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One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
One Good Turn A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
Author: Witold Rybczynski
The seeds of Witold Rybczynski's elegant and illuminating new book were sown by The New York Times, whose editors asked him to write an essay identifying "the best tool of the millennium." The award-winning author of Home: A Short History of an Idea and, most recently, A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and Americ...  more » Rybczynski once built a house using only hand tools. His intimate knowledge of the toolbox -- both its contents and its history -- serves him beautifully on his quest. One Good Turn is a story starring Archimedes, who invented the water screw and introduced the helix, and Leonardo, who sketched a machine for carving wood screws. It is a story of mechanical discovery and genius that takes readers from Ancient Greece to Victorian Glasgow, from weapons design in the Italian Renaissance to car design in the age of American industry. Rybczynski writes an ode to the screw, without which there would be no telescope, no microscope -- in short, no enlightenment science. The screwdriver, perhaps the last hand tool in a world gone cyber, represents nothing less than the triumph of precision. One of our finest cultural and architectural historians, Rybczynski renders a graceful, original, and engaging portrait of the tool that changed the course of civilization.
ISBN-13: 9780002000314
ISBN-10: 0002000318
Publication Date: 9/2000
Pages: 160
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1
3 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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 reviewed One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw on + 14 more book reviews
A very readable survey of a lot of technological history, with anecdotes and byways of research.


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