The Seven Measures of the World

“Incisive. . . . The bounty of trivia enlightens. . . . A revealing chronicle of how humans quantify the world.”—Publishers Weekly

“An Italian experimental physicist looks at seven means of gauging where we are in the world, from the meter to the second. . . . Entertaining popular science and a literate tale of why things are as they are.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Martin weaves in the pyramids of Egypt, the Beatles of Liverpool, and much more in an engaging story (translated by Gregory Conti) of the units we measure the world against.”—Mechanical Engineering

“Piero Martin’s delightful book interleaves the science of seven units of measurement with the human stories of their development. Each vignette is a delicious morsel—I ate them all in one sitting.”—Steven Cowley, director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

“If you’ve ever wondered why humans feel compelled to quantify the world and how these measures have profoundly shaped our understanding of our place in the Universe, then this dazzling book is the one to read.”—Priyamvada Natarajan, Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton Professor of Astronomy & Physics and author of Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos

“Seven Measures is a magnificent book that is both enjoyable and important. With each page turned, I learned something I did not know.”—Joseph Mazur, author of The Clock Mirage: Our Myth of Measured Time