The Seven Measures of the World (Yale University Press, £18.99, ISBN: 9780300266276) is a guide to the natural world through seven units of measurement: the metre, the second, the kilogram, the kelvin, the ampere, the mole, and the candela. With these seven measurements, Martin argues, we can understand the universe.

The book begins with a sketch of a moment from our recent history: 1960. Elvis was at the top of the charts, the Beatles had just formed, and, at the 11th General Conference of Weights and Measures, the SI system of measurements was adopted: “At last humanity had a coherent architecture for measurement, whose seven basic units defined a complete and universal language for measuring not only our own small world but all of nature, from the most obscure subatomic recesses to the boundaries of the universe.”

Seven Measures is a collection of these critical moments in scientific history, paired with simple scientific explanations. They span all...