Exactly: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
Categories: History, Science & Math
Simon Winchester chronicles precision engineering, which he sees as the hidden foundation of the modern world. He begins with John Wilkinson's method for boring cannon, which made accurate cylinders for James Watt's steam engines possible. Winchester follows the work of Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden and Joseph Whitworth, then moves to interchangeable parts, the flawed mirror of the Hubble telescope, microchips and GPS, and asks whether precision and the natural world can coexist.
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- Seth Godin: “Simon Winchester’s book on precision is magnificent.”