Reddit Reddit reviews World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement

We found 2 Reddit comments about World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

Science & Math
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Science Experiments & Measurement
Scientific Measurement
World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement
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2 Reddit comments about World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement:

u/ObeyTheCowGod · 3 pointsr/C_S_T

Firstly I think you are right about measurement involving constraint. Secondly I'd like to say that constraint isn't necessarily a bad thing. I could reframe the word constraint as focus and it might be seen as more positive.

I read a book on the history of metrology a while back, I think its was this one;

https://www.amazon.com/World-Balance-Historic-Absolute-Measurement/dp/0393343545

and I remember being struck how what I thought was a purely technical effort very quickly turned out to have deep philosophical implications. The point was made (and this is from memory so don't quote me) how the physicists thought of themselves as studying the basic nature of reality while the metrologists were seen as mere technicians doing the grunt work of determining the scales the physicists would measure with. However in creating these scales it seems the metrologists had as much claim if not more so than the physicists had of really touching the basic nature of reality.

All this has brought to mind another notion I think is relevant to this discussion and that is to begin to measure something you must first invent the scale.

u/klystron · 1 pointr/Metric

World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement by Robert Crease was published about 2011. The radio interview on National Geographic goes for about three and a half minutes.

Reviews on Amazon are mixed, with some readers criticising him for being superficial and others saying he is too technical and boring:
>One clue as to the target audience is in the acknowledgments where the author says,"I write for Physics World, a consistently fun magazine to read and write for". If Physics World is your idea of a fun magazine then this book is for you.

A few people did find the book to be an interesting and enjoyable read, although one reviewer highlights a mention of the "Louis and Clark" expedition. One does wonder, if a well-known historical event like this can slip past authors, editors and proofreaders what other errors might be hidden in the text.