The Curious History of Weights & Measures by Claire Cock-Starkey, Claire Cock-Starkey

The Curious History of Weights & Measures
Claire Cock-Starkey, Claire Cock-Starkey
Page: 200
Format: pdf, ePub, mobi, fb2
ISBN: 9781851245796
Publisher: Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
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Best selling books pdf download The Curious History of Weights & Measures 9781851245796 (English Edition)  by Claire Cock-Starkey, Claire Cock-Starkey

Overview

A fascinating miscellany of the stories behind our weights and measures.

How long is an ell? How big is the largest champagne bottle? How do you measure the heat of a chili pepper? Why is the depth of water measured in fathoms? And what, exactly, is a cubit?

The Curious History of Weights & Measures tells the story of how we have come to quantify the world around us. Looking at everything from carats, pecks, and pennyweights, to firkins, baker’s dozens, and modern science-based standards such as kilograms and kilometers, this book considers both what sparked the creation of measures and why there were so many efforts to usher in standardization. Full of handy conversion charts and beautiful illustrations, The Curious History of Weights & Measures is a treasure trove of fun facts and intriguing stories about the calculations we use every day.

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