Bibliograph

Whatever happened to the metric system?, how America kept its feet, John Bemelmans Marciano

Type

Label

Whatever happened to the metric system?, how America kept its feet, John Bemelmans Marciano

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (page 285-300) and index

Illustrations

illustrationsplates

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Whatever happened to the metric system?

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

826452273

Responsibility statement

John Bemelmans Marciano

Sub title

how America kept its feet

Summary

Most of the rest of the world is on the metric system, and for a time in the 1970s America appeared ready to make the switch. Yet it never happened, and the reasons for that get to the root of who we think we are. Marciano chronicles the origins of measurement systems, the kaleidoscopic array of standards throughout Europe and the thirteen American colonies, the combination of intellect and circumstance that resulted in the metric system's creation in France in the wake of the French Revolution, and America's stubborn adherence to the hybrid United States Customary System ever since

Classification