What books are a must read for land surveyors?

MAPSCO

"The Pincushion Effect" by Jeff Lucas
"Compass Land Surveying" by F. Henry Sipe
"Writing Legal Descriptions" by Gurdon H. Wattles
"Boundaries and Landmarks" by A.C. Mulford

There are many others. Also, depending on which state you practice in, there are most likely a couple of state specific books that would be in your best interest to read.

The Bible. Is an ancient historical document. The Book of Numbers, Chapter 34 gives MUCH of the foundation for British Common Law, which is also used in USA.

I am involved in a survey right now, that has a conflict between MEETS and BOUNDS. The Meets goes 20' further, than the bounds. The OTHER surveyor held to the MEETS. I will be holding to the bounds, "To the centerline of Warhawk Trail", and "With the Centerline of Warhawk Trail". We get this idea that a perfectly good legal description can be written with directions, and bounds, from the Book of Numbers, in the Bible.

Nate

With all due respect, a book that speaks of talking snakes and donkeys, people rising from the dead, unicorns, a man living inside a fish for three days, or an impossible flood is not a must read for surveyors. 😉

"A must read" is a bit subjective... but if you're interested, and only in general terms to your question, there's a few recently read books I've enjoyed that maybe you will too:

Surveyors of Empire by UMO Professor Stephen J. Hornsby

While its a little slow starting, hang in there because Hornsby really does a good job in painting the backdrop to what was at the time the most incredible state-of-the-art surveying and mapping of pre-revolution America as evidenced in The Atlantic Neptune.

The Atlantic Neptune is another "must read" book, but instead of a book of text, this is a book of maps available in exquisite clarity from the Boston Public Library's Norman B. Leventhal Map Center.

The Measure of All Things by Ken Alder

This is a very good accounting of the survey project intended to define the meter, though I wish the author had presented equal time to the then competing contender of the meter's definition; gravity.

Probably the best read on gravity's historical developments in terms of its impact on land surveying is Development of Gravity Pendulums in the 19th Century and was a primary source consulted in Part 1 of Gravity’s Increasing Gravitas

And then this classic, though not read recently; Measuring America by Andro Linklater fits easily into a "must read" list.

I remember that Dick Day had loaned his copy to me thinking it a good book for a long flight. As I read it on the plane from Maine to California in February 2005 it was wonderful looking out from 30,000 feet through absolutely clear skies and seeing the PLSS system so well illustrating Linklater's discussion of the surveying system's development that's prevalent throughout much of the country today. Eventually we landed in Kona (in the dark and on the Big Island of Hawaii) and I bought my own copy in the first book store we stopped at.

Coincidental or not, these writings by Hornsby, Alder and Linklater contain historical accounts with overlapping or very close timelines. In some sense they might be seen as being distant from today but what is fundamentally relevant then and now is the pursuit of surveying's technological and societal advance.

> With all due respect, a book that speaks of talking snakes and donkeys, people rising from the dead, unicorns, a man living inside a fish for three days, or an impossible flood is not a must read for surveyors. 😉

At least it won't lie to you and tend to lead you in the wrong direction like Brown's........

Regardless of what you think.... many people of the world past regarded that book, and thus is part of the HISTORY of surveying. Leave it out, if you wish, but it is a part of our legal history.

N

Dan Beardslee
-A Business Management Handbook for Land Surveyors
ISBN-10 0980059631

Hijack - Gavin

In my best Crocodile Dundee voice: That's not a reading list, THIS is a reading list.

> Unrelated note: I have often wished the surveying profession could set up a lending library system; paying it forward so to speak...

Surveyors Historical Society has a substantial library available to members.

A. Lincoln with Compass and Chain by Adin Baber

They Left Their Mark: A Biography of William Austin Burt by John S. Burt

Surveyors and Statesmen: Land Measuring in Colonial Virginia by Sarah S. Hughes

Legal Principles of Property Boundary Location on the Ground in the Public Land Survey States by Ira M. "Tiny" Tillotson

Longitude by Dava Sobel

Latitude by Stephen Pumfrey

In addition to the previously mentioned Initial Points of The Rectangular Survey System by C. Albert White also look for A History of the Rectangular Survey System by White.

In addition to the previously mentioned Measuring America by Andro Linklater also look for The Fabric of America by Linklater.

Any of the classic hard boiled detective novels by Hammett or Chandler are a must.

And for gawd's sakes if you are drinking bourbon, it must be Old Forester.

While it's true that Dashiel Hammett's "The Thin Man" is an excellent and instructive book for land surveyors, I'd have to say that most of George Simenon's Inspector Maigret series is on the whole much closer to the truth as far as problem solving methods in murky cases goes.

It's hard to believe the same man who wrote the two very detailed and somewhat plodding unnamed Continental Detective stories also wrote the light and airy Thin Man which turned into the Myrna Loy/ William Powell vehicles. I think they would've needed Broderick Crawford to play the Continental Detective.

> It's hard to believe the same man who wrote the two very detailed and somewhat plodding unnamed Continental Detective stories also wrote the light and airy Thin Man which turned into the Myrna Loy/ William Powell vehicles.

Well, the form progressed, as did the author. I like to imagine Lillian Hellman's voice as that of Nora Charles, and never thought William Powell was really up to playing Nick Charles as written by Hammett.

The first, The Red Harvest would be like a surveyor going into a messed up town and setting all the Realtors on each other along with the local realtors board.

The Dain Curse involves everyone, Realtors, Title People, engineers, a group of snake oil salesman selling allodial title but a lot more complex than that but our hero the surveyor half rides the tide of events and half figures his way through it until he finally unravels it all.

I've been trying to think of the name of the Hammett novel in which the protagonist is working on two inventions (or at least mentions them), one being a mirror in which one sees his image unreversed and the other being a lamp that uses a spiral reflector to focus the light upon a surface. For some reason, I have the idea that the book was a work in progress at the time of Hammett's demise.

In addition to surveying (both technical and legal) textbooks and Kelly's list, I would add:

1. The Mapmaker's Wife by Robert Whitaker is a true (love) story of the expedition to South American in the 1730's to help settle the argument as to whether the earth is oblate or prolate. For more of the technical (surveying) details, see Plane to Spheroid by James Smith.

2. The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey is a true story of Cartographic Crime that emphasizes the enduring impact/importance of the maps we make. The contribution that surveyors make to civilization is huge!

3. Reckle$$ Endangerment by Gretchen Morgenson (and Joshua Rosner) tells how Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac exploited "the system" in pursuit of pure unadulterated greed. Reading this book will (should) make you very angry and a more responsible participant in the American economic enterprise.

4. My current favorites include two easy reads - worthy of contemplation - by Malcolm Gladwell

a. Outliers and
b. David and Goliath

And others . . .

> At least it won't lie to you and tend to lead you in the wrong direction like Brown's........
Stick with the editions written by Brown, ie/ 3rd edition or earlier.