Published by William Collins, 2018, hardcover, illustrated, index, 395 pages, condition: as new.
Bestselling author Simon Winchester writes a magnificent history of the pioneering engineers who developed precision machinery to allow us to see as far as the moon and as close as the Higgs boson. Precision is the key to everything. It is an integral, unchallenged and essential component of our modern social, mercantile, scientific, mechanical and intellectual landscapes. The items we value in our daily lives - a camera, phone, computer, bicycle, car, a dishwasher perhaps - all sport components that fit together with precision and operate with near perfection. We also assume that the more precise a device the better it is. And yet whilst we live lives peppered and larded with precision, we are not, when we come to think about it, entirely sure what precision is, or what it means. How and when did it begin to build the modern world?
Simon Winchester seeks to answer these questions through stories of precision's pioneers. Exactly takes us back to the origins of the Industrial Age, to Britain where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John `Iron-Mad' Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. Thomas Jefferson exported their discoveries to the United States as manufacturing developed in the early twentieth century, with Britain's Henry Royce developing the Rolls Royce and Henry Ford mass producing cars, Hattori's Seiko and Leica lenses, to today's cutting-edge developments from Europe, Asia and North America.
As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world. Simon Winchester and I usually make a good pair. I like his topics and his narrative style. Truth be told, if I had real writers talent, I would love to have the freedom to roam the world writing about the fascinating things that our world contains and that people do. To that extent, I envy the author. Here, Winchester is discussing a matter dear to his heart, how precision engineers created the modern world. This is so because Winchesters own father was one of this group. Words that are key to this book include accuracy, precision, and tolerance. In fact, a discussion of these terms precedes Winchesters panorama of devices, which he puts in order of tolerance. I found that his joy and fascination drove this book, much to my delight. Each device and its significance was a teachable moment and I was an apt student. From the canon to the steam engine to Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory the stories behind the devices were eye-opening and entertaining. Winchester does a fine job of placing the engineering feats within a historical context. He doesnt ignore the effects on culture and society, including the workers displaced by machines. In fact, he questions whether our ability to create precise devices demands manufacturing and inspection techniques that are beyond human skills.
