One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Hockey History > Item 191
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One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
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by Witold Rybczynski
Sales Rank: 439204
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List Price: $14.00
$11.20
At Amazon
on 9-17-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 176 pages
Published by: Scribner August 28, 2001
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0684867303
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0684867304
Book Dimensions:
7.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
Weighs: 6.1 ounces
Product Review
In 1999, an editor of the New York Times Magazine approached Witold Rybczynski, the well-known student of architecture and urban design, and asked him to write a short essay on the best and most useful common tool of the past millennium. Rybczynski took the assignment, but when he began to look into the history of the items in his workshop--hammers and saws, levels and planes--he found that almost all of them had pedigrees that extended well into antiquity. Nearly ready to admit defeat, he asked his wife for ideas. Her answer was inspired: "You always need a screwdriver for something."
True enough. And, Rybczynski discovered, the screwdriver is a relative newcomer in humankind's arsenal of gadgetry, an invention of the late European Middle Ages and the only major mechanical device that the Chinese did not independently invent. Leonardo da Vinci got to it early on, of course, as he did so many other things, designing a number of screw-cutting machines with interchangeable gears. Still, it took generations for the screw (and with it the screwdriver and lathe) to come into general use, and it was not until the modern era that such improvements as slotted and socket screws came into being.
Rybczynski's explorations into that lineage, here expanded to book length, are highly entertaining, and sure to engage readers interested in the origins of everyday things. --Gregory McNamee
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Acclaimed hardware, household and landscape writer Rybczynski invites readers to see how the world got screwedAand why it took so long, and how it felt. Romans had most of our hand tools, though cranks are medieval; screws and screwdrivers, however, originatedAwhen? Scottish crafts manuals from around the time of the American Revolution give screwdrivers as "turnscrews"; the same word in French, tournevis, turns up in 1723. Even earlier, screws appeared as a spinoff from Renaissance warfare, keeping the parts of a matchlock rifle linked. Used in timepieces and armaments, the screws of the 16th century were hand-cutAboth expensive and unreliable. Efficient, widespread screwing required (a) more uses, to up the demand; (b) steam power, aka the Industrial Revolution; and (c) smart mechanics and engineers, who invented the manufacturing procedures that Rybczynski describes. Canada's Peter L. Robertson came up with the wondrous socket-head (square-holed) screw; the inferior Phillips (+-holed) head came later, but became standard outside Canada. Siege engines, early firearms like the arquebus, 19th-century child labor, the precision lathe, door hinges and the great minds of ancient Greek geometry also figure among the threads of Rybczynski's tightly wound exposition. A professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, Rybczynski began this book after the New York Times asked him to pick the Tool of the Millennium. The short volume can feel like a bagatelle compared to Rybczynski's most ambitious projectsAhis biography of Frederick Law Olmsted, A Clearing in the Distance, or the endeavor (chronicled in his Home) of building his own house plank by plank. Nevertheless, Rybczynski's many fansAand those who care for the history of hardwareAwill want to stick their heads in his new book: many will find themselves fastened to its story. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw (Paperback)
Although I had no interest in screwdrivers and screws when I started this book, the text provided a pleasant reading experience and I learned more than I thought I would. All in all, it was well worth the time spent. I think you will feel that way too, unless you have no interest at all in mechanical devices and the process of innovation. My favorite parts related to the innovations. This book is composed of equal parts (1) why the author chose the screwdriver as the tool of the millennium for his article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine (2) where you have to go to find out about screwdrivers from the past (3) how he developed the information for this history of the screwdriver and screws and (4) the geniuses who developed the key advances in the technology of these useful devices. The style is a bit rambling, much like what would happen if you were chatting about the subject over a barbecue in the back yard with plenty of time on your hands. I can assure you this must be the most complete and authoritative book about screwdrivers and screws ever, especially since the author points out the virtual absence of any prior material turning up in his research. Let me summarize the key areas. He picked the screwdriver as the tool of the millennium not because he thought of it, but because his wife told him that it was the one tool that she always kept around. After having gone through his own tool kit, he had not even thought of the screwdriver. The first place where much shows up on the screwdriver in older texts is Diderot's Encyclopedia. In those days screwdrivers were called turnscrews. To get a flavor of the screwdriver in the middle ages, when it seems to have appeared, you have to look into armor and early guns. The screw goes back much further, showing up in useful form for Archimedes in Greek times as a way to raise water. Screws later played many other important roles, especially in presses (including, of course, printing presses). Lathes turned out (pun intended) to be an important related technology for making screws precise and consistent. I learned about some interesting related technologies, including Greek mechanical devices with gears for calculating the orbits of heavenly bodies. Then, we finally get down to gears and the development of improved lathes and the Robertson and Phillips screw heads. He prefers the Robertson (which I had never heard of before) which uses a socket top to screw in and remove screws. At the end is a nice set of illustrations along with a glossary of tools. This book is probably going to be a classic Father's Day gift for decades, along with a Robertson screwdriver, socket set, and screws. Overcome your misconception that you know all you need to know about screwdrivers. You'll be pleasantly surprised by this gentle and unassuming book. When you are done, pick something else you think you probably know enough about and search around to find a good book on that topic as well to expand your own knowledge further. Keep doing that, and some wonderful learning awaits you! Donald Mitchell (donmitch@irresistibleforces.com)
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One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
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Updated on 9-17-2008.
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