false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170625068m/64916.jpg 64916 9 In 1999, an editor of the <I>New York Times Magazine</I> approached Witold Rybczynski, the well-known student of architecture and urban design, and asked him to write a short essay on the best and most useful common tool of the past millennium. Rybczynski took the assignment, but when he began to look into the history of the items in his workshop--hammers and saws, levels and planes--he found that almost all of them had pedigrees that extended well into antiquity. Nearly ready to admit defeat, he asked his wife for ideas. Her answer was inspired: "You always need a screwdriver for something."<p> True enough. And, Rybczynski discovered, the screwdriver is a relative newcomer in humankind's arsenal of gadgetry, an invention of the late European Middle Ages and the only major mechanical device that the Chinese did not independently invent. Leonardo da Vinci got to it early on, of course, as he did so many other things, designing a number of screw-cutting machines with interchangeable gears. Still, it took generations for the screw (and with it the screwdriver and lathe) to come into general use, and it was not until the modern era that such improvements as slotted and socket screws came into being. <p> Rybczynski's explorations into that lineage, here expanded to book length, are highly entertaining, and sure to engage readers interested in the origins of everyday things. <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 63008 2000 One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw total:74|5:11|4:29|3:22|2:9|1:3| 74 258 119 19 2 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 20 10:43:24 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 10 10:50:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Dec 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 08:52:48 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 07 12:37:19 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Sep 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 13:12:31 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 18:15:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 08:54:56 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 14 08:59:33 -0700 2008 It is well written and remarkably readable, but it does go off topic a little in parts, The book attempts to trace the history of the screwdriver but becomes and book about the screw....more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Mon Mar 16 20:47:39 -0700 2009 Mon Mar 16 21:00:08 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Wed Oct 21 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 13:09:17 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 13:10:19 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 13:56:08 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 06:50:05 -0700 2008
...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 08 22:21:06 -0800 2009 Tue May 13 09:49:20 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 08 22:21:07 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sun Mar 11 12:43:14 -0700 2007 Sun Mar 11 12:49:05 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Apr 20 10:59:18 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 20 11:03:58 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Wed Dec 19 18:49:29 -0800 2007 Wed Dec 19 18:51:47 -0800 2007 5 0 false false Sun Mar 30 17:23:24 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 30 17:26:48 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Mon Dec 24 20:55:36 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 20:56:23 -0800 2007 2 0 false false Mon Nov 03 12:23:54 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 03 12:25:44 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Sun Jan 27 14:20:27 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 14:21:52 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Fri Jan 25 07:30:20 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 07:31:53 -0800 2008 1 0 false false Wed Jul 18 11:28:51 -0700 2007 Wed Jul 18 11:29:36 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Mon Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 23:55:12 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 11 23:56:41 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Sun Jul 13 20:21:38 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 20:21:44 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Oct 27 21:09:40 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 21:09:40 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=64916