The Perfectionists
by Simon Winchester · first published 2018
83% recommend17% neutral
Why HN recommends it
An accessible, entertaining history of precision engineering, from accuracy versus precision and Maudslay and Whitworth to tolerances behind the steam engine; for readers curious how machine tools shaped modernity.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The revered New York Times bestselling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement--precision--in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future." -- Amazon.
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If you prefer a book, take a gander at "The Perfectionists" by Simon Winchester. If you enjoy the pedantry of accuracy vs precision (or wish you did), this book is for you.
on “The Origins of Precision [video]” ↗> Are there any good background resources on how some of these things are done? For a cultural history of precision see The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35068671-the-perfectioni... * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOEcyYsiHc
on “TSMC eyes Germany as possible location for first Europe chip plant” ↗The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester isn't so much a survey of fundamental scientific advancements, but precision engineering goes hand in hand with modern developments in physics, chemistry, microbiology, and medicine.…
on “Ask HN: Any recommendation for a good History of Science book?” ↗If you like this book you'll love "The Perfectionists" by Simon Winchester; https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...
on “Ask HN: What are the best unknown books you have read?” ↗The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern - Simon Winchester
on “Ask HN: What book(s) did you love reading this year?” ↗The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World Paperback – Simon Winchester (2019 Paperback, purchased/read recently)
on “Ask HN: Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2021?” ↗I liked this one about how the increasing precision in manufacture enabled the adoption of new technologies https://www.amazon.com/Perfectionists-Precision-Engineers-Cr...
on “Ask HN: Good Books on the History of Technology?” ↗…-The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage -The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick -Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age by Michael S. Malone -The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester -The Innovators by Walter Isaacson -Medieval Technology and Social Change by Lynn White Jr. -The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the…
on “Ask HN: Good Books on the History of Technology?” ↗The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗Have you read "The Perfectionists" by Simon Winchester? Great book if you're into this stuff!
on “How machines learned precision” ↗Anyone interested in this might also enjoy the book The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created The Modern World, by Simon Winchester. I read it a few years ago, and thought it was a really interesting journey through bootstrapping precision and how that fundamentally…
on “How machines learned precision” ↗…revolution. 26. Latitude by Nicholas Crane - Cartography innovations. 27. When the Heavens Went on Sale by Ashlee Vance - Space startups. 28. The Founders by Jimmy Soni - PayPal's early days. 29. The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester - Precision engineering. 30. The Little Engine That Could - Children's classic. 31. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - Success mechanics. 32. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight - Founding of Nike.…
on “Ask HN: Books about people who did hard things” ↗Folks who enjoyed this may appreciate Simon Winchester's recent book The Perfectionists, where he covers this method amongst other things. Core to the idea of perfection are machine tools, what we in software often refer to as a toolchain. The way the toolchain revolution allowed us to go…
on “Hand Scraping a Truly Flat Plane (1908) [pdf]” ↗…https://www.worldcat.org/title/engineering-rules-global-stan... Simon Winchester has a book on machining and measurement, also not read, though based on his previous works it should be excellent. The Perfectionists: https://www.worldcat.org/title/perfectionists-how-precision-... There was a fairly popular book on containerised freight shipping that came out within the past five years or so called The Box That…
on “Hey Ho, GIFs Must Go (1999)” ↗Simon Winchester's book "The Perfectionists" [1] is a good popular level intro to Maudsley, Whitworth et al. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Exactly-Precision-Engineers-Created-M...
on “TSMC eyes Germany as possible location for first Europe chip plant” ↗