Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World (in a Big Way)

Description

'A masterclass in storytelling... Agrawal is the perfect narrator: her curiosity, technical knowledge and excitement fill every page. It left me inspired by the ingenuity of historic engineers and optimistic for future innovation.' - Jess Wade, physicist and author of Nano '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, author of The Book of Minds 'Essential reading for budding engineers, young and old.' - Anna Ploszajski, materials scientist, engineer and author of Handmade Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple. In Nuts and Bolts, award-winning 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 how 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.

Roma Agrawal is an engineer, author and presenter who is best known for working on the design of The Shard, Western Europe's tallest tower. She studied engineering at Imperial College London and physics at the University of Oxford. Roma has given talks to thousands at universities, schools and organisations around the world, including TEDx. She has also presented numerous TV shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery, and hosts her own podcast, Building Stories. Her first book, BUILT (2018) won an AAAS science book award and has been translated into eight languages. Roma is passionate about promoting engineering and technical careers to young people, particularly those from minoritized groups, and has won international awards for her technical prowess and for her advocacy for the profession, including the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering's Rooke Award. She was appointed an MBE in 2018 for services to engineering.

There is passion for engineering on every single page of this book. Roma Agrawal instantly transported me back to my childhood, when I was equally transfixed by nuts and bolts, gears and springs, magnets and strings. She 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