The Measure of All Things

In the The Measure of All Things, Ken Alder presents the history of the metric system, with a focus on the Frenchmen that measured out the earth to determine the length of the meter. They did run in to a significant number of obstacles attempting a detailed survey in the midst of the French Revolution - especially since churches were principle landmarks - and things most likely to be destroyed by the revolutionaries. In the end, they didn't get the measurement exactly right. But, we've still kept their meter.

I was most fascinated by the tales of how the French tried to 'metricize' everything, even creating a new calendar (that alas only made it a few years before they gave up on it.) The French also initially rejected the meter system, but eventually it caught on there (and most everywhere else.)

The book has its interesting tidbits, but the core story of measuring the earth does become a little tedious. Perhaps that is to be expected when describing a laborious endeavor that did shed some light on precision, accuracy and the shape of the earth; but failed in its main goal of providing an exact 'meter'.