Título: The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
Autor: Simon Winchester
Sinopse: “Another gem from one of the world’s justly celebrated historians specializing in unusual and always fascinating subjects and people.” — Booklist (starred review)
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.
The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in eighteenth-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools—machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras—and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.
Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.
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?
Contexto da obra
Como livro em inglês, esta obra costuma ganhar também uma camada própria de interesse editorial e linguístico. “The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World”, de Simon Winchester, publicado pela editora Harper Perennial, em 2019 e com 416 páginas, integra a categoria Livros em Inglês. Por isso, o interesse da obra tende a se ampliar quando o leitor considera também a relação com a língua em que ela circula.
Editora: Harper Perennial
Páginas: 416
Ano: 2019-05-07
Edição: Reprint
Linguagem: en
ISBN: 0062652567
ISBN13: 9780062652560
Sobre a editora
Os livros da editora Harper Perennial costumam oferecer uma experiência de leitura que combina narrativas densas e envolventes com uma diversidade temática que vai da história medieval detalhada a retratos contemporâneos intensos. As sinopses sugerem um catálogo que privilegia histórias humanas complexas, muitas vezes ambientadas em contextos históricos ou sociais marcantes, como guerras, conflitos culturais e transformações pessoais. O tom varia entre o suspense investigativo, a crônica social e a ficção literária, com ritmo que pode ser tanto introspectivo quanto tenso, dependendo do foco narrativo. O material de apresentação indica ainda uma atenção especial a personagens multifacetados, cujas trajetórias exploram dilemas morais, relações familiares e questões identitárias.
