Nuts and Bolts cover art

Nuts and Bolts

How Tiny Inventions Make Our World Work

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Nuts and Bolts

By: Roma Agrawal
Narrated by: Roma Agrawal
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About this listen

Shard engineer Roma Agrawal deconstructs our most complex inventions into seven fundamental objects: the nail, spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string and pump.
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'Delightful' TIM HARFORD, FINANCIAL TIMES
'Appeals to the nerdy side of just about all of us... a great book to give' JANE GARVEY
'Splendid. Clearly written, elegantly structured full of facts you are unlikely to chance on anywhere else' DAILY MAIL
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE

Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.

Tracing their journeys through the millennia, she shows us 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. Eye-opening and engaging, Nuts and Bolts reveals the hidden building blocks of our modern world, and shows how engineering has fundamentally changed the way we live.

'A wonderful book' MARK MIODOWNIK
'A masterclass in storytelling' JESS WADE
'A riveting love letter to the small, wonderful, and mundane things that make the modern world.' ROMAN MARS

*AS HEARD ON RADIO 4 START THE WEEK, OFF AIR WITH FI AND JANE AND 99% INVISIBLE*

©2023 Roma Agrawal (P)2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
History History & Culture Innovations Technology Interstellar

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All stars
Most relevant  
Disappointed in this book. The subject matter seemed thinner than it might have been and not always technically convincing. I suspect that examples were sometimes chosen more as a vehicle for displays of virtue and political correctness than for best support of the subject. After listening to some ungracious and rather hypocritical political signalling I decided to call a halt.

Lots of virtue signalling

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I found this work to be thought-provoking and surprising. The stories illustrating each invention were narrated with such delight by the author.

Educational

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