{
    "id": 394387,
    "slug": "the-measure-of-all-things-ken-alder",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "The Measure of All Things",
    "subtitle": null,
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "In June 1792, amidst the chaos of the French Revolution, two intrepid astronomers set out in opposite directions on an extraordinary journey. Starting in Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre would make his way north to Dunkirk, while Pierre-Fran\u00e7ois-Andr\u00e9 M\u00e9chain voyaged south to Barcelona. Their mission was to measure the world, and their findings would help define the meter as one ten-millionth of the distance between the pole and the equator\u2014a standard that would be used \u201cfor all people, for all time.\u201d\n\nThe Measure of All Things is the astonishing tale of one of history\u2019s greatest scientific adventures. Yet behind the public triumph of the metric system lies a secret error, one that is perpetuated in every subsequent definition of the meter. As acclaimed historian and novelist Ken Alder discovered through his research, there were only two people on the planet who knew the full extent of this error: Delambre and M\u00e9chain themselves.\n\nBy turns a science history, detective tale, and human drama, The Measure of All Things describes a quest that succeeded as it failed\u2014and continues to enlighten and inspire to this day.",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 480,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2004-01-01",
    "publication_date_latest": "2004-01-01",
    "cover_url": null,
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    "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:38:10+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-10-27T00:31:44+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 47,
        "slug": "abacus",
        "name": "Abacus",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:11:52+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:09:45+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [],
    "genres": [],
    "subjects": []
}