Full name: The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named

Author: John Keay Year: 2000 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, Science, Travel Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780060932954 9780006531234 0060932953 0006531237

The Great Indian Arc of the Meridian, begun in 1800, was the longest maesurement of the earth's surface ever to have been attempted. Its 1,600 miles of inch-perfect survey took nearly fifty years. Hailed as "one of the most stupendous works in the history of science," it was also one of the most perilous. Snowy mountains and tropical jungles, floods and fevers, tigers and scorpions all took their toll on the band of surveyors as they crossed the Indian subcontinent carrying instruments weighing half a ton.Willian Lambton, an endearing genius, had conceived the idea; George Everest, an impossible martinet, completed it. This saga of astounding adventure and gigantic personalities not only resulted in the first accurate measurement of the highest peak in the world but defined India as we know it and significant advanced our scientific understanding of the planet. Similar books: Early India by Romila Thapar India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha Indian Summer by Alex von Tunzelmann The Great Moghuls by Bamber Gascoigne The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour India by John Keay A New History of India by Stanley Wolpert The Anarchy by William Dalrymple Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins The Mughal Throne by Abraham Eraly The Story of India by Michael Wood India and the Mughal Dynasty by Valerie Berinstain The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple Shameful Flight by Stanley Wolpert From Here to Eternity by Caitlin Doughty One River by Wade Davis On the Map by Simon Garfield Atlantic by Simon Winchester The Fruit Hunters by Adam Leith Gollner