The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World
by Ken Alder | History | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 074321675X Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 074321675X Global Overview for this book
Registered by 
buttonbright
of Raleigh, North Carolina USA on 11/18/2022
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
buttonbright of Raleigh, North Carolina USA on 11/18/2022 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Amid the chaos of the French Revolution, two astronomers set out in opposite directions from Paris to measure the world, one voyaging north to Dunkirk, the other south to Barcelona. Their findings would help define the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance between the pole and the equator. The Measure of All Things is the astonishing story of one of history's greatest scientific quests, a mission to measure the Earth and define the meter for all nations and for all time.
Yet when Ken Alder located the long-lost correspondence between the two men, along with their mission logbooks, he stumbled upon a 200-year-old secret. The meter, it turns out, is in error. One of the two astronomers, Pierre-François-André Méchain, made contradictory measurements from Barcelona and, in a panic, covered up the discrepancy. The guilty knowledge of his misdeed drove him to the brink of madness, and ultimately to his death. Only then did his partner, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, discover the truth and face a fateful choice: what matters more, the truth or the appearance of the truth?
This is a story of two men, a secret, and a timeless human dilemma: is it permissible to perpetuate a small lie in the service of a larger truth? In The Measure of All Things Ken Alder describes a quest that succeeded even as it failed. It is a story for all people, for all time.
I found this book on the discount shelves of a local used book store.
Yet when Ken Alder located the long-lost correspondence between the two men, along with their mission logbooks, he stumbled upon a 200-year-old secret. The meter, it turns out, is in error. One of the two astronomers, Pierre-François-André Méchain, made contradictory measurements from Barcelona and, in a panic, covered up the discrepancy. The guilty knowledge of his misdeed drove him to the brink of madness, and ultimately to his death. Only then did his partner, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre, discover the truth and face a fateful choice: what matters more, the truth or the appearance of the truth?
This is a story of two men, a secret, and a timeless human dilemma: is it permissible to perpetuate a small lie in the service of a larger truth? In The Measure of All Things Ken Alder describes a quest that succeeded even as it failed. It is a story for all people, for all time.
I found this book on the discount shelves of a local used book store.
Journal Entry 2 by buttonbright at Deco Free Book Drop in Raleigh, North Carolina USA on Friday, November 18, 2022
buttonbright at Deco Free Book Drop in Raleigh, North Carolina USA on Friday, November 18, 2022
Released 1 yr ago (11/18/2022 UTC) at Deco Free Book Drop in Raleigh, North Carolina USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Left @ Deco Free Book Drop (Little Free Library #35995) @ W Hargett St & S Salisbury St, Raleigh, NC. (Latitude: 35°46'41.6"N, Longitude: 78°38'24.4"W) #raleighspace #BookCrossing http://bit.do/DecoFreeBookDrop
I am buying books from the outside shelves at The Readers Corner (a Raleigh used book store) and releasing them. This is one of those books. If you like it, take it and write a journal entry at www.BookCrossing.com - its easy and anonymous. Then when you are done with it, find a nice person or place to release it. I look forward to reading your thoughts on this book and finding out where you got it from. This book is on an adventure we can share with it.
I am buying books from the outside shelves at The Readers Corner (a Raleigh used book store) and releasing them. This is one of those books. If you like it, take it and write a journal entry at www.BookCrossing.com - its easy and anonymous. Then when you are done with it, find a nice person or place to release it. I look forward to reading your thoughts on this book and finding out where you got it from. This book is on an adventure we can share with it.
