Rating: 
Summary: Solid, but dull
Review: The title is perhaps a misnomer: the story is never quite so dramatic as it promises to be. I was led to this book by an episode of the PBS series Nova about the dispute over the relative heights of K2 and Everest. It was fascinating and it drew into the debate the story of Lambton and Everest's survey. I was hoping that this book would give me some of the details that the television show lacked the time to include. The book is solid on the history, but manages to keep its distance from the key characters (while letting interesting side characters and assistants slide from view). I was disappointed by the end, not really knowing much about the cantankerous Everest, or Lambton, and not full grasping why the British seemed so obsessed about a survey that they hadn't even completed for the British Isles. The naming of the mountains is something of a footnote, and I believe hardly a definitive account of the politics behind it. Despite this, Keay is a capable writer, though one, it seems, hardly in the thrall of his topic. I was hoping to get a simplified, but vivid account of how surveying works, but I found the discussion a bit murky in the beginning, and no clearer by the end. These complaints are apt to seem minor if you come to the topic with an avid interest in how India was mapped (though, of course, this would make you rather unusual), but I don't think you will develop that interest in reading the book. Good nonfiction should stimulate the reading of more nonfiction in related areas, but I find myself looking elsewhere now. Clearly, the great arc was one of the most incredible scientific achievements of its or any other age -- taking over fifty years to complete. It's a shame that Keay's book doesn't really convey both the enormity of the task and the passion that led to its completion.
Rating:
Summary: Solid, but dull
Review: The title is perhaps a misnomer: the story is never quite so dramatic as it promises to be. I was led to this book by an episode of the PBS series Nova about the dispute over the relative heights of K2 and Everest. It was fascinating and it drew into the debate the story of Lambton and Everest's survey. I was hoping that this book would give me some of the details that the television show lacked the time to include. The book is solid on the history, but manages to keep its distance from the key characters (while letting interesting side characters and assistants slide from view). I was disappointed by the end, not really knowing much about the cantankerous Everest, or Lambton, and not full grasping why the British seemed so obsessed about a survey that they hadn't even completed for the British Isles. The naming of the mountains is something of a footnote, and I believe hardly a definitive account of the politics behind it. Despite this, Keay is a capable writer, though one, it seems, hardly in the thrall of his topic. I was hoping to get a simplified, but vivid account of how surveying works, but I found the discussion a bit murky in the beginning, and no clearer by the end. These complaints are apt to seem minor if you come to the topic with an avid interest in how India was mapped (though, of course, this would make you rather unusual), but I don't think you will develop that interest in reading the book. Good nonfiction should stimulate the reading of more nonfiction in related areas, but I find myself looking elsewhere now. Clearly, the great arc was one of the most incredible scientific achievements of its or any other age -- taking over fifty years to complete. It's a shame that Keay's book doesn't really convey both the enormity of the task and the passion that led to its completion.
Rating:
Summary: Typos
Review: There is no river Kistna in the Deccan.There is however a river called the Krishna which is one of the biggest in the Deccan pleateau.Methinks that when writing about what was a labour of love of such magnitude Mr.Keay would have bothered to get the names right at least Yrs, matt
Rating: 
Summary: The compass-wallahs gird India
Review: This is a fun, short read. The British Great Trigonometrical Survey of India was an epic undertaking spanning decades which took the measure of the sub-continent. The book is a brief but lively biography of the two men who headed the survey - William Lambton and George Everest. The progress of their efforts across the Indian landscape makes for fascinating reading. The amazing accomplishments of the Survey in the face of fever, tigers, and other resistance are highlighted in the book. The naming of Mount Everest is but an historical afterthought to the incredible saga of the Survey itself. This entertaining and highly readable book does touch on some of the social, political, and scientific ramifications of Survey - but only briefly. The narrative is driven by the progress and setbacks of the Survey itself.
Rating:
Summary: The compass-wallahs gird India
Review: This is a fun, short read. The British Great Trigonometrical Survey of India was an epic undertaking spanning decades which took the measure of the sub-continent. The book is a brief but lively biography of the two men who headed the survey - William Lambton and George Everest. The progress of their efforts across the Indian landscape makes for fascinating reading. The amazing accomplishments of the Survey in the face of fever, tigers, and other resistance are highlighted in the book. The naming of Mount Everest is but an historical afterthought to the incredible saga of the Survey itself. This entertaining and highly readable book does touch on some of the social, political, and scientific ramifications of Survey - but only briefly. The narrative is driven by the progress and setbacks of the Survey itself.
Rating:
Summary: The Great Arc - a ripping yarn
Review: This is a most enjoyable read, much of the country is familiar (I recall my first sight of the mountains - incomprehensibly BIG!)and I could almost feel the heat of the plains and taste the dust. I would have liked to have seen some more of the country and felt that awful intensity when meeting some of the more interesting jungle wild life face to face. As a professional surveyor I skipped over some of the simplified explanations - at first. Going back over them I found some to be a little too trite - more could have been done to make the 'mechanics' of surveying a little more vibrant. The repeated use of 'one second of one minute of one degree' gets a bit irksome and is incorrect usage. Also, Nevil Maskelyne was never knighted; correctly (by the time of the story) he is the Reverend Nevil Maskelyne DD FRS, Astronomer Royal. My recommendation - Buy 'The Great Arc' - its a book long overdue, a cracking good yarn and an entertaining read. PS - congratulations on finding Lambton - dead and alive. But where is the Indian Foot?
Rating:
Summary: A Fine Madness, by fermed
Review: This is the story of the Great Trigonometrical Survey, a nineteenth century project the purpose of which was to measure India - for scientific, but more importantly, for colonization reasons; that the plan did in fact succeed is utterly amazing when the nature of the problems involved is considered. On paper it appears easy enough: triangulation uses Pythagorean theorems, in which if one knows the length of one side of a triangle, and the angles at which the other sides join it, the length of each of the other sides and the area enclosed by the triangle can be exactly calculated; then, using one of the calculated sides as the base for a new triangle, a second triangle can be calculated, and upon this one, another, and another, to infinity. The problem is the such plane geometry is lovely to look at, and to work with, on a piece of paper and in two dimensions, but very difficult to calculate over curved space containing mountains and valleys, tigers, yellow fever, monsoons and vast distances. The survey intended to measure India's length and its width. Named the Great Arc, the main trunk of the survey extended from the Southern tip of the subcontinent to the foothills of the Himalayas, about 1600 miles. It took forty years to complete. It required extremely precise measurements, at times using a microscope to calibrate the instruments, and at times using telescopes to find the flag or the signal on which to focus the instruments, maybe forty miles away. In use was a huge theodolite (a surveying instrument) that weighed half a ton and had to be carried in its wooden box by fifteen men. Literaly thousands of people perished on the project: accidents, tigers, scorpions, snakes, and assorted fevers took their toll. It is the story of William Lambton who initiated the project and died in the process, and of George Everest, who completed it. They were entirely different in character and outlook, but the passion to complete the mad project was equally strong in both. The book reads like a good novel, and one does not need to know math or trig to fully enjoy the narrative and understand the scientific issues involved. The book is hard to put down and is highly recommended for those who like true adventure stories and lively world history.
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