The Sizesaurus: From Hectares to Decibels to Calories, a Witty Compendium of Measurements

By Stephen Strauss

Book Overview

A fun book about the measurements by which we define the world. Strauss is especially good when he tackles such issues as "What would Santa Clause have to do to deliver all his presents in one night",... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1568361106
• ISBN13: 9781568361109
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Kodansha Amer Inc
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.8" x 1.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Get a sense of all the measures and scales

This is a fun book to read, and must have been a fun book to write. There are two parts in the book. Part I consists of 14 interesting essays, answering the questions such as: What would Santa Claus have to do to deliver all his presents in one night? Which celestial body is equal in volume to 54,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Big Macs? How loud must a noise be to have lethal effects? How hot would Hell be and how cold would Hell have to be before it froze over? What is the amount of air pressure required to burst a condom? Part II defines and explains all sorts of common and uncommon measures and scales, with lots of tables, illustrations and interesting examples.My favorite essay is: How many jumping Chinese does it take to start an earthquake?This book gives the readers a new understanding of all the measures and scales, in a very witty way. That's all I have to say about this book.