There is a book called "Civilization One" which talks about possible influences ancient cultures had on modern measurement systems. It's conclusions will proba

There is a book called "Civilization One" which talks about possible influences ancient cultures had on modern measurement systems. It's conclusions will probably be taken as a conspiracy theory by most but I found the book interesting nonetheless. It actually goes into a theory of why the mathematics was the way it was (based on astrological observations rather than purely number of factors) which offers an interesting perspective on it all. The conclusion is largely that our measurement systems are deduced from our environment and that there is commonality between imperial and metric systems, both being derived well in the past.