absolutely fantastic work and a must-read for anyone, even remotely interested in the workings of the world and how we got where we are.
Measuring, an essential component of first of all, staying alive, guaranteed the progress we had as a kind.
the book is a praise to our ability and explanation and appreciation that was long overdue.

thank you to the author!

An accessible overview into how measurements have affected the world and what it can mean beyond simply establishing a scientific standard for measurement. From the tie-ins to cultural methods of measuring and their historical provenance to the global connotations of a standardized way to measure all things, this book highlights the significance of measuring. Primarily focuses on European and American contributions.

I had hoped that this book might be something that would help inspire curriculum improvements to my measurement course. Unfortunately, while the book was interesting, it really was not as directly related to my needs as I had hoped. There are certainly some provocative examples and insights shared in the book, but they are couched in topics that I struggled to enjoy reading.

This book was a struggle for me. At no point did I feel drawn into the history and science of measurement, and normally I'm all about taken-for-granted concept books like this. There's clearly something here, and it's very well researched, it just felt tedious and maybe not what I was looking for in my non-fiction today.

Rather than a discussion of numbers, this book deep dives into the history and meaning behind why we measure things to begin with. I really did appreciate the look at who developed measurements and why, and why we bother measuring things in the first place. It's important to know who's doling out the food according to what measurement, because historical you might be getting screwed and don't realize it.

This exhaustive deep dive, though, was just that for me--exhausting. Maybe this just wasn't the concept book for me, I don't know. Props to the author for the extensive research.

James Vincent really loves weights and measures. So much so that he put together "Beyond Measure," a hybrid history and autobiographical exploration of things like the kilogram, meter, and time itself. Come for the French revolutionary base 10 time system, stay for the exploration of the surveyors tool which, surprise surprise, is kind of inherently racist.

In-depth, enjoyable history of measurement, with a few flaws along the way that don't detract from the overall effect.

The good: I like this kind of stuff, and other books I've read about STEM subjects that touch on their history don't include the depth covered here, nor do they include the modern extensions of it. The author's coverage of modern use of measurement in the internet age was unexpected, and it could've been longer.

The bad: The author is from the UK and tends to judge America's use of measurements to control and subjugate in a different light than his own nation's. There is no reason for the first adjective descriibing Thomas Jefferson to be "slaveholder", nor should the book focus on westward expansion at the expense of native Americans unless a corresponding focus is also placed on centuries of British colonization efforts. He also makes an awkward jump from a third-person narrative of history to first-person accounts of visiting modern scientists mid-book, then jumps back again, ending up with a loss of narrative continuity.