Empire regained hegemony, they recognized the efficiency of centralised forms of administration. With the metre carefully established, the Low Countries, Italy, Spain and the colonies of them all adopted the metric system as a vast improvement over the chaos of the ancien regime. Alder is far too clever to launch a promotion on why America should move to metric. He knows his countrymen, and cites some of the arguments used against the standard. He notes the Ohio legislator that condemned metric without mentioning that it was Ohio that once considered changing the value of pi to the whole number 3 and is now entertaining the irrational concept of "intelligent design" creationism. No matter how carefully he shields it, he presents the adoption of metric globally as a vivid message. Only America, among the world's leading nations, stands alone in a resistance without reason. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating:
Summary: A passion for precision
Review: The metric system remains a mystique for Americans. It's "foreign" or "the screws don't fit" or some other phrase that distances it from what is still referred to as the "English" form of measurement. Yet, as every other nation knows, nearly every nation uses it, including the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Ken Alder, pandering to American prejudices has subtitled this book in a way designed to lure pro- and anti-metric readers alike. Both will find comfort here, depending on what is sought in its pages. That, alone, is testimony to the diligence he's used in relating the creation of the metre and the science surrounding it. Alder's task was formidable. He presents the personalities of the two prime figures that performed the Herculean task of measurement. The two men were similar in some ways, wildly divergent in others. Using Paris as a base, Delambre and Mechain struck out to measure, in effect, the diameter of the Earth to establish a piece of it as the basis for the new standard of measurement - the metre. Alder places his figures and their mission firmly within their total environment. Setting out under a royal commission, they are overtaken by the French Revolution. Part of the background of that upheaval was the Enlightenment - the age in which traditions were questioned and new ideas about the world and the universe were proposed. From this distance of time, everything appears to have fallen into place. Alder, however, shows that not only were answers only being teased from Nature, it was becoming obvious that many necessary questions had yet to be asked. With a clever narrative style, he portrays the mentally tortured Mechain in agonies over what appears to be an insurmountable error - irreconcilable readings of latitude even after the most careful surveys. He keeps the true secret - a far more fundamental error than poor equipment or bad methodology - until late in the book. Through the story, however, Alder explains the views of the Enlightenment scientists - which he calls "savants", a term rarely used these days - and their struggles to establish and maintain what we now call "the scientific method". Do the research, then do it again. Confirm, repeat, verify, seek endorsement from others. Science, in a word, is an arduous task, not to be undertaken lightly nor performed inattentively. Alder does science a great service in his descriptions. While perfection, precision and accuracy are terms easily bandied about, Alder takes the time and trouble to explain their true meanings and why we must use them carefully. And accurately. Many will grouse about Alder's pedantic style, but he demonstrates that this work goes far beyond the correctness of the platinum bar locked away in a Parisian vault. Science is important and more people need to recognize that fact. Alder points out that the success of the metre was not a scientific achievement, but a political one. As governments recovering from the Napoleonic Empire regained hegemony, they recognized the efficiency of centralised forms of administration. With the metre carefully established, the Low Countries, Italy, Spain and the colonies of them all adopted the metric system as a vast improvement over the chaos of the ancien regime. Alder is far too clever to launch a promotion on why America should move to metric. He knows his countrymen, and cites some of the arguments used against the standard. He notes the Ohio legislator that condemned metric without mentioning that it was Ohio that once considered changing the value of pi to the whole number 3 and is now entertaining the irrational concept of "intelligent design" creationism. No matter how carefully he shields it, he presents the adoption of metric globally as a vivid message. Only America, among the world's leading nations, stands alone in a resistance without reason. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 
Summary: Boring, repeating, repeating, boring
Review: The story of this book is that two persons decided to measure the earth (from the North Pole to the Ecuador), divide that length by 10 million and that would be the length of the meter, they will need a year to do that, after seven years that one went to the north of France and the other to the south of Spain (to measure that part of the Earth and calculate the rest to the Pole and the Ecuador) they had a mistake of 2 millimeters in the length of the meter, those 2 millimeters mean a mistake of the measure of the Earth of more than 2,000 Km. (1,250Mi), so in the first year they could say what is the length of the meter with out doing any measure, why? Because one of them saw his mistake and change all his calculations to put them more or less exactly as the other person.
This story you will read it in more than 350 pages. Meanwhile in the book says how they do their measure about 100 times and I don't think many people will understand those measures, first of all because you never know which unit of measure they used, and it also explains the french revolution and things that really doesn't have to do with the story of the meter length.
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