- Paperback: 160 pages
- Publisher: Pan (20 Jun 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0330450301
- ISBN-13: 978-0330450300
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 13 x 1.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 422,457 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
About The Size Of It
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
'Fun and fascinating - the secrets and tricks of how we measure the world around us' Conn Iggulden
Book Description
Why does the size of a space shuttle's fuel tanks have more to do with a horse's rump than rocket science? Is there a correlation between the humble pint and the capacity of the human bladder? And why is an old Wellington boot as important an instrument of spacial awareness as was ever invented? About the Size of It is a hugely entertaining history of traditional weights and measures that will make you look at your everyday world in a completely different way . . . 'A full and convincing account of why our well-tried and trusted traditional measures make human sense' Alexander McCall Smith 'His direct, engaging conversational prose is a delight to read... inspirational' Andrew Roberts 'Absolutely masterly. Lucid and wise and touching and absolutely right' Jilly Cooper
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a charming little book, funny as well as informative. Cairns knows exactly what he is talking about, the common man's experience of measures, as he has done ten years of opinion polling in Britain during its transition to the metric system.
The main fare of this book is anekdotes. Why American shoes are one barleycorn shorter than British ones. How Japanese farmers measure their lands in tatami mats. Why there are not hundred weights in one hundredweight (at least not in Britain). And so on. It's not urgent to know all this, but these make great stories to tell at parties.
The main fare of this book is anekdotes. Why American shoes are one barleycorn shorter than British ones. How Japanese farmers measure their lands in tatami mats. Why there are not hundred weights in one hundredweight (at least not in Britain). And so on. It's not urgent to know all this, but these make great stories to tell at parties.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Man is the measure
If you have ever wondered why traditional weights and measures, apparently so irrational, seem, somehow or other, to be instinctively right, why a mile is a mile, why eight furlongs go to make one and three of them make a league or why, traditionally, shoes are measured, not as you would expect, in fractions of a foot but in some mysterious sizing system, this is the book for you.
In simple but elegant discourse, Warwick Cairns explains the logic of traditional weights and measures, demonstrates the universal principles underlying them and shows how they are inevitably right for those who employ them: we human beings.
Along the route, Cairns explores numerous byways: he tells us how to compose a good photograph, where the US and British systems vary (not greatly) and why they do and about a quirky measurement system for a particular bridge.
Cairns' deceptively informal style of writing carries his readers along so easily from one topic to the next so that they cannot resist turning to the next chapter to find out more.
This must surely be the best introduction to traditional weights and measures ever published. Its easy style and clarity of presentation make it an ideal gift for young people who, brought up in metric, have heard of traditional measures but are unaware of their inherent logic and beauty.
If you have ever wondered why traditional weights and measures, apparently so irrational, seem, somehow or other, to be instinctively right, why a mile is a mile, why eight furlongs go to make one and three of them make a league or why, traditionally, shoes are measured, not as you would expect, in fractions of a foot but in some mysterious sizing system, this is the book for you.
In simple but elegant discourse, Warwick Cairns explains the logic of traditional weights and measures, demonstrates the universal principles underlying them and shows how they are inevitably right for those who employ them: we human beings.
Along the route, Cairns explores numerous byways: he tells us how to compose a good photograph, where the US and British systems vary (not greatly) and why they do and about a quirky measurement system for a particular bridge.
Cairns' deceptively informal style of writing carries his readers along so easily from one topic to the next so that they cannot resist turning to the next chapter to find out more.
This must surely be the best introduction to traditional weights and measures ever published. Its easy style and clarity of presentation make it an ideal gift for young people who, brought up in metric, have heard of traditional measures but are unaware of their inherent logic and beauty.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is like having Warwick Cairns sitting in your kitchen with you with all your cups and jugs and tape measures out, and he is talking you through why they are the size they are, and making you giggle while you accept what he says! Do the experiments in his book, but try not to spit the water everywhere through laughing when you are trying to measure an American cup!! Also, do not go outside wearing husband's boots to test other theories when it is raining as socks will become unpleasantly wet and husband will not be impressed with wet boots next morning.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Superficial Treatment
This is a pleasant enough book with plenty of trite levity in the first half, but no real substance, and even less research. British humor and orientation. Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by Dennis Mobberley
A nice light read...
I picked this book up for a plane journey, thoroughly enjoyed it, and then all the rest of the family picked it up in turn - entertaining and enlightening.
Published on 14 Aug 2009 by Nicola Moxey
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Children's Books
- Books > Reference
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Education > Teaching Aids
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Popular Maths
- Books > Science & Nature > Mathematics > Reference
- Books > Science & Nature > Physics > Reference
- Books > Science & Nature > Popular Science > Physics
- Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
