66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Screw Up Your Courage and Dive into Screwdrivers!, August 28, 2000
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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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Good Turn Deserves to be read., September 28, 2000
Let's get the main question out of the way: Can an entire book devoted to the history of the screw and screwdriver possibly be worth reading? The answer is an unqualified yes. This small book takes an unusual, almost reverential, look at the the nature of tools and the mind of the inventor and innovator. Rybczynski recounts his research into the origins of this ubiquitous tool, so it is also a tale of the research process. He tells the story in a casual, personal style, making it an easy read. The book is not tightly focused on its subject, filled with many digressions and asides which are as interesting as the main narrative. One of my favorites concerns the invention of the the shirt button. It seems like the epitome of simplicity, and could have been made thousands of years ago, yet it took until the 1300's for some unknown genius to make the "leap of imagination" and conceive of the device, which seems simple but is not at all intuitive. The author asks the reader to imagine trying to explain the the "twist and flip" motion to some one who has never used one. Its nuggets like this, which make the reader look at common items from an entirely different perspective, that makes the book shine. It turns out that one of the first uses of the screw dates back to the Middle Ages, as a method of fastening the the brutally abused armor of jousting knights, and later to secure the matchlock mechanisms of the earliest firearms. However, in exploring the concept of the helix, the basis of the screw, the author reaches much further back in time, to the ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, who understood the shape and put it to use in irrigation and wine presses. My only peeve is that although the book is loaded with temporal dates, I still found them lacking in certain places where they were sorely needed to put events in perspective. Aside from that minor short-coming, this is a book about much more than just the screw and screwdriver, full of pleasant suprises and delightfull "twists". A must read.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
if Bob Vila and James Burke had a son, November 30, 2001
This review is from: One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw (Paperback)
A New York Times editor asked Mr. Rybczynski to write an article about his choice for best tool of the millennium. One would think that this would involve deciding on a tool, researching its history and uses, and writing it up. But that would be too linear. Instead, the author takes us on a rambling walk through the toolbox. We learn not only about the development of many tools and machines (adze, augur, hammer, lathe, gears and presses), but about the scientists and inventors, even financiers, who contributed to the development of the screwdriver, and the applications (early firearms and clocks) that helped (literally) shape the device. We learn about the Phillips versus the Robertson screw, and the limitations of earlier lathes, which led to the first screws being handmade. Many interesting facts like this entertain and inform.
As a librarian I appreciated the author's friendly discussion of the references he found useful for his research. There are many black-and-white line drawings to help you visualize the items being discussed, as well as a notes section, a good index, and illustration credits.
Weaknesses: I would have liked to have read a brief discussion of the (seven?) Simple Machines, as I think many were discussed here, and it would have been an interesting reminder of things from physics class that I've forgotten. In addition, I looked up a quote by Plutarch in the Notes section, and the citation began "Quoted by E. J. Dijksterhuis .... " with no information about the actual source -- not much help!
This was a fun read. If you are the kind of person who enjoys browsing through the dictionary or a bookstore, you will probably enjoy this little gem of a volume by this handyman-storyteller.
Highly recommended.
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