Everest - J. R. Smith

Mount Everest is known to everyone - but what of the person after whom it was named? This book traces the life and profession of that person, George Everest. In particular, it covers his life dedicated to surveying in India during the first half of the 19th century. George Everest went to India at the tender age of 16 but within a few years was leading survey parties into the remotest areas of the subcontinent. His particluar passion was geodesy - the determination of the size and shape of the earth - and he soon ecame Superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey. In addition, he spent many years as Surveyor General of India. This book draws heavily on original correspondence archived in India, offering a good flavour of his character both as a person and as a manager. Everest was a surveyor, linguist, engineer, astronomer and religious philosopher, but in the pursuit of his goals he did not suffer fools gladly. It was recorded that he was so indefatigable that his contemporaries were accustomed to speak of him as "Neverrest". The book provides insight inot the life of a remarkable man and shows why the earth's highest peak now bears his name.