A history of precision enginering spanning the first machine-bored cannons to the reason ultra-flat planes are vital for space telescopes and jet engines.
Fascinating how war consistently pushed precision engineering forward, from cannons to GPS. The connection between British Navy needs and Harrison's sea watch was something I hadn't thought about before. I work in tech and kept seeing parallels to how military funding drives innovation today, like how the internet itself came form ARPANET. Winchester's tolerance progression from 0.1 inches to near-atomic levels is wild.
Great review! One of my all time favorite non-fiction books, and hands down the non-fiction book I have recommended the most. (Which is kind of weird since I don't even have a review of it on my own substack.)
OK. Eleanor, fine, you convinced me to go buy the book. I see I'll need to buy a bunch more of his stuff, too. I guess I need to stop getting newsletters from interesting people now...
Sorry not sorry! This author was great, with really fun way of organizing the information. There were fun turns of phrase and a happy ending. I feel better informed about the world (especially jet engines!). It gave me useful fodder and insight into "engineers" vs "idea guys" in a way that I think improves my effectiveness at work, among other things.
Fascinating how war consistently pushed precision engineering forward, from cannons to GPS. The connection between British Navy needs and Harrison's sea watch was something I hadn't thought about before. I work in tech and kept seeing parallels to how military funding drives innovation today, like how the internet itself came form ARPANET. Winchester's tolerance progression from 0.1 inches to near-atomic levels is wild.
Yeah it really makes me wonder what a more peaceful world would actually look like. As Anne Bishop likes to say: everything has a price.
Great review! One of my all time favorite non-fiction books, and hands down the non-fiction book I have recommended the most. (Which is kind of weird since I don't even have a review of it on my own substack.)
OK. Eleanor, fine, you convinced me to go buy the book. I see I'll need to buy a bunch more of his stuff, too. I guess I need to stop getting newsletters from interesting people now...
Sorry not sorry! This author was great, with really fun way of organizing the information. There were fun turns of phrase and a happy ending. I feel better informed about the world (especially jet engines!). It gave me useful fodder and insight into "engineers" vs "idea guys" in a way that I think improves my effectiveness at work, among other things.
Hope you love it too!