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qatsiBook Review: The Perfectionists - How Precision Engineers created the Modern World, by Simon Winchester
Perhaps seeking out ever more niche areas for writing, Winchester brings the rather dry subject of precision engineering to life in this book. It's not an easy subject to grasp: some things in our everyday experience require relatively little precision, and so the extent of engineering may seem pointless, whilst in other areas we just take it for granted, as it is ubiquitous. Winchester starts history with cannons and the advent of the steam engine, both of which required cylinders bored to previously unattainable accuracy to function reliably and safely. But quickly the tale turns to one of mass production and the requirement for interchangeable parts - a previously unknown concept. There follows a stream of ever more modern technology, through car engines to aeroplanes and the Hubble Space Telescope - for both these latter items Winchester also examines the failures resulting from a lack of expected precision - before concluding with GPS and an examination of how the fundamental units of measurement are now defined.
One thing puzzled me throughout the book: Winchester refers to "high precision", meaning constructed with great predictability, and also to "high tolerance", a term he seems to use as a synonym. To me, being "highly tolerant" would imply not requiring such precision, but being able to "make do" with less precise constructs. But this oddity did not prevent me from enjoying the book.
Perhaps seeking out ever more niche areas for writing, Winchester brings the rather dry subject of precision engineering to life in this book. It's not an easy subject to grasp: some things in our everyday experience require relatively little precision, and so the extent of engineering may seem pointless, whilst in other areas we just take it for granted, as it is ubiquitous. Winchester starts history with cannons and the advent of the steam engine, both of which required cylinders bored to previously unattainable accuracy to function reliably and safely. But quickly the tale turns to one of mass production and the requirement for interchangeable parts - a previously unknown concept. There follows a stream of ever more modern technology, through car engines to aeroplanes and the Hubble Space Telescope - for both these latter items Winchester also examines the failures resulting from a lack of expected precision - before concluding with GPS and an examination of how the fundamental units of measurement are now defined.
One thing puzzled me throughout the book: Winchester refers to "high precision", meaning constructed with great predictability, and also to "high tolerance", a term he seems to use as a synonym. To me, being "highly tolerant" would imply not requiring such precision, but being able to "make do" with less precise constructs. But this oddity did not prevent me from enjoying the book.