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The Perfectionists
- How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
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Publisher's summary
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?
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- By: Alexander Rose
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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At the dawn of the 20th century, when human flight was still considered an impossibility, Germany’s Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin vied with the Wright Brothers to build the world’s first successful flying machine. As the Wrights labored to invent the airplane, Zeppelin fathered the remarkable airship, sparking a bitter rivalry between the two types of aircraft and their innovators that would last for decades, in the quest to control one of humanity’s most inspiring achievements. And it was the airship—not the airplane—that led the way.
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Actually, a One-Sided Story
- By JP on 08-03-20
By: Alexander Rose
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The Dawn of Innovation
- The First American Industrial Revolution
- By: Charles R. Morris
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
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Performance
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Story
In the 30 years after the Civil War, the United States blew by Great Britain to become the greatest economic power in world history. That is a well-known period in history, when titans like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J. P. Morgan walked the earth. But as Charles R. Morris shows us, the platform for that spectacular growth spurt was built in the first half of the century. By the 1820s, America was already the world's most productive manufacturer and the most intensely commercialized society in history.
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How our industries started
- By Jean on 02-22-13
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Apollo
- By: Charles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 18 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Apollo is the behind-the-scenes story of an epic achievement. Based on exhaustive research that included many exclusive interviews, Apollo tells how America went from a standing start to a landing on the moon at a speed that now seems impossible. It describes the unprecedented engineering challenges that had to be overcome to create the mammoth Saturn V and the facilities to launch it. It takes you into the tragedy of the fire on Apollo 1, the first descent to the lunar surface, and the rescue of Apollo 13.
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Best book ever for space, ops, and engineering fans
- By JDM on 10-29-19
By: Charles Murray, and others
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In the Waves
- My Quest to Solve the Mystery of a Civil War Submarine
- By: Rachel Lance
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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On the night of February 17, 1864, the tiny Confederate submarine HL Hunley made its way toward the USS Housatonic just outside Charleston harbor. Within a matter of hours, the Union ship’s stern was blown open in a spray of wood planks. The explosion sank the ship, killing many of its crew. And the submarine, the first ever to be successful in combat, disappeared without a trace. For 131 years the eight-man crew of the HL Hunley lay in their watery graves, undiscovered.
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A wonderful scientific dive!
- By Stephen on 05-01-20
By: Rachel Lance
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Atomic Accidents
- A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters; From the Ozark Mountains to Fukushima
- By: James Mahaffey
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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From the moment radiation was discovered in the late nineteenth century, nuclear science has had a rich history of innovative scientific exploration and discovery, coupled with mistakes, accidents, and downright disasters.
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A NUCLEAR POINT OF VIEW
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 01-05-15
By: James Mahaffey
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Space Chronicles
- Facing the Ultimate Frontier
- By: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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With his signature wit and thought-provoking insights, Neil deGrasse Tyson - one of our foremost thinkers on all things space - illuminates the past, present, and future of space exploration and brilliantly reminds us why NASA matters now as much as ever. As Tyson reveals, exploring the space frontier can profoundly enrich many aspects of our daily lives, from education systems and the economy to national security and morale.
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The least helpful review of Space Chronicles.
- By Joshua Kring on 06-17-15
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You Are Here
- From the Compass to GPS, the History and Future of How We Find Ourselves
- By: Hiawatha Bray
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of the rise of modern navigation technology, from radio location to GPS—and the consequent decline of privacy. What does it mean to never get lost? You Are Here examines the rise of our technologically aided era of navigational omniscience—or how we came to know exactly where we are at all times. Filled with tales of scientists and astronauts, inventors and entrepreneurs, You Are Here tells the story of how humankind ingeniously solved one of its oldest and toughest problems—only to herald a new era in which it’s impossible to hide.
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I'm here - do you care
- By Nicholas E. Ertz on 04-13-14
By: Hiawatha Bray
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Longitude
- The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
- By: Dava Sobel
- Narrated by: Kate Reading, Neil Armstrong
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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In 1714, England's Parliament offered a huge reward to anyone whose method of measuring longitude could be proven successful. The scientific establishment--from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton--had mapped the heavens in its certainty of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution--a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had been able to do on land. And the race was on....
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To hear Neil Armstongs Voice
- By Boots on 01-19-13
By: Dava Sobel
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Energy
- A Human History
- By: Richard Rhodes
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Through an unforgettable cast of characters, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes explains how wood gave way to coal and coal made room for oil, as we now turn to natural gas, nuclear power, and renewable energy. Rhodes looks back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, King James I, Benjamin Franklin, Herman Melville, John D. Rockefeller, and Henry Ford.
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No more accents, please!
- By Ned Gulley on 08-30-18
By: Richard Rhodes
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Beyond
- Our Future in Space
- By: Chris Impey
- Narrated by: Julie McKay
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond dares to imagine a fantastic future for humans in space - and then reminds us that we're already there. Human exploration has been an unceasing engine of technological progress, from the first homo sapiens to leave our African cradle to a future in which mankind promises to settle another world. Beyond tells the epic story of humanity leaving home - and how humans will soon thrive in the vast universe beyond the Earth.
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OTHER WORLDS
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 01-10-16
By: Chris Impey
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The Problem of Increasing Human Energy
- By: Nikola Tesla
- Narrated by: Ryan Jarvis
- Length: 2 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Written in 1900 by Nikola Tesla, this book gives great ideas on automation, agriculture, energy, and increasing human output to improve the human condition.
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boring
- By Amazon Customer nutbutter on 09-10-17
By: Nikola Tesla
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The Last Stargazers
- The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers
- By: Emily Levesque
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Humans from the earliest civilizations were spellbound by the night sky - craning their necks each night, they used the stars to orient themselves in the large, strange world around them. Stargazing is a pursuit that continues to fascinate us: from Copernicus to Carl Sagan, astronomers throughout history have spent their lives trying to answer the biggest questions in the universe. Now, award-winning astronomer Emily Levesque shares the stories of modern-day stargazers.
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Searching for Stuff in the Darkness
- By Warpedland on 10-11-22
By: Emily Levesque
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A Kid's Science Book FOR ADULTS!!
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Best-selling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this imposing force of nature. Winchester's personal experience is vast and his storytelling second to none. And his historical understanding of the region is formidable, making Pacific a paean to this magnificent sea of beauty, myth, and imagination that is transforming our lives.
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Political Asides Have Become Bombastic Didactic
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San Francisco Earthquake that leveled a city symbolic of America's relentless western expansion. Simon Winchester has also fashioned an enthralling and informative informative look at the tumultuous subterranean world that produces earthquakes, the planet's most sudden and destructive force. In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, San Francisco and a string of towns to its north-northwest and the south-southeast were overcome by an enormous shaking that was compounded by the violent shocks of an earthquake, registering 8.25 on the Richter scale.
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Perfect example of a quality audible book.
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The Meaning of Everything
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A New Appreciation
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Behind every great revolution is a vision, and behind perhaps the greatest revolution of our time, personal computing, is the vision of J.C.R. Licklider. In a simultaneously compelling personal narrative and comprehensive historical exposition, Waldrop tells the story of the man who not only instigated the work that led to the internet, but also shifted our understanding of what computers were and could be.
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Biographies, not technical
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Making Sense
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Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and bestselling author—has been exploring some of the most important questions about the human mind, society, and current events on his podcast, Making Sense. For Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or controversial, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress. This audiobook includes talks with Daniel Kahneman, Timothy Snyder, Nick Bostrom, and Glen Loury, on topics that range from the nature of consciousness and free will, to politics and extremism, to living ethically.
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Audiobook review (just a podcast collection)
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Lincoln's Last Trial: The Murder Case That Propelled Him to the Presidency
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At the end of the summer of 1859, 22-year-old Peachy Quinn Harrison went on trial for murder in Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln, who had been involved in more than 3,000 cases - including more than 25 murder trials - during his two-decades-long career, was hired to defend him.
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Great Courtroom Drama
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Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life
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It's not you; it's your schedule. Does it sound like magic? It's not. We've all heard of circadian rhythms - those biological processes that give us jet lag and make us night owls or early birds. But few of us know just how profoundly these diurnal patterns affect our overall health. Bad habits - like skipping meals, squeezing in workouts, working late into the night and then trying to catch up on sleep during the weekend - disrupt our natural cycles. A growing body of research on chronobiology reveals just how sensitive the human body is to these rhythms all the way down to the genetic level.
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Absolutely Brutal.
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What listeners say about The Perfectionists
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- John Anthony McCulloch
- 09-28-18
A precise account of precision by a perfectionist
Simon Winchester's polished, yet sincere, unpretentious and, yes, precise narrative is a delight to listen to, which only adds to the experience of learning about the intricacies of the machinations of the world of engineering. The text is never boring, and is not only informative, but, crucially, formative, conducing the reader through the bootstrapping processes that led humanity to ever decreasing uncertainty about our physical world all the way to the unfathomable achievements of state of the art precision engineering. The author's delivery is impeccable, with minute attention to intonation, pace and register. A delight to notice very subtle changes in accent from Received Pronunciation to American or Australian pronunciation when Winchester is quoting and American and an Australian, respectively. Highly recommended entertainment and education.
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- Amazing Purchases
- 10-03-18
Long winded but still good
This was a very interesting listen. I kept wanting to pause the book and look at a Rolls-Royce or check out an jet engine schematic. I highly recommend, but be prepared for minor digressions now and again.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Baby Peach
- 08-03-18
Technically Satisfying
As an American, I loved the worldview this book brought to the history of precision and engineering in general. I learned how Britain and the US were both alike a different in their early manufacturing philosophies. The narrator's (and author's) voice was very easy to listen to.
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- Noel G. Rooks
- 08-06-18
Love Winchester
Simon Winchester's books are always interesting and informative. Made better by his own narration. They keep getting better.
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- Stephen W. Grabe
- 05-15-20
Fascinating progression of things
Love the details in the narrative and Mr. Winchester’s voice. Another excellent book for this armchair engineer.
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- WakeNCAgent
- 07-11-20
Great for Science and History Buffs
Winchester always pleases and The Perfectionists is no different. Thoroughly researched and well told, revealing little known facts along the way. I'll surely listen again.
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- IowaGreyhound
- 07-25-21
A perfect look at perfection
An interesting look at the history of precision. If you are interested in metrology this book is gor you. If you don't know about metrology this book will help you understand why it is so important in our daily lives. The narrator was perfect for the subject. He did a fantastic job of reading lots of numbers with lots of zeroes and kept it interesting.
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- D. Hixson
- 12-10-19
Weak finish, but the bulk of it was excellent
The historical portion, which made up most of the book was really excellent. Educational and really helped bring the journey of perfection to life.. Once the author started talking about cameras and then more modern technology I think it really slipped, but not enough to avoid recommending the book.
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- Michael Jenkins
- 03-01-19
Engineering History with a Personal Message
Inspirational for either the aspiring student or engineer preoccupied with the relentless honing of their craft.
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- Michael D Miles
- 11-05-22
Absolutely Fascinating Chains of Obscurata
I found this book to be riveting in the same way the old broadcast series Connections showed how seemingly disconnected people and items were in fact connected in ways we could not imagine..
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