Book Down : The Measure of All Things

I finished up the book The Measure of All Things. Interesting read on the history of the metric system. The last chapter speaks about the adoption of the metric system over the past 200 years and the difficulties of incorporation into any given society. Thoughtful quote from the last chapter

"America, in Jefferson's terms, has preferred to mold the law to its citizens, rather than its citizens to the law - at least where commercial interests are at stake"

From the standpoint of the USA, that is a unique quality of the country in how we progress and as Ken Alder argues, one of the reasons why the US stands alone in the world to the meter. While many bemoan the globalization of economy, especially those in Europe, the US refuses to globalize it's system of weights and measures.

Worth the read - a bit slow in parts, but thought provoking.