
The Perfectionists
How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
Échec de l'ajout au panier.
Échec de l'ajout à la liste d'envies.
Échec de la suppression de la liste d’envies.
Échec du suivi du balado
Ne plus suivre le balado a échoué
Acheter pour 31,46 $
-
Narrateur(s):
-
Simon Winchester
-
Auteur(s):
-
Simon Winchester
À propos de cet audio
The revered New York Times best-selling author traces the development of technology from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age to explore the single component crucial to advancement - precision - in a superb history that is both an homage and a warning for our future.
The rise of manufacturing could not have happened without an attention to precision. At the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in 18th-century England, standards of measurement were established, giving way to the development of machine tools - machines that make machines. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods resulted in the creation and mass production of items from guns and glass to mirrors, lenses, and cameras - and eventually gave way to further breakthroughs, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider.
Simon Winchester takes us back to origins of the Industrial Age, to England where he introduces the scientific minds that helped usher in modern production: John Wilkinson, Henry Maudslay, Joseph Bramah, Jesse Ramsden, and Joseph Whitworth. It was Thomas Jefferson who later exported their discoveries to the fledgling United States, setting the nation on its course to become a manufacturing titan. Winchester moves forward through time, to today’s cutting-edge developments occurring around the world, from America to Western Europe to Asia.
As he introduces the minds and methods that have changed the modern world, Winchester explores fundamental questions. Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultra-precise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural co-exist in society?
©2018 Simon Winchester (P)2018 HarperCollins PublishersVous pourriez aussi aimer...
-
Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
- Narrateur(s): Simon Winchester
- Durée: 14 h et 19 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
-
-
Knowledge - shaped by power & culture
- Écrit par CKH le 2025-08-10
Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
-
Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
- Narrateur(s): Simon Winchester
- Durée: 13 h et 46 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
-
The Blazing World
- A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
- Auteur(s): Jonathan Healey
- Narrateur(s): Oliver Hembrough
- Durée: 19 h et 42 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.
Auteur(s): Jonathan Healey
-
The Lumumba Plot
- The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination
- Auteur(s): Stuart A. Reid
- Narrateur(s): Michael Boatman
- Durée: 18 h et 15 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
It was supposed to be a moment of great optimism, a cause for jubilation. The Congo was at last being set free from Belgium—one of seventeen countries to gain independence in 1960 from ruling European powers. At the helm as prime minister was charismatic nationalist Patrice Lumumba. Just days after the handover, however, the Congo’s new army mutinied, Belgian forces intervened, and Lumumba turned to the United Nations for help in saving his newborn nation from what the press was already calling “the Congo crisis.”
-
-
Lumumba
- Écrit par Rick Reid le 2024-05-02
Auteur(s): Stuart A. Reid
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- Auteur(s): Fernando Cervantes
- Narrateur(s): Luis Soto
- Durée: 15 h et 8 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
Excellent overview of the conquistadors
- Écrit par James Burns le 2023-04-12
Auteur(s): Fernando Cervantes
-
Plays Well with Others
- The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Relationships Is (Mostly) Wrong
- Auteur(s): Eric Barker
- Narrateur(s): Roger Wayne
- Durée: 6 h et 55 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
In Plays Well With Others, Eric Barker dives into these questions, drawing on science to reveal the truth beyond the conventional wisdom about human relationships. Combining his compelling storytelling and humor, Barker explains what hostage negotiation techniques and marital arguments have in common, how an expert con-man lied his way into a twenty-year professional soccer career, and why those holding views diametrically opposed to our own actually have the potential to become our closest, most trusted friends.
-
-
Very relatable and relevant
- Écrit par Sally Arsenault le 2023-10-09
Auteur(s): Eric Barker
-
Knowing What We Know
- The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
- Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
- Narrateur(s): Simon Winchester
- Durée: 14 h et 19 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
From the creation of the first encyclopedia to Wikipedia, from ancient museums to modern kindergarten classes—this is Simon Winchester’s brilliant and all-encompassing look at how humans acquire, retain, and pass on information and data, and how technology continues to change our lives and our minds. Throughout this fascinating tour, Winchester forces us to ponder what rational humans are becoming. What good is all this knowledge if it leads to lack of thought? What is information without wisdom?
-
-
Knowledge - shaped by power & culture
- Écrit par CKH le 2025-08-10
Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
-
Land
- How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
- Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
- Narrateur(s): Simon Winchester
- Durée: 13 h et 46 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
Land - whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city - is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing - and have done - with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.
Auteur(s): Simon Winchester
-
The Blazing World
- A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689
- Auteur(s): Jonathan Healey
- Narrateur(s): Oliver Hembrough
- Durée: 19 h et 42 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
The seventeenth century was a revolutionary age for the English. It started as they suddenly found themselves ruled by a Scotsman, and it ended in the shadow of an invasion by the Dutch. Under James I, England suffered terrorism and witch panics. Under his son Charles, state and society collapsed into civil war, to be followed by an army coup and regicide. For a short time—for the only time in history—England was a republic. There were bitter struggles over faith and Parliament asserted itself like never before. There were no boundaries to politics.
Auteur(s): Jonathan Healey
-
The Lumumba Plot
- The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination
- Auteur(s): Stuart A. Reid
- Narrateur(s): Michael Boatman
- Durée: 18 h et 15 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
It was supposed to be a moment of great optimism, a cause for jubilation. The Congo was at last being set free from Belgium—one of seventeen countries to gain independence in 1960 from ruling European powers. At the helm as prime minister was charismatic nationalist Patrice Lumumba. Just days after the handover, however, the Congo’s new army mutinied, Belgian forces intervened, and Lumumba turned to the United Nations for help in saving his newborn nation from what the press was already calling “the Congo crisis.”
-
-
Lumumba
- Écrit par Rick Reid le 2024-05-02
Auteur(s): Stuart A. Reid
-
Conquistadores
- A New History of Spanish Discovery and Conquest
- Auteur(s): Fernando Cervantes
- Narrateur(s): Luis Soto
- Durée: 15 h et 8 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus' first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers who took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares.
-
-
Excellent overview of the conquistadors
- Écrit par James Burns le 2023-04-12
Auteur(s): Fernando Cervantes
-
Plays Well with Others
- The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Relationships Is (Mostly) Wrong
- Auteur(s): Eric Barker
- Narrateur(s): Roger Wayne
- Durée: 6 h et 55 min
- Version intégrale
-
Au global
-
Performance
-
Histoire
In Plays Well With Others, Eric Barker dives into these questions, drawing on science to reveal the truth beyond the conventional wisdom about human relationships. Combining his compelling storytelling and humor, Barker explains what hostage negotiation techniques and marital arguments have in common, how an expert con-man lied his way into a twenty-year professional soccer career, and why those holding views diametrically opposed to our own actually have the potential to become our closest, most trusted friends.
-
-
Very relatable and relevant
- Écrit par Sally Arsenault le 2023-10-09
Auteur(s): Eric Barker
Ce que les critiques en disent
"Winchester's writing style is straightforward, which makes it effective in audio. He spices his narrative with numerous interesting facts and ironies, which make listening even more pleasurable. He defines technical and scientific terms in a way that makes it easy for general listeners to understand them. Winchester also does the narration, adopting a conversational tone that is highly suited to the work." (AudioFile)
Compelling Listen, Great Narration
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.
Good
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.
Interesting and Informative
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.
This in its way, gets it right, so to speak
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.
this is a must listen or read
Best Listen of my Audible career to date
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.
Providing excitement to dry topics
Un problème est survenu. Veuillez réessayer dans quelques minutes.