One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw

Rating:
Summary: More a research log for tool afficionados
Review: The book was not what I expected. Turns out that it's mostly about the author's exploration to find out where the screw came from. But that's only about 30% of the book. The rest is investigations into other tools, and the author's discussion of his investigation.

I'd definitely recommend this book for someone who was interested in tools, especially old tools, and for someone who is interested in the history of tools.

It is not, however, a technical book on screws, or even tools for that matter. Light easy reading.

Rating:
Summary: I'm turning into a crotchety old man before your eyes ...
Review: This is a fun little book, although the author has written better.

My review is on the price though. I buy everything that Witold Rybczynski writes although this one gave me pause. Twenty dollars for a 130 paperback--with small pages at that?

I am a fan of the handsomely published essays like Hitchen's Kissinger, Klein's Fences and Windows, and Amis' Koba. They need to have a market, but I'm not sure that this new pricing approach is good for long-term readership.

Rating:
Summary: The best tool of the millennium
Review: This is an interesting and good book, but not what I wanted.

My expectation was for a story along the line of Michael Faraday's 1861 classic, "The Chemical History of a Candle." Instead, this is a Lake Woebegone style of pleasant and relaxed wandering among dozens of anecdotes about the development of the common wood screw into an everyday item. Granted, it's an excellent book, Rybczynski is a charming writer who is able to discover and present pleasant little anecdotes about screws into a full length book.

It's really a social history. He wanders through the history of tools from ancient Egypt to modern power tools; his description of the evolution of the hand saw which dates from at least 1,500 BC in Egypt is a fascinating account of how technology develops in response to a social need. Rest assured, anyone who has even the slightest interest in hand tools will find every page fascinating. Like James Burke and "Connections," Rybczynski is a master story teller who is able to link diverse elements into an always interesting account. About the only item mercifully missing is the thumbscrew -- the old instrument of torture.

"One of the rewards of building something yourself -- a house or a bookshelf -- is the pleasure of using tools," Rybczysnki writes, setting the delightful theme of the book. "Hand tools are true extensions of the human body, for they have evolved over centuries of trial and error."

One of the charms of the book is the questions that Rybczynski raises but does not answer, such as his assertion, ". . . . while most of us would bridle at the suggestion that if Cezanne, say, had not lived, someone else would have created similar paintings, we readily accept the notion that the emergence of new technology is inevitable or, at least, determined by necessity. My search for the best tool of the millennium suggests otherwise."

That issue is raised on page 110, and again on the second last page of the 143-pages of text, when he talks of an invention "that owes its existence to human imagination rather than technological evolution. And imagination is fickle." It's an idea worth keeping in mind; Rybczysnki clearly comes down on the side of human ingenuity, the ability to come up with new ideas that may take time to find a practical application. On this basis, he suggests Archimedes -- who, like Leonardo da Vinci, was able to come up with dozens of ideas that were far ahead of the technology of his era -- is the true father of the screw. Interest, if true.

Such thinking reflects the weakness, and also the strength, of the book. Cezanne is certainly unique, but so is every snowflake. The absence of a "Cezanne snowflake" doesn't prohibit the creation of other equally artistic snowflakes, the key element is the science of snowflakes and not the genius of a seen or unseen snowflake. Likewise, the key element of Cezanne was the artistic and social milieu in which he painted. The Cezanne's who lived in a different era vanished without a trace.

Technology is similar. While the invention of a specific item may be the product of individual genius, it's adoption is determined by necessity. Who knows? Perhaps Archimedes also invented the can opener. It didn't become popular, though, until the can was invented.

This debate is what makes the book fascinating. It is more than a study about the origins of an everyday item, it is also an exercise in questions, thought and ideas. Rybczynski's charmed writing makes it a delight on both counts.

Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Magazine Article
Review: This little book illustrates one way to turn a magazine article into a book: write about the writing as much as about the subject. And so the author tells us how he came to the idea of an article about screws and screwdrivers; he tells us about the libraries he went to to research it, the books he read, and their authors lives; he describes the museums he visited and the displays he saw there; and he describes the stream of consciousness that led him along the way. The result is a non-chronological treatment that can be a bit confusing; and although structured as a detective story, using hints from obscure books and museums to trace a path steadily farther back into history, the materials in the last chapter -- on the use of screw devices in the ancient world -- are actually the most commonly known and available. But the story is pleasantly told and along the way we do learn what there apparently is to know about the history of the screw and screwdriver.