The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World

This is going to be the strangest review I will probably ever write. You see, I am the reason this book exists. My name is Colin Povey, and as the book explains (see page 7) I suggested to the author 7 years ago that the world needed a book on the story of precision. And before I get any further, I must tell you that I get NO money nor any other remuneration from the sales of the book. Zip, zero, nada. So, why does the world need a book on the history of, the story of precision? Read on. In college, I was privileged to take a pair of courses, one on the History of Technology, and one on the History of Science, and both taught by the brilliant professor Richard Shallenberg.I loved those courses so much, I have continued to read, study, and even research the topic for the past 40 years. One thing came to me as I studied this history, and that was how much precision has improved over time. The first Newcomen steam engines had a terrible fit of the piston to the walls of the cylinder, with some gaps as large as an inch, if not a little larger. Today, in computer chips, transistors are only 10 nm, or 10 billionths of a meter, wide. So, I thought, I'll find a book on the history of precision. Amazon had nothing like it. Neither did any other on-line or physical book stores. I went to my rather large county library, and again, I struck out. I went to a large University library, and found nothing locally, though one previous book had been written on the subject, but it was more than 80 years old. So, I though, the world needs a book on the history of precision. But I am not a writer (as you can tell if you have gotten this far), I'm a tech geek, a nerd. So I sent a note to a favorite author who wrote books on similar subjects. He was nice enough to send a note back saying he didn't think it was a good idea. So, then I remembered Simon Winchester, author of several books I liked. So, I dropped Simon an e-mail with this suggestion. I mean, his website asks for suggestions! Nothing happened for about 3 months, but then I got a reply, saying he thought it was a good idea, but he had to convince his agent. More months passed, and another note arrived in my in-box from Simon, saying the agent though it was a good idea. But now came the tough part, convincing at his publisher. Months later, a third e-mail from Simon. The editor said yes! Simon was already working on some other books he had already contracted for. So while Simon was finishing them, I started to do research. I knew bits and pieces of stories, and I found others. So, when I had collected a bunch of these together, I sent Simon another e-mail. In total, I sent him six e-mails with precision stories, notes, ideas on people to discuss, and assorted information, some as long as 30 pages. I also included my thoughts on how it was important to show how precision had changed over time, and how precision changed the world. For, literally without precision, the world as we know it today would not exist. Don't believe me, read the book. And then I waited and waited. I got occasional e-mails from Simon, and even a couple of phone calls, but it was taking way longer than I thought it would. Notice that at this point, I have not met Simon. Just e-mails and an occasional phone call. Finally, one day in February 2018, a package arrives in the mail from Simon, and it's preliminary copy , what he called an advanced reader copy, of the book! And it's entitled The Perfectionists. I was amazed, especially for the story he included about my father, that deals with precision, which Simon included on pages 7-10 of the book. I saw that Simon had taken some of my little suggestions to heart, especially the need to define precision and accuracy, and how, while they are related, they are not the same thing. Simon had asked that I read the book, and send in comments and corrections. I blasted through it in just 3 days, I was so amazed at the book, how he had taken it so much further than I ever could have. Then, the book gets published in early May, 2018. By this point, I am bound and determined to meet Simon. And he is going on a book tour, but sadly, my state of Florida is not on the list. But I see that it starts in DC, my old home town, so I make plans and fly to DC, and spend a long weekend catching up with friends I have known, some of them over 50 years! And then it happens. At a small bookstore in DC, down near the Potomac River, Simon shows up to give his presentation and answer questions on precision. And we finally get a chance to meet. But sadly, it is for only an hour, as he is moving on to Philadelphia to do it all over again the next day, and on and on for about 3 long weeks. Talking to radio shows in the mornings, visiting bookstores in the afternoon and evening, then moving on and doing it all over again. PS Most Authors hate book tours. So, enough already, what about the book? It's marvelous. It traces precision, from it's rocky beginnings in England with steam engines, in France, with gun makers, and then back to England, to Portsmouth, where the Royal Navy, had a real problems with acquiring enough blocks, rope blocks, used in hauling goods, and sails, and other essentials around on shore and at sea, and to solve that problem, the answer that one man, Henry Maudslay came up around 1800, did the trick. And the answer Maudslay came up with was so good, the machines were in use for 160 years, finally making their last blocks in 1965. The tale then travels to the US, where …... I can't go on, Simon would probably shoot me if I told you more, as it would spoil the book. So, buy the book, it's marvelous. If you like technical machines of any kind, buy. If you use precision machines, of any kind, buy it. If you just like great story telling, buy this book. You will love it. But one more thing. I claim that precision is all around us, everyday, but we just don't see it. A good example is probably within 5 feet of you right now. A ballpoint pen. What is precise about them, you ask? I mean, perfectly good ballpoint pens can be had for a quarter. What can be precise about them? Well, the fit of the ball to the case or cone has to be very precise, more so than you would think. If the fit is too tight, the ball will jam, and no ink will flow. And if too loose, the ink comes out in blobs, also not acceptable. But what is truly amazing about ball point pens is that the ball cannot be smooth. It has to be precisely made, to roll smoothly, but if is is too smooth, it will not carry ink onto the ball, so it has to be not too small, nor to large, and the surface has to be rough-ish, to carry ink. Bic, hte largest maker of ballpoint pens in the world, with their Crystal pen (we've all used one, their clear pen), spends 60-70 HOURS grinding each ball. Obviously, they do it in batches, not individually, but as we have seen. the fit must be very, very precise to work properly. And when I mean all around us, Bic, in 7 factories around the world, makes 1 MILLION Crystal pens a day. That, my friends, is true precision. And it is all around us, and we take it for granted. Simon ends the main part of the book talking about the most precise machines ever made, the LIGO machines, designed to test Einstein's theory of General Relativity. There are two of these machines in the USA, with a third to be built and operated in India. How precise are they? Well, let's just say that they need to do math that involves more than 30 decimal places. Precise enough for you? Buy the book, you will love it. PS Outside North America, the book is entitled: Exactly.

If I had noticed that this is the #1 best selling book in the science measurement category I might not have bought it. That is one oversight I am extremely grateful for, however. This is a very good book that is sure to surprise you and you do not have to be an engineer or a scientist to appreciate it. Winchester is a modern polymath with a high level of curiosity, both scientific and philosophical. And that’s why he may be the only person with the expertise to have written this book. The author catalogues the advancement of technology from the Industrial Revolution to the Digital Revolution. (This is definitely NOT another book about the disruptors of Silicon Valley.) His examples are easy to follow and very informative. Except for the founders of Intel, he spends most of his time on inventers and engineers you probably haven’t heard of. And it works because in the end this is not so much a book about technology as it is a book about precision. Accuracy allows us to make nice things that last, but technological and scientific advancement require precision in both dimension and location. Engineering, in fact, outstripped precision quite early in the Industrial Age until people like John Wilkinson, Joseph Bramah, and Henry Maudslay came along and saw the problem. Philosophy enters the picture when Winchester notes the obvious duality between science and nature. Science requires precision. Nature abhors it. “For might there be in the wider world, in truth, simply too much precision? Might today’s singular devotion to mechanical exactitude be clouding a valued but very different component of the human condition, one that, as a result, is being allowed to vanish?” Precision allows computation. Imprecision, however, requires thought. Binary processors are very precise. Books, written in the human construct of language, are not. And that’s why I think it’s a shame that many people today are reading less. Computation without thought is not progress. Can we not also assume that precision takes money? The great scientific computers of today require the accuracy of atomic clocks rather than the simple quartz watch that most of us get by with. The meter wasn’t precise enough for the International Astronomical Union so they developed the Angstrom, a length equal to one ten-billionth of a meter, defined by the spectral wavelength emitted by heated cadmium. And who is going to pay for all of that precision? And what do we do with the people who don’t have access to it? Everything, including precision and technology, exists in context. We cannot blindly pursue the latter without understanding the implications for our social, educational, and economic institutions and systems. If we ignore it, nature will win. “Before the imprecision of the natural world, all will falter, none shall survive—no matter how precise.”

Primarily focused on the past 350 years or so, the book looks at the personalities and events that shaped and guided the becoming of precision engineering. After a loose narrative leading up to the Industrial Revolution, the book traces the advancements in precision tolerance as well as the physical means to actually measure such, from Watt with his 1/10 inch tolerance for the piston in a steam engine, to the LIGO gravitational wave observatory, whose tolerance is 1/10,000 the width of a proton (one times ten to the negative 19 meters). It's easy to follow the development, if not the characters. I try not to commit too many details to memory when reading a book like this, so reading through so many years of advancements with so many individuals and their accomplishments, it may be easy to get slogged down in names and technologies. The author doesn't ask for such commitment. It's okay to read this book and walk away with an overview of history that's enriching to one's understanding of the science and the grit behind what makes our world what it is today.

Un Poco Largo

Best book I've read this year!

This is more about the history of some (very) selected topics than about the way these realizations were performed. The book does not contain basic diagrams about the various invention it discusses, but describes them vaguely by words. The diagram of a lathe, a jet engine or a quartz oscillator are pretty simple and the reader would grasp the principle much more easily than through two pages of descriptions where most names are not familiar. Even the history part is biased : precision was invented and improved by British and american, period. Some vague figures from France or Germany may appear in few short sentences and then be forgotten. When discussing the jet engine for example, the whereabouts of the first British jet are given in great details, forgetting that Germans had jet fighters in the air in 1944. And this kind of selection bias is in every chapter. I enjoyed reading the book, but regret its many shortcoming.

This kind of book appeals to a certain type of mind. The enquiring one that is genuinely interested in how the world is how it is. Among these many, many books there are some real gems such as Longitude and Nathaniels Nutmeg, one giving us the history of what eventually became accurate navigation and thus opened the world and the other, how Britain eventually came to own North America. I can add to these books, 'Exactly.' The premise does not seem to be particularly riveting but like the best of these historical stories it wends its way through time picking up bright lights along the way, each one illuminating the next incredible step forward in the creation of the modern world. And of course like all the best books it informs and educates as well. I am an engineer - not that you have to be one to enjoy this book - and as such have fairly decent knowledge of the immense contribution James Watt made. I didn't however know of an engineer called Maundslay who possibly at least as important in this process. We move around the globe meeting people who, from the inception of the modern world which essentially started with the use of iron, who are as people fascinating but so similar despite their backgrounds its almost startling. These are people who were dedicated to the ideas of precision in order to create. Its a process as wonderful if and perhaps more inspiring and artful than that produced by those who we conventionally think of as 'artists.' It is also a well written and engaging book. At no point was I bored or felt disengaged as the author Simon Winchester maintained a fair click through history divulging enough technical detail to be useful whilst avoiding getting bogged down which any book about engineers and engineering is at risk of. Overall, if you have read Nathaniels Nutmeg or Longitude then without a doubt you will enjoy this.

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