The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development
of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the
single component crucial to advancement--precision--in a superb history
that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention
to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in
eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established,
giving way to the development of machine tools--machines that make
machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods
resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and
glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras--and eventually gave way to
further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the
Hadron Collider.
Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to
England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in
modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse
Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later
exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the
nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves
forward through time, to today's cutting-edge developments occurring
around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.
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
as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And
can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?
