Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries [Paperback]

Deter von Jezierski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Originally published in German in 1977 as the first major book on the history of the slide rule since Florian Cajori's A History of the Logarithmic Slide Rule, this newly revised and translated edition of Slide Rules, A Journey Through Three Centuries, offers readers a fresh, more Continental perspective on this most fascinating of calculating instruments. The book is an important piece of historical and technological research, in which the author includes the history of the slide rule from its beginnings in the 17th century, through its gradual adoption and development worldwide during the 19th and 20th centuries, to its sudden and almost complete demise in the mid-1970s. He also covers the evolution of various slide rule components, technologies, and manufacturing processes, as well as histories of the major slide rule manufacturers and their product lines during the last 100 years. There are detailed references to original sources throughout, which the reader may use as a springboard to further study and research. Readable and very informative, this is a book that, together with those of Cajori and Peter Hopp, any slide rule collector or historian of technology will find of great interest and real benefit.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Another valuable addition to the libraries of slide rule collectors and mathematical instrument historians. -- Journal of the Oughtred Society

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Astragal Pr; Unabridged. edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879335948
• ISBN-13: 978-1879335943
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Slipstick history from a German Phrancophile, September 19, 2007

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Bachelier ""1004"" (Ile de France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slide Rules: A Journey Through Three Centuries (Paperback)

This is a contemporary history of slide rules that emphasizes Continental influences over English and American ones, and therefore it is rather skewed. Still, Cajori's A History of the Logorithmic Slide Rule was published in 1910 and pre-dates Pickett and the explosion of engineering and industrialization which moved the slide rule from a toff's curiosity to a working engineer's sidearm, so Jezierski's contribution is welcome.