World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurment

This si the epic story of the invention of a global network of weights, scales and instruments for meaasurement. Millions of trnasactions each day depend on a reliable network of weights and measures. This network has been called a greater invention than the steam engine, comparable only to the developemtn of the priting press. Robert P Crease traces the evolution of this international system from the use of flutes to measure the distance in the dynasties of Ancirent China, and figurines to weigh gold in West Africa, to the invention of the French metric and British imperial systems.