John Keay THE GREAT ARC

I did a little advance reading since I am still waiting for the Wolfe book to arrive. I finished John Keay's THE GREAT ARC, The Dramatic Tale of How India Was Mapped and Everest Named. This is a short (172 pages) book but fascinating, hearkening back to the days of the still expanding British empire. To India Englishmen would go to make their reputation. Some like Langton and Everest found their life's work. Keay tells of the incredible dangers, mostly from malaria, that these intrepid surveyors encountered and had to overcome to complete the task. The Great Trigonometrical Survey took the best years of Langton and Everest and the lives on hundreds of others, but in the end the India sub-continent was charted; ready for the machinations of bureaucracy the British Empire would soon subject it to. A fine read.