Exactly
How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
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Exactly
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Narrated by:
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Simon Winchester
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By:
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Simon Winchester
About this listen
Bestselling author Simon Winchester writes a magnificent history of the pioneering engineers who developed precision machinery to allow us to see as far as the moon and as close as the Higgs boson.
Precision is the key to everything. It is an integral, unchallenged and essential component of our modern social, mercantile, scientific, mechanical and intellectual landscapes. The items we value in our daily lives – a camera, phone, computer, bicycle, car, a dishwasher perhaps – all sport components that fit together with precision and operate with near perfection. We also assume that the more precise a device the better it is. And yet whilst we live lives peppered and larded with precision, we are not, when we come to think about it, entirely sure what precision is, or what it means. How and when did it begin to build the modern world?
Simon Winchester seeks to answer these questions through stories of precision’s pioneers. Exactly takes us back to the origins of the Industrial Age, to Britain where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John ‘Iron-Mad’ Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. Thomas Jefferson exported their discoveries to the United States as manufacturing developed in the early twentieth century, with Britain’s Henry Royce developing the Rolls Royce and Henry Ford mass producing cars, Hattori’s Seiko and Leica lenses, to today’s cutting-edge developments from Europe, Asia and North America.
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?
©2018 Simon Winchester (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedCritic Reviews
"An ingenious argument that the dazzling advances that produced the scientific revolution, the industrial revolution, and the revolutions that followed owe their success to a single engineering element: precision.... An enthusiastic popular-science tour of technological marvels...readers will love the ride." (Kirkus)
"Another gem from one of the world’s justly celebrated historians specializing in unusual and always fascinating subjects and people." (Booklist)
"Winchester’s latest is a rollicking work of pop science that entertains and informs." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Exactly
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- The Quiet Reader
- 11-05-2018
A revelation and a delight
An engrossing tour of the quests for accuracy and perfection in engineering and it's impacts on Society. Ideal for both the Engineer and Non-Engineer. It's not a technical book but is rich with detail with the narration both lively and mellifluous. This was an entertaining and informative listening, and I'd imagine reading, experience. Destined to be another classic volume by Simon Winchester. I eagerly look forward to his next subject.
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8 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- D J Jones
- 17-07-2021
Erudite, illuminative and highly enjoyable.
Fabulous to be able to enjoy the fruits of such a educated and curious mind. On the basis of this book I will listen to more from this author. Great command of the English language and read with aplomb. Really enjoyed it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- angus mcpherson
- 22-10-2019
very interesting and well read
the authors passion for the topic shines through this book. I found it fascinating and engaging the whole way through.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Jack Fleming
- 15-07-2018
A Thurley enjoyable romp through history
first up I will add the proviso that I love the history of scientific achievement, so I was already positively disposed to the subject matter. I think Simon Winchester organisational of this book by orders of magnitude of procession was clever and works well. this book will appeal to anyone who likes engineering and science. the book contains fantasic narratives around each significant advancement in precision that made this book hard to stop listening to.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 26-09-2019
Great Book, and a fabulous performance
Being a mechanical engineer this book took me back through the great history of my profession and then onwards and upwards to the fantastic heights we have achieved today. The author, together with his accent and turn of phrase took me into the 19th century workshops quite literally. it really brought life to what is already a great history, far better than simply reading it on the page.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- john grisinger
- 20-09-2018
Fascinating story of human inginuity
Read by author and great story of human development in manufacturing. It covers all manner of objects from cannon to muskets to the manufacturing of modern Intel chips. Listened non stop during a long car trip. Loved it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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- Michael Traves
- 23-10-2018
Story well told
Learned a lot, old and new. Fascinating progression through the development of tolerances bringing us to today's precise world.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- YDN19
- 24-08-2021
Fascinating read
Loved learning about how canons were made and why Rolls Royce is such a prestigious brand.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Gordon
- 20-05-2019
Exactly what I was hoping
An excellent engaging read that provided brilliant insights into precision engineering in the modern age.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Robert
- 15-08-2019
Precisely brilliant
I didn’t anticipate a book about precision and its history to be so great. Winchester does an amazing job at drawing you in with great stories and my mind is now blown.
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