Whatever Happened to the Metric System?

How America Kept Its Feet

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Mathematics, History, Entertainment, Humour & Comedy, General Humour, Americas, United States
Cover of the book Whatever Happened to the Metric System? by John Bemelmans Marciano, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: John Bemelmans Marciano ISBN: 9781608199419
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: August 5, 2014
Imprint: Bloomsbury USA Language: English
Author: John Bemelmans Marciano
ISBN: 9781608199419
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: August 5, 2014
Imprint: Bloomsbury USA
Language: English

The intriguing tale of why the United States has never adopted the metric system, and what that says about us.

The American standard system of measurement is a unique and odd thing to behold with its esoteric, inconsistent standards: twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, sixteen ounces in a pound, one hundred pennies to the dollar. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems like a confusing tool to use. So how did we end up with it?

Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are, just as the measurements are woven into the ways we think. John Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system's creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America's stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since. As much as it is a tale of quarters and tenths, it is a human drama, replete with great inventors, visionary presidents, obsessive activists, and science-loving technocrats.

Anyone who reads this inquisitive, engaging story will never read Robert Frost's line “miles to go before I sleep” or eat a foot-long sub again without wondering, Whatever happened to the metric system?

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The intriguing tale of why the United States has never adopted the metric system, and what that says about us.

The American standard system of measurement is a unique and odd thing to behold with its esoteric, inconsistent standards: twelve inches in a foot, three feet in a yard, sixteen ounces in a pound, one hundred pennies to the dollar. For something as elemental as counting and estimating the world around us, it seems like a confusing tool to use. So how did we end up with it?

Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are, just as the measurements are woven into the ways we think. John Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system's creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America's stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since. As much as it is a tale of quarters and tenths, it is a human drama, replete with great inventors, visionary presidents, obsessive activists, and science-loving technocrats.

Anyone who reads this inquisitive, engaging story will never read Robert Frost's line “miles to go before I sleep” or eat a foot-long sub again without wondering, Whatever happened to the metric system?

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book The Blocking of Zeebrugge by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Not Talking by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Modelling a German 15cm sIG33(Sf) auf Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf.B by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Inside South Africa’s Foreign Policy by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Sport Psychology: The Basics by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book The Men on Magic Carpets by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book The Duchess of Malfi by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Citizen Islam by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Extraordinary Birds by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book International Child Abduction by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Legion versus Phalanx by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Willy Russell Plays: 2 by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Mapping Naval Warfare by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Anatomy of Post-Communist European Defense Institutions by John Bemelmans Marciano
Cover of the book Art as Organism by John Bemelmans Marciano
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy