
Beyond Measure
The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants
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Narrated by:
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James Vincent
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By:
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James Vincent
About this listen
A vibrant account of how measurement has invisibly shaped our world, from ancient civilizations to the modern day.
From the cubit to the kilogram, the humble inch to the speed of light, measurement is a powerful tool that humans invented to make sense of the world. In this revelatory work of science and social history, James Vincent dives into its hidden world, taking listeners from ancient Egypt, where measuring the annual depth of the Nile was an essential task, to the intellectual origins of the metric system in the French Revolution, and from the surprisingly animated rivalry between metric and imperial, to our current age of the "quantified self." At every turn, Vincent is keenly attuned to the political consequences of measurement, exploring how it has also been used as a tool for oppression and control.
Beyond Measure reveals how measurement is not only deeply entwined with our experience of the world, but also how its history encompasses and shapes the human quest for knowledge.
©2023 James Vincent (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The Hour Between Dog and Wolf
- Risk Taking, Gut Feelings, and the Biology of Boom and Bust
- By: John Coates
- Narrated by: Richard Powers
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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A successful Wall Street trader turned Cambridge neuroscientist reveals the biology of boom and bust and how risk taking transforms our body chemistry, driving us to extremes of euphoria and risky behavior or stress and depression. The laws of financial boom and bust, it turns out, have more than a little to do with male hormones. In a series of groundbreaking experiments, Dr. John Coates identified a feedback loop between testosterone and success that dramatically lowers the fear of risk.
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Amazing!
- By Gary C on 03-12-15
By: John Coates
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1491
- New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
- By: Charles C. Mann
- Narrated by: Darrell Dennis
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Traditionally, Americans learned in school that the ancestors of the people who inhabited the Western Hemisphere at the time of Columbus' landing had crossed the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago; existed mainly in small nomadic bands; and lived so lightly on the land that the Americas were, for all practical purposes, still a vast wilderness. But as Charles C. Mann now makes clear, archaeologists and anthropologists have spent the last 30 years proving these and many other long-held assumptions wrong.
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Exposes Non-Academic Audience to The Debate Between Ideas of Pre-Colombian America's
- By Christopher on 01-19-17
By: Charles C. Mann
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Challenger
- A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Midnight in Chernobyl comes the definitive, dramatic, minute-by-minute story of the Challenger disaster, based on fascinating in-depth reporting and new archival research—a riveting history that flows like a thriller.
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Best book about Challenger so far
- By Bruce Baumbush on 06-05-24
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On the Edge
- The Art of Risking Everything
- By: Nate Silver
- Narrated by: Nate Silver
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape—and dominate—so much of modern life. These professional risk takers—poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto true-believers and blue-chip art collectors—can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21st century.
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Fascinating report from a distant land
- By David Benjamin on 09-14-24
By: Nate Silver
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1177 B.C. (Revised and Updated)
- The Year Civilization Collapsed
- By: Eric H. Cline
- Narrated by: Eric H. Cline
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This audiobook narrated by acclaimed archaeologist and best-selling author Eric Cline offers a breathtaking account of how the collapse of an ancient civilized world ushered in the first Dark Ages.
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Look past the one-star reviews: this is an enlightening and engaging read.
- By Alonzo Nightjar on 03-07-22
By: Eric H. Cline
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The Demon of Unrest
- A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Erik Larson
- Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern extremists were moving ever closer to destroying the Union, with one state after another seceding and Lincoln powerless to stop them. Slavery fueled the conflict, but somehow the passions of North and South came to focus on a lonely federal fortress in Charleston Harbor: Fort Sumter.
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Vividly Told History of the Start of the Civil War
- By WLC on 05-01-24
By: Erik Larson
What listeners say about Beyond Measure
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Stuart W. Jones
- 03-16-25
History of metrology
History of metrology was interesting but the conclusion and final chapters were judgmental and only loosely connected.
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- Evan Greenwald
- 02-24-23
Great book!
I learned a lot & had a great time doing it. When I was doing my year abroad at University of Sussex in Brighton, UK, I met up with James Vincent & his partner at the time, both friends of mine. We had a great time, although it is the only time in my life that I have ever had a hangover. A great thing about this book is, fun as it is, there is no hangover afterward.
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- Rob
- 01-25-23
An enjoyable meter of history
I'm a huge fan of exploring the obscure corners of our history. At first glance most would see the topic of metrology & run in the other direction out of fear of dry content. James keeps the content insightful & entertaining through the course of the book. My only issue is with the recording. The author does a superb delivery, however, the ends of chapters 4 & 9 are clipped; resulting in an incomplete thought.
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- Spiderbeach
- 11-17-23
Impressive Cultural Deepthinking About Measurement
Much better than anticipated since it covers the development of ideas of measurement over history to help development a current understanding of modern surveillance systems.
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- James
- 10-12-23
Interesting and informative
This was an interesting book about the history of measurement and how different measures are derived, from the crudest (cubit, hand, etc.) to the most precise meters calculated as fractions of the speed of light.
It was a pretty compelling tale, but did drag a bit in a few places.
The author also got into completely unnecessary politics a couple times, but not terribly so.
I learned a fair bit and it was interesting. The discussion of NIST was particularly interesting.
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- Mark Laskow
- 01-08-24
Leftist Take on Science.
You know where you are headed when the author of a science book manages to work Horkheimer and Adorno into the first few pages. I did enjoy the bits where he wrote about the history of scientific measurement.
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- Janet D.
- 12-27-22
Will alter your understanding of history
This book was fascinating. Understanding how measurement became á crucial element in the the development of larger systems and having some insight into the metric vs imperial measurement battle were especially enlightening for me.
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1 person found this helpful
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- A Z A R
- 06-26-23
Hoped for more information
Was hoping for more about how various measurements came to be. It covered a couple and ended philosophically in the last 2 hours.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elliott Wolfe, M.D.
- 12-08-22
Why we Measure
Measuring has evolved through centuries. We learn how and why, beyond the obvious. Facts are intermingled with philosophy. Social networks now measure us every day. Are we better off?
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- Annie
- 06-09-23
Measured with five stars
A very enjoyable listen that approaches measurement from many angles-scientific, sociological, political, and historical. Highly recommend.
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