# The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World (Book Review)



## CalgaryPT (Jul 9, 2020)

If you're interested in the historical aspects of machining, and how the trade influenced culture and entire nations, Simon Winchester's book _The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World_, is a good read. It was a _New York Times_ bestseller, and details how, until such time as precision machining was invented, one-off inventions were the norm and really limited in their impact until tools such as lathes, cross slides, boring machines, surface plates and gauge blocks were invented. Precision was invented for warfare and firearms, yet taken to the extreme it can become the Achilles Heal of successful campaigns.

Most of us have heard of James Watt and how his steam machine started the industrial revolution. But in reality his invention was just a novelty, incapable of doing any real work due to 0.5" gaps between the cylinder and the cylinder walls. That is until someone else came along and solved the leakage issue with a boring machine accurate to a few thousands of an inch—a boring machine that was originally intended to make more accurate canons for naval ships.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how too much precision—as in the cases of Rolls Royce jet engines or the Hubble Space Telescope—can actually introduce unintended failure into engineering and lead to life threatening scenarios, or skyrocketing costs.

As the book progresses it moves into finer and finer levels of precision. So by about the 2/3 mark the author is discussing watches, optics and electronics down to the microscopic level. It's all very interesting, although I enjoyed the first half about machine tools more than the latter half. It wraps up with a discussion of the metric system and how its units were eventually agreed upon amongst nations.

I especially love books that discuss the cultural impact of machinery and inventions, and this has a lot of that. I almost wish it were a longer read, but I suppose this topic could go on forever if left unchecked.

It's available in ebook, paperback and on Audible.


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## David_R8 (Jul 10, 2020)

I really enjoyed that book, fantastic read. 


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## PeterT (Jul 10, 2020)

Same here. Right up our alley. Read it (listened it) on Audibles. I don't think there have been many authors who attempted to encompass this subject theme & tie it together like he did, both chronologically and dimensionaly. 

I've since downloaded a few other Simon Winchester titles on completely different subjects & they did not disappoint. I really didn't care for history in grade school, endless dry memorization of dead guys with beards. Now I cant get enough of it. Either I've matured (unlikely) or the difference was how the story was conveyed (more likely).


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## YYCHM (Jul 10, 2020)

Heading over to Chapters this morning.  Apparently they carry the paperback $22.


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 10, 2020)

David_R8 said:


> I really enjoyed that book, fantastic read.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Should have known you guys would beat me to it  Good for you. It was a good read.


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 10, 2020)

PeterT said:


> I really didn't care for history in grade school, endless dry memorization of dead guys with beards. Now I cant get enough of it.



From _Tragically Hip's_ Wheat Kings song:

_The walls are lined all yellow, grey and sinister
Hung with pictures of our parents' prime ministers_

I feel exactly the same way @PeterT. I hated in in school, much to my dad's displeasure. But now I can't recall the last fiction book I read. Everything is history or biographies now. I can't imagine how boring the bearded guys you mention must have been for girls in the class.


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## Johnwa (Jul 10, 2020)

The library has a copy.  I just checked out the E-book version.


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## PeterT (Jul 10, 2020)

Johnwa, just curious. Are you downloading to a reader device like Kindle or Kobo or using some kind of computer/Ipad based e-book app interface (analogous to logging onto Lynda video tutorials but via library portal). My old Kindle is dead & I'm kind of an audio guy now so not really motivated to replace it. But a guy should use 'free' resources when possible,
http://calgarylibrary.cantookstation.com/help/faq/devices_and_apps


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## YYCHM (Jul 10, 2020)

Just got the last copy at Sunridge Chapters


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## Johnwa (Jul 10, 2020)

I’m using the “overdrive” app on an iPad.  This works for the Calgary library.

Last fall I joined the Phoenix, Az library.  Their books are delivered through Amazon to my kindle, or my kindle iPad app.


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 10, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Just got the last copy at Sunridge Chapters


I read it on Kobo. I've had several readers over the years, but I have to admit I prefer paper still. I like to underline things and write notes in the books themselves. Nor can I train my brain to envision how far along I am in an ebook; I like the tactile feel of progressing through a wad of paper pages. I still prefer analog watches as well. But with all this Covid19 stuff still going on, I'm limiting my public contacts.

Hope you enjoy it Craig. I'm browsing now for my next good read.


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## PeterT (Jul 10, 2020)

Not really 'book' related but one of the things I like about oxtool (Tom Lipton) Youtube vids is he is a self confessed (primarily machinist) tool junky. Usually its in his 'meatloaf' episodes. He has collected & acquired some really cool stuff of different vintages, old & new, and from different corners of the world. Many examples are custom made one-offs by tool & die makers etc.


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## Crankit (Jul 11, 2020)

Stumbled across a YouTube video the other night on the history of precision


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## Tozguy (Jul 11, 2020)

Look at where it is at today


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## RobinHood (Jul 11, 2020)

I had the great privilege to visit the Science Museum in London, England, a few years ago. It was a walk back in history with all the items on exhibit. Each section was more or less arranged by when the item on display made it’s mark in time - from old to new. Stuff we almost take for granted now, were actually of great importance in advancing technology. Here is a link to some of the items in the museum.

https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/search/categories/industrial-metrology


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 11, 2020)

RobinHood said:


> I had the great privilege to visit the Science Museum in London, England, a few years ago. It was a walk back in history with all the items on exhibit. Each section was more or less arranged by when the item on display made it’s mark in time - from old to new. Stuff we almost take for granted now, were actually of great importance in advancing technology. Here is a link to some of the items in the museum.
> 
> https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/search/categories/industrial-metrology


Lucky you. I've heard of this place. Always wanted to go. Looks so interesting to me 

In the late 1970s there was a BBC series called _Connections_, hosted by science historian James Burke. He makes the point that inventions aren't linear, but rather depended on the need, desires, and even coincidence to advance society. He also says you can't predict where technology will go—because you can't know its impact without knowing these connections. I was quite young, but remember it vividly because he started with the plow and somehow showed how it made possible everything that came after it. His personality made it interesting. Today you get historians (again British) like Suzannah Lipscomb and Kate Williams who have become rockstars, partly because they use the same technique of tying together inventions and culture to make history fascinating. (The other reason they are rockstars becomes clear if you Goggle them).

Good museums to me tell a story, rather than just display stuff with a one paragraph description. A time line is one way to do this effectively. But I've always wanted to see a museum of "stuff that didn't work" where they walk you through the reasons for failure and then show the final, successful, invention. Perhaps no one else would be interested in seeing versions of _WD-1_ through 39, but I think it would be interesting..._Preparation A_ through G, perhaps not so much


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## YYCHM (Jul 11, 2020)

I remember that series and ya, it was petty good.


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## JohnnyTK (Jul 11, 2020)

Just downloaded a copy of it on Audible. Thanks for the review.


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 11, 2020)

Hope you enjoy it.


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## YYCHM (Jul 11, 2020)

Started reading it today.  This book is Awesome!!!!!

Thanks Pete.


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## Janger (Jul 11, 2020)

CalgaryPT said:


> Lucky you. I've heard of this place. Always wanted to go. Looks so interesting to me
> 
> In the late 1970s there was a BBC series called _Connections_, hosted by science historian James Burke. He makes the point that inventions aren't linear, but rather depended on the need, desires, and even coincidence to advance society. He also says you can't predict where technology will go—because you can't know its impact without knowing these connections. I was quite young, but remember it vividly because he started with the plow and somehow showed how it made possible everything that came after it. His personality made it interesting. Today you get historians (again British) like Suzannah Lipscomb and Kate Williams who have become rockstars, partly because they use the same technique of tying together inventions and culture to make history fascinating. (The other reason they are rockstars becomes clear if you Goggle them).
> 
> Good museums to me tell a story, rather than just display stuff with a one paragraph description. A time line is one way to do this effectively. But I've always wanted to see a museum of "stuff that didn't work" where they walk you through the reasons for failure and then show the final, successful, invention. Perhaps no one else would be interested in seeing versions of _WD-1_ through 39, but I think it would be interesting..._Preparation A_ through G, perhaps not so much



I was wondering when Connections would come up. You can watch Connections again on you tube if you like. It was a good series. Unfortunately the sound and video are as good as it was in the seventies. There is a book from the show which I re-read recently. It's good too.

Now Peter I want to go see the science museum in London again. I was there as a kid I think we were in there for 2 or 3 days. It's world class museum. When will it be safe to get on an air plane again?


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## YYCHM (Jul 11, 2020)

Janger said:


> I was wondering when Connections would come up. You can watch Connections again on you tube if you like. It was a good series. Unfortunately the sound and video are as good as it was in the seventies. There is a book from the show which I re-read recently. It's good too.
> 
> Now Peter I want to go see the science museum in London again. I was there as a kid I think we were in there for 2 or 3 days. It's world class museum. When will it be safe to get on an air plane again?



I'm sure I was there as well, but being 10 or 11 years of age at the time the British War Museum was a bigger draw for me.

I want to see that museum/collection just west of Calgary that's so hard to get into.


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## David_R8 (Jul 11, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> I'm sure I was there as well, but being 10 or 11 years of age at the time the British War Museum was a bigger draw for me.
> 
> I want to see that museum/collection just west of Calgary that's so hard to get into.



What museum is that?


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## YYCHM (Jul 11, 2020)

David_R8 said:


> What museum is that?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




https://museumofmaking.org/


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 11, 2020)

Janger said:


> Now Peter I want to go see the science museum in London again. I was there as a kid I think we were in there for 2 or 3 days. It's world class museum. When will it be safe to get on an air plane again?


Perhaps instead we'll be renting drones parked in the lobby of the museum. We'll connect to them virtually through our laptops, pilot them down the isles of the museum while watching on our laptops overseas. We'll be able to navigate drones instead of shopping carts in our local grocery store, point a laser at an item on the shelf, and have it delivered to our house, Convid-free. James Burke should have predicted this (with better sound quality of course).

I just depressed myself John. Nothing beats a real museum.


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## Tozguy (Jul 16, 2020)

I'm 100 pages into the book 'The Perfectionists'. The content is fascinating. It brings new perspective to my experience in the textile industry and to the evolution of precision in the machinery we used.
It is well that the content is so interesting because the writing style is very heavy. One sentences can go on for half a page with 8-10 commas and one or more parenthesis. Several times I had to go back over a sentence to clear up the idea it was conveying. Several times I wondered if it was worth continuing the effort it takes to read it.


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## David_R8 (Jul 16, 2020)

Tozguy said:


> I'm 100 pages into the book 'The Perfectionists'. The content is fascinating. It brings new perspective to my experience in the textile industry and to the evolution of precision in the machinery we used.
> It is well that the content is so interesting because the writing style is very heavy. One sentences can go on for half a page with 8-10 commas and one or more parenthesis. Several times I had to go back over a sentence to clear up the idea it was conveying. Several times I wondered if it was worth continuing the effort it takes to read it.


It is a bit tedious but it's like a tourism brochure compared to The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb


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## Janger (Jul 16, 2020)

I'm reading it too. Now I need to go to England to see those H1 H2 H3 H4 clocks.


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## PeterT (Jul 16, 2020)

The Audibles version is narrated by the author, who I thought did an excellent job. Crisp 'England' English. You'd never know there was a comma in there LOL. Often times with Audibles the opposite holds - good text but bad or distracting narration. Its a bit of crap shoot so narrator ratings its something you look at if you are sitting on the fence to buy or not. But its ind of like music, one persons taste may not agree with another. Also Audibles is kind of sucky if they keep referencing an accompaning PDF or you need to refer to diagrams or picture to understand the narration. Both book formats have their pros & cons. I'm usually brain dead after work so reading a book later in the evening is usually a recipe for falling asleep. I walk to work to so that provides an hour of 'listening' time every day which equates to quite a few books over time.

Are there many pics in the actual book?


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 16, 2020)

Tozguy said:


> Several times I had to go back over a sentence to clear up the idea it was conveying. Several times I wondered if it was worth continuing the effort it takes to read it.



I find since the demise of small bookstores, the emergence of Amazon ordering, and now the advent of eReaders and Audible, I get more duds than I used to. I attribute it to the inability to page through a physical book before you buy. In a relaxed bookstore you used to read a few lines, skip a hundred pages and read a few more lines, then skip a hundred pages and read a few more lines. Do this four or five times and you get a reasonable feel for the author's writing style. Certainly your assessment is many times better than a one time sample of some pages at the beginning of the eBook, or the sample page they show you on Amazon. If an author's writing style doesn't work for you, you don't buy it. If you do and you still don't like it, at least there is no surprise. 

For me, book reviews are like models: they are always wrong, but some are useful.


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## CalgaryPT (Jul 16, 2020)

PeterT said:


> The Audibles version is narrated by the author, who I thought did an excellent job...


I keep signing up for Audible, then cancelling my subscription. I've had some good ones, but some really bad ones as well. If I spent long periods of time in my car I'd use it all the time. I'm sure I will try it again soon, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth from a previous download. I also find you need the right level of complexity to the book depending on the task you are doing. For some it can easily run in the background as you work at a repetitive task (like painting) in the shop. But for other stuff it is too distracting. For a truck driver or a road trip I'm a fan—depending on the narrator as you point out Peter.


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## YYCHM (Jul 16, 2020)

PeterT said:


> Are there many pics in the actual book?



49


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## PeterT (Jul 16, 2020)

Audibles also gotten quite spendy over time. It started out reasonable than equivalent hard copy, about half price as I recall. I stack 'candidates' in my wish list, then inevitably they would come on 2-for-1 sale so you could milk the annual cost even more or use the opportunity to gamble on something iffy. The only thing worse than a dud audible is a dud hardcopy LoL. I still have the original dot com subscription, I was lead to believe dot ca didn't have the same or as many titles? My wife was going to try Audibles but the math only works if you read so much per year. I don't do apple shopping much but I hear you can get titles that way too onsey-twosey with no subscription. Audibles lets you carry over credits after renewal time. But I think the new game is try to augment it with 'free' stuff through the library or other sources. Kind of depends on what you like to read & when published. Its not for everyone but I find it useful. When it comes to picture laden or technical content, a real book wins hands down no contest.


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## kevin.decelles (Jul 16, 2020)

I am a fan of audible — early adopter from before amazon . I still buy my favourite books in hard cover if possible

Based on the feedback I found the hard cover for 11 bucks from “bool outlet “. Just got to wait for it now...... can’t wait




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## Tom O (Jul 17, 2020)

I still prefer books although audible has its uses.


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## Dabbler (Jul 19, 2020)

I listen to audiobooks while in the shop, and relaxing before bed.  For everything else it's paper, baby!


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## YYCHM (Aug 1, 2020)

Thanks for recommending this book!  It was a great read.

So, if every physical measurement we can make relates back to time!!!  What the H is time?


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## CalgaryPT (Aug 2, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Thanks for recommending this book!  It was a great read.
> 
> So, if every physical measurement we can make relates back to time!!!  What the H is time?


Glad you enjoyed it.
I’ve read more that one book that says time is nothing more than a human construct, that it really doesn’t exist. I have two rotator cuffs and a pair of eyes that disagree.


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## Tom O (Aug 2, 2020)

YYCHobbyMachinist said:


> Thanks for recommending this book!  It was a great read.
> 
> So, if every physical measurement we can make relates back to time!!!  What the H is time?


It’s a point of reference for feeling old.


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## Janger (Aug 2, 2020)

Time is the thing clocks measure. -Einstein..


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## YYCHM (Aug 2, 2020)

This is going to bug me to no end now....  If time is simply a human invention of convenience, why is it we can measure such things as frequency????


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## CalgaryPT (Aug 2, 2020)

I sense this thread fast approaching a Monty Python skit called the Philosopher's Football Match.


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## YYCHM (Aug 2, 2020)

CalgaryPT said:


> I sense this thread fast approaching a Monty Python skit called the Philosopher's Football Match.



Let the Philosopher's joust!

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## Dabbler (Aug 3, 2020)

Measuring frequency needed a stable way to count time: a stable oscillator!  I'm just reading the book now.  looks great!!!


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## Tom O (Aug 3, 2020)

well according to Python a horse going “oooh baby“ could be a “ stable oscillator “


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## JohnnyTK (Nov 3, 2020)

Just a few chapters in but really enjoying the audible book! Learning so much history.


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