In Pursuit of Precision

西蒙·温切斯特 / 曲博文 / 孙亚南China Financial & Economic Publishing House · ChinaMay 2023

Rating 4.5
Word count
241K words
Chapters
50
ISBN
9787522321585

Tags

Industrial Technology Manufacturing InnovationEngineering HistoryTechnological ProgressMachinery EvolutionStandardizationHistory of TechnologyPrecision ManufacturingQuality ControlError ControlIndustrial Revolution

Summary

Precision not only "defined" the modern world at its source but also "shaped" it step by step. Today's booming smart manufacturing, for instance, is built on our relentless pursuit of precision. The Perfectionists is a sweeping 250-year history of precision manufacturing, a grand mechanical symphony and an inspiring symphony of smart manufacturing—a history of creation and innovation in humanity's unending approach to the limits of precision.

Precision is the key to everything. It is an indispensable part of modern society. The objects that matter to us in daily life—phones, cameras, computers, bicycles, cars—only work when their parts fit together. Yet although our lives are filled with precision, we often overlook its presence. Thinking about degrees of precision has been a turning point in history; without valuing precision, the rise of manufacturing could not have happened.

Editor's review

This book turns "precision" from a technical metric into a modern history with real depth. Tracing 250 years of change in precision manufacturing, the author links machinery, craft, measurement, and smart manufacturing in a progression that shows why everyday objects—phones, cameras, computers, cars—only work because their parts are matched ever closer to the limit. Its strength lies in grounding a grand history of manufacturing in concrete thinking about "degrees": how precision moved from a neglected detail to the key that defines the modern world. The narrative has the rhythm of a mechanical symphony, offering both historical arc and attention to the processes of creation and innovation. It suits readers interested in industrial history, the history of technology, and the transformation of manufacturing, as well as those who want to understand where "smart manufacturing" comes from. Read it not as a manual but as a narrative of how humanity has come step by step to the limits of precision.

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Reading tips

  1. Start with the table of contents to grasp the 250-year timeline, then jump into specific manufacturing cases as interest dictates.
  2. When you encounter a key object, connect it to the parts-matching issues in the phones and cars around you.
  3. After each chapter, sum up in a few sentences what problem "precision" solved at that stage.
  4. Pair it with industrial documentaries or factory visits to make the limits of precision more vivid.

About the publisher

China Financial & Economic Publishing House China · Founded in 1956

China Financial & Economic Publishing House takes books and textbooks in fields such as finance, taxation, accounting, banking and economic management as its publishing foundation, while also covering management, industrial technology, applied psychology, finance and economics, inspirational growth and social sciences. Its library holds 67 related titles, including representative works such as Henry Mintzberg's The Structuring of Organizations (Newly Upgraded Edition), The Nature of Managerial Work and The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Simon Winchester's The Perfectionists, as well as The Logic of Thinking Behind Behavioral Decisions, the Financial Investment Logic Thinking series, Essentialism and The Philosophy of Life in Calculus. Representative authors include Henry Mintzberg, Simon Winchester, Daniel Kahneman, Zhao Jianbo, Fang Haiping, Qu Bowen, Sun Yanan and Wang Liang. Its publishing character is rooted in finance and economics while embracing classic management works and applied reading in psychology and popular science. Public information is limited, so this profile focuses on the publishing directions reflected in the library's titles.

Contents

  1. 版权信息
  2. 推荐序 坐在人类历史的滩头，窥探宇宙的边缘
  3. 序言 精密制造的历史
  4. 第1章 星象与分秒，蒸汽与气缸 公差0.1
  5. 精密制造历史的关键一环
  6. 蒸汽机与工业革命
  7. 第2章 极致平整，极致缜密 公差0.000 1（10~(-4)）
  8. 改进车床，制造通用的零件
  9. 大规模生产的新世界
  10. 精确的千分尺
  11. 第3章 每个家里都备有火枪，每个船舱都配有钟表 公差0.000 01（10~(-5)）
  12. 技术的“阴暗面”
  13. 精密制造与战争
  14. 3位精密工程师
  15. 精确的钟表
  16. 第4章 在更完美的世界边缘 公差0.000 000 1（10~(-7)）
  17. 万国工业博览会
  18. “公平”的工程师
  19. 打开布拉马锁
  20. 第5章 没有人能抵挡在高速路上飞驰的诱惑 公差0.000 000 000 1（10~(-10)）
  21. 劳斯莱斯之旅
  22. 设计自己的车
  23. 劳斯莱斯的奇迹
  24. 福特T型车的生产线
  25. 工业化大生产体系的改进与扩大
  26. 第6章 在万米的高空，精确与风险同在 公差0.000 000 000 001（10~(-12)）
  27. 燃气涡轮发动机的改进
  28. 喷气式飞机的新时代
  29. 机组人员与乘客的性命取决于叶片的加工程度
  30. 代价高昂的教训
  31. 精密制造的技术极限
  32. 第7章 透过清晰的望远镜望向远方 公差0.000 000 000 000 1（10~(-13)）
  33. 徕卡，精密光学器材的典范
  34. 哈勃望远镜的噩梦
  35. 最长的3秒钟
  36. 第8章 我在哪里，现在是何时 公差0.000 000 000 000 000 01（10~(-17)）
  37. 全球定位系统的诞生
  38. 精确无极限
  39. 第9章 超越精确的极限 公差0.000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000
  40. 摩尔定律的发现
  41. 精密的芯片加工
  42. 挑战精确度极限
  43. 激光干涉引力波天文台观测实验
  44. 第10章 均衡的必要性
  45. 精工制表公司的故事
  46. 沉默的制表工匠
  47. 不精确的完美
  48. 后记 称量万物，时间才是终极依据
  49. 致谢
  50. 术语表

FAQ

Is this book suitable for people without an engineering background? Yes. It proceeds through historical narrative and concrete manufacturing cases and does not require engineering expertise. Readers without a background can treat it as popular technical history, focusing on how precision shaped the modern world step by step rather than on technical details.
Does the book mainly discuss smart manufacturing and cutting-edge technology? Not entirely. The book is framed around 250 years of precision manufacturing history, and smart manufacturing is the contemporary extension of that thread. It focuses more on how the idea of precision took shape and came to be valued, and how manufacturing capability gradually approached its limits, rather than only on today's hot technologies.
How is this book different from ordinary industrial history? Its entry point is more focused: it uses the idea of "precision" to run through changes in machinery, measurement, and manufacturing, elevating the everyday problem of parts matching into a constituent condition of the modern world. Compared with general industrial histories, it emphasizes more how thinking about "degrees" became a historical turning point.
Do I need to read this book in order from beginning to end? Not necessarily. The timeline helps in understanding the progression, but since the book unfolds around different manufacturing stages and cases, readers can start with an object or period that interests them and then go back to fill in the context. Reading by topic also gives an overall impression of the pursuit of precision.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

西蒙·温切斯特 Author

Simon Winchester is a writer concerned with the intersection of knowledge, technology and history. Public information about him is currently limited, and details such as his nationality and dates of birth and death remain unclear. Judging from the four works held in the collection, his writing spans industrial technology, biography, social culture and finance, with representative titles including The Perfectionists, The Man Who Loved China, The Evolution of Knowledge and The Genius and the Maverick. These works reveal a sustained interest in precision, the evolution of knowledge, and the historical threads behind individual lives, often combining technical detail with a broad social and cultural context in a narrative style that makes specialist subjects vivid and accessible. For Chinese-language readers seeking to understand how science and the humanities shape each other, his books offer an entry point that is both readable and intellectually substantial.

曲博文 Author · Chinese

Qu Bowen is a Chinese author about whom little public information is available; his birth and death dates, educational background, and professional career are not clearly documented. According to the library's holdings, only one of his works, In Pursuit of Precision, has entered the Chinese book market. The book is classified under industrial technology, suggesting that his writing focuses on engineering and technical fields, particularly themes related to manufacturing, measurement, or quality control. The title itself reflects an emphasis on craft standards, implying that the author may adopt an accessible or practical approach, translating the abstract demand for "precision" into concrete production processes for industry readers. Given the lack of further verifiable information, it is difficult to assess the full range of his writing style or the reach of his work; readers may begin with this single title to understand his focus and manner of expression in industrial technology writing.

孙亚南 Author

Sun Yanan is an author about whom limited public information is available. To date, three works are known under this name, touching on fields as varied as industrial technology, social culture, and inspirational personal growth. In terms of subject matter, In Pursuit of Precision leans toward industrial technology and appears to discuss the significance of precision in technical and engineering practice; The Evolution of Knowledge addresses the social and cultural dimension, concerning changes in the forms and transmission of knowledge; and Listening with Purpose belongs to the inspirational growth category, pointing to the relationship between listening skills and personal development. Spanning such different categories, the three works suggest that the author is not confined to a single direction but writes around themes of method, cognition, and interpersonal communication. Because details such as dates of birth and death, nationality, and professional background cannot be confirmed, this introduction makes no speculation and merely sketches the author's writing profile on the basis of the existing titles, pending further information.