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Geometer Dreams by Peter Byrne
A review by Michael D. Breen, January 2023
In Geometer Dreams Peter Byrne showcases landmarks and trig points of
a distin-guished forty year career as a geometer. He eschews the title
‘surveyor’. ‘Surveyors, having so much difficulty in defining
themselves, should not be surprised that their profession, its wide
scope, its importance, is not commonly understood’.
The author recognises that readers may be misled by their
preconceptions of ‘surveyors’. Men with tripods on the pavement looking
at other men with long white calibrated sticks. So Byrne uses the term
Geometer whom he observes in the third person.
At the conclusion of the hundred vignettes the reader is so much the
wiser even if a constraining definition remains elusive.
Peter Byrne is ‘old school’ in spirit and appreciation. Though he is
happy to embrace and master new technology as it arrives. Nonetheless he
is happy to val-ue rather than spurn the old such as a wheelbarrow or
World War 1 heliograph, four cylinder Land Rover, The Curta Calculator
or Tellurometers.
Like the cabinetmakers who mastered hand tools and moved to electric
tops or the artist who mastered sketching before oil painting the
author’s career saw small and large changes which reduced the arduous
field labours and improved ac-curacy. Devices in the right hands of
course.
The dreams move from cadet journeyman to master practitioner and
busi-nessman to standard bearer for the profession and for
professionalism with the In-stitution of Surveyors, federally and The
International Federation of Surveyors. Then a turn into mediation and
dispute resolution where he surveyed and un-earthed vectors and
connections of people stuck in conflict and inaction.
So what is the spirit the elan vital the underlying driving force
linking the ad-ventures, jobs, trips, challenges, appointments and leaps
of this geometer? Leonardo, or was it Einstein, said that genius is
mostly in observation. And our greatest preventer of observing or
learning is what we know; what we believe to be the truth about the way
things are. The Geometer is an ongoing lifelong learner. And you can
feel his delight when he achieves a new learning. This requires courage,
civil courage and ego management. Changing bear-ings and direction
requires the bereavement of banning the familiar and embracing, often
uncertainly at first, what was anathema. It is challenging. It is
uncomfortable and then liberating. The Geometer’s learning and
explorations often were presented by peers, clients, and opponents. So
from a swamp of confusion, progress in geometer dreaming moves to as
absolute a precautionary accuracy as humans can produce. That is a map.
The Swedes have a Museum of Failures, established as a source of
learning. The Geometer often slows things down to learn rather than
hurry up to avoid shame and keep ‘looking forward.’ Without escaping the
discomfort and anxiety the Geometer accepts a second opinion with a wry
smile and a good grace. Not easy when dealing with anxious, bullying or
greedy clients and organisations. The Geometer is smart and witty. His
humour is like a Zen Koan which breaks through situations to reveal a
new, an enlivening viewpoint. He only just evades the label ‘smart arse’
by being able to give grin and take. In Australian and international
professional bodies the Geometer led con-servative forces to change with
the times meshing with other bodies in the land-scape.
Meeting the characters in the stories and in the bibliographical
notes the Ge-ographer presents those with whom he shares his path. You
see whom he valued, respected and befriended. They edified (built) one
another.Their dates of birth and death show that not many are still
going.
This is an historical document. So what function might this almost
quirky compendium perform? War stories register? Nostalgia? Celebrating
less visible professionals of one man and his ma-tes? Were I as an
educator asked to prescribe essential reading for students of sur-veying
and kindred vocations such as engineering, town planning, architecture
etc I would set Geometer Dreams as a readable potent and humane handbook
on pro-fessional practice of an essential service.
Michael D. Breen organisational psychologist consultant to AAM, the
Institution of Surveyors and The Association of Consulting Surveyors and
a State Surveyor General.
Geometer Dreams ISBN 978 0 6454783 0 0 Available from
Rabble Books
and Games AUD 35 plus postage
