I probably didn't understand a lot of this, but the book had a lot of ideas about the advance of technology that were fascinating.
The idea in the early part of the book of inventing machine tools, ie a machine to make perfect machines. John Wilkinson. 1776. A machine to make precise cannons. Interchangeable parts.
John Harrison clock discussed (for longitude) - but not in this category (of a machine to make machines).
Page 71, the pulley blocks and the factory to build them, resonates with the Revolutionary War book (Rick Atkinson's) discussing the British Navy and its requirements.
Unhappy, displaced workers, still happening to this day. These were skilled folks and well paid, caught up in technological change.
Military needs and opportunities a driver of technology, as so often throughout history (two examples above). US manufacturers of guns in 19th century - could repair a gun on the fly with an interchangeable part.
Recency of these advances. The world lived without them for millennia. Not now.
Chapter on cars was less interesting to me (contrasting Rolls Royce and Ford). Rolls-Royce with much handcrafted work, Ford becomes automated. Measuring tools make huge jumps.
The airplane chapter is pretty terrifying - a lot can go wrong, with serious consequences even if just a little big wrong.
Hubble - fixing the lens.
One of the final chapters addressed my old client - ASM Lithography - taking tolerances and scale to the literally unbelievable. ASM International with a brief, if inaccurate, mention.
Kind of disjointed but very interesting.
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