Fascinating stuff - and very resonant with something I've been working on in my own fictional world. My current WIP is based around the first scientific congress between two nations which until recently had been unaware of each other's existence. (The setup is a postapocalyptic world which has recovered to relative stability; science is roughly at Enlightenment levels and some aspects of the society in which this novel is set are intended to have Austenesque vibes.) There is a scene where the main character talks about the question 'how do I know your X is the same as my X, though in reference to length, not temperature. She says, "We talk about accuracy, we talk about precision, we talk about the distances on a map or the length of a baseline… but how do we know the length of anything? What do we mean when we say I am five feet eight and a half inches tall? What do we mean by a foot?"
Anyway, I'll be ordering the book as soon as I've posted this, so thank you.
History of science is always fascinating: a very good read
I liked it. Happy to read more stuff like this.
Fascinating stuff - and very resonant with something I've been working on in my own fictional world. My current WIP is based around the first scientific congress between two nations which until recently had been unaware of each other's existence. (The setup is a postapocalyptic world which has recovered to relative stability; science is roughly at Enlightenment levels and some aspects of the society in which this novel is set are intended to have Austenesque vibes.) There is a scene where the main character talks about the question 'how do I know your X is the same as my X, though in reference to length, not temperature. She says, "We talk about accuracy, we talk about precision, we talk about the distances on a map or the length of a baseline… but how do we know the length of anything? What do we mean when we say I am five feet eight and a half inches tall? What do we mean by a foot?"
Anyway, I'll be ordering the book as soon as I've posted this, so thank you.
Can we have as much of you as we do and more of this too?
Inspired to buy this - looks like a steal at under £3 on Kindle
Very good, I’ve ordered Vincent’s book