The Great Arc: The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Was Named by John Keay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As a surveyor, I was fascinated by the exploits of my forebears. It is an amazing account, and I saw many reflections of some of my own experiences. Of course, the equipment that I had access to was much more technologically based, but the principles were much the same. Also, there were a surprising number of things that have not changed over the decades.
I was in awe of these great men, and the lengths that they went to so that they could provide the baseline from which they could measure, and map, the rest of the sub-continent.
The narrative is a bit slow-going and tedious in places. Even so, I was gripped by the story, and so grateful to the author for bringing it to life for me.
This book won’t interest everyone, but it is a bit of history and will interest anyone who wants to learn more about life in the 19th century, even if you don’t have too much interest in the technical side of surveying.
Write to Inspire 
My partner is climbing Everest this year, so I posted some facts about Mr Everest and how it was named was one of them.
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