LoveReading Says
In Nuts & Bolts, engineer and broadcaster Roma Agrawal sets out to boil down the complex modern world of engineering into just seven fundamental inventions - the nail, spring, wheel, pump, magnet, lens and string.
It's an historical, geographical and scientific journey across centuries, continents (also space) and the world of physics, which is entertaining as well as enlightening. We learn how human ingenuity has found ways to manipulate light, gas and solid objects in such a way that they can improve our world, and Agrawal is not short of examples of the ways in which this has happened.
Each of her seven chapters examines the evolution of a different invention - to begin with, the transition of the basic nail to become the nut & bolt in (for example) the industry of shipbuilding; or the pump, at one time a device to support early irrigation in arid lands which came to achieve great things in the worlds of heart surgery and space exploration. Often, it seems, the early versions of these devices were popping up independently and coincidentally around the world to solve universal challenges, but as time has gone by it has been the individual genius of an inventor up against a specific niche problem that has led to a breakthrough.
By the end of the book, on the one hand I had come to realise how we take such simple but game-changing items for granted when at one time they would have seemed miraculous; and on the other hand I was reassured to discover that devices which for much of my life had seemed beyond understanding were actually basically simple in that they rely on the same basic physics.
The author concludes with the hope that the big win for the widespread demystification of technology, is that it may support the drive for sustainability through the fixing, repair or repurposing of much of what makes our lives tick. This is a great book for the kind of person who likes to take things to bits to see how they work - and an inspiring read for the young engineers out there who may one day apply these small things in their own moment of breakthrough brilliance.
Greg Hackett
Find This Book In
Nuts and Bolts Synopsis
As heard on Off Air with Fi and Jane!
Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.
In Nuts and Bolts, award-winning Shard engineer and broadcaster Roma Agrawal deconstructs our most complex feats of engineering into seven fundamental inventions: the nail, spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string and pump. Each of these objects is itself a wonder of design, the result of many iterations and refinements. Together, they have enabled humanity to see the invisible, build the spectacular, communicate across vast distances, and even escape our planet.
Tracing the surprising journeys of each invention through the millennia, Roma reveals how handmade Roman nails led to modern skyscrapers, how the potter's wheel enabled space exploration, and h
ow humble lenses helped her conceive a child against the odds. She invites us to marvel at these small but perfectly formed inventions, sharing the stories of the remarkable, and often unknown, scientists and engineers who made them possible. The nuts and bolts that make up our world may be tiny, and are often hidden, but they've changed our lives in dramatic ways.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781529340075 |
| Publication date: |
2nd May 2023 |
| Author: |
Roma Agrawal |
| Publisher: |
Hodder & Stoughton |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
320 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Popular Science
|
| Other Genres: |
|
| Recommendations: |
|
Roma Agrawal Press Reviews
A wonderful book. A fascinating tour that brings to life the springs, ratchets and fibres that makes up the machines of our modern age -- Mark Miodownik
There is passion for engineering on every single page. Roma Agrawal has a special skill of reawakening that part of us that simply wants to understand how the built world works, and to dream of creating our own machines. -- Angela Saini
A masterclass in storytelling. Agrawal is the perfect narrator: her curiosity, technical knowledge and excitement fill every page. -- Jess Wade
Inside this wonderfully engaging book is a profound message: that so much of technology comes from ingenious reiterations of just a few innovations in engineering... Roma Agrawal brings these inventions vividly to life. -- Philip Ball
Essential reading for budding engineers, young and old. -- Anna Ploszajski
Fascinating stories behind the humble devices that make our human world work, told with an engineer's infectious excitement and enthusiasm for detail. -- Gaia Vince
Roma Agrawal locates the wonder of engineering in the lively Nuts and Bolts... she enriches her account by showing how her chosen devices also work in combination, creating artefacts as unlikely as they are exotic - Telegraph
Clear, lively and engaging... the history of engineering tells us about who we are and who we have been. It can even lead us to who we want to be - Nature
Nuts & Bolts is a splendid book: clearly written, elegantly structured and full of facts you are unlikely to chance on anywhere else -- Daily Mail
Appeals to the nerdy side of just about all of us... a great book to give - Jane Garvey
A wonderful book - Mark Miodownik, author of Stuff Matters
A masterclass in storytelling - Jess Wade, physicist and author of Nano
