Smoot's Ear: The Measure of HumanityMeasures are the subject of this unusual book, in which Robert Tavernor offers a fascinating account of the various measuring systems human beings have devised over two millennia. Tavernor urges us to look beyond the notion that measuring is strictly a scientific activity, divorced from human concerns. Instead, he sets measures and measuring in cultural context and shows how deeply they are connected to human experience and history. |
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Smoot's ear: the measure of humanity
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictAn exciting preface gets this history of measurement underway, describing how a 1958 fraternity initiation ritual at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led the construction industry's adoption ... Read full review
Contents
Body and Measure | 16 |
Science and Measure | 37 |
Defining the Revolutionary Metric System | 62 |
The Decisive Separation | 88 |
AngloSaxon Resistance | 118 |
Measures of Pure Conception | 148 |