A semi-detective story of tracking down the origin of the screwdriver and the screw. The book is well written and interesting, but has rather a lot of wood-working terms (i.e. names of tools) that I needed to look up. ( )

Rybczynski, is a writer of some talent, and when asked to define "The Tool of the Millenium" he chose the variant of the inclined plane and it's application tool the screw and the screwdriver. When finally pushed to define the best screw he chose the Robertson pattern. It is also my favourite, but it does require a specialist screwdriver. Still I use a lot of them around the house, and you only need three drivers to cover all the different screw sizes. The book is surprisingly interesting and may be a good present for the technologist in your circle. ( )

This was a bit like being cornered by a uncle at a party. The kind of uncle that is charming and erudite but not very good at listening, so you have to hear all the details that you're not interested in as well as the good bits. The good bits are definitely there, but I'm not sure they're worth it. ( )

I'm not quite sure where this book came from. I reached into a box while unpacking, looked down and though "Now why would I ever have this?" I still don't know, it's one of the few mystery books that have shown up over the years. It is a short book, less than 150 pages, with several well drawn diagrams and even a picture glossary of tools to refer to as you read.

I was surpisingly drawn into it, considering its about tools, and I don't have much of a fit-it-up bone in my body. I'm more of the tear it down and look pleadingly at my boyfried to put it back together type.

The author starts by giving us a reason why he felt compelled to research the screw and screwdriver of all things. He then walks us through a good chunk of his research as he looks for the origins (which was suprisingly tricky). Finally, he walks us backwards through time through all the various stages and uses of the screw(driver). I would have prefered to start at the beginning and work our way to modern times, so it was a bit confusing for me jumping backwards but I can understand why he wrote that way.

An interesting book to keep mmy occupied for an afternoon...lovely sketches throughout as well. ( )

QI type discussion on the origins and development of the screw etc. All to down to your landed gentry looking after themselves. Wonderful detailed case study on unintentional consequence- better screws led to better lathes that lead to factories long before the Manchester revolution. Read and do a Steven Fry. ( )