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One Good Turn

 

 
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One Good Turn
 
 
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One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw is a book published in 2000 by Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 architect
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 and writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski

Witold Rybczynski , is a Canada architecture, professor and writer.Rybczynski was born in Edinburgh of Poland parentage and raised in Surrey, England before moving at a young age to Canada....
.

One Good Turn was a surprise bestseller, given its prosaic subject matter: the screwdriver
Screwdriver

The screwdriver is a device specifically designed to insert and tighten, or to loosen and remove, screws. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver....
 and the screw
Screw

A screw is a shaft with a helix groove or screw thread formed on its surface and provision at one end to turn the screw. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used to hold objects together, and as a simple machine used to translate torque into linear force....
.

The idea for the book came in 1999 when an editor
Editing

Editing is the process of preparing language, s, sound, video, or film through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media....
 at The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine

The New York Times Magazine is a supplement to the Sunday The New York Times newspaper. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically included in the newspaper, and attracts many notable contributors....
 asked Rybczynski to write a short essay
Essay

An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal Perspective . Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author....
 on the best and most useful common tool of the previous 1000 years.






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One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw is a book published in 2000 by Canadian
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 architect
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, professor
Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
 and writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski

Witold Rybczynski , is a Canada architecture, professor and writer.Rybczynski was born in Edinburgh of Poland parentage and raised in Surrey, England before moving at a young age to Canada....
.

One Good Turn was a surprise bestseller, given its prosaic subject matter: the screwdriver
Screwdriver

The screwdriver is a device specifically designed to insert and tighten, or to loosen and remove, screws. The screwdriver is made up of a head or tip, which engages with a screw, a mechanism to apply torque by rotating the tip, and some way to position and support the screwdriver....
 and the screw
Screw

A screw is a shaft with a helix groove or screw thread formed on its surface and provision at one end to turn the screw. Its main uses are as a threaded fastener used to hold objects together, and as a simple machine used to translate torque into linear force....
.

The idea for the book came in 1999 when an editor
Editing

Editing is the process of preparing language, s, sound, video, or film through correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media....
 at The New York Times Magazine
The New York Times Magazine

The New York Times Magazine is a supplement to the Sunday The New York Times newspaper. It is host to feature articles longer than those typically included in the newspaper, and attracts many notable contributors....
 asked Rybczynski to write a short essay
Essay

An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author's personal Perspective . Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author....
 on the best and most useful common tool of the previous 1000 years. Rybczynski took the assignment, but as he researched the history of the items in his workshop — hammer
Hammer

A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving Nail s, fitting parts, and breaking up objects....
s and saw
Saw

A saw is a tool that uses a hard blade or wire with an abrasive wear edge to cut through softer materials. The cutting edge of a saw is either a serrated blade or an abrasive....
s, level
Spirit level

A spirit level or bubble level is an Measuring instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is level or plumb. Different types of spirit levels are used by carpenters, stone masons, bricklayers, other building trades workers, Surveyor s, millwrights and other metalworkers, and serious videographers....
s and plane
Plane (tool)

A plane is a tool for shaping wood. Planes are used to flatten, reduce the thickness of, and impart a smooth surface to a rough piece of lumber....
s — he found that most dated well back into antiquity
Ancient history

Ancient history is the history from the History of writing until the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the Qin Dynasty in China, the Chola Empire in India, and some less defined point in the rest of the world ....
. At the point of giving up, he asked his wife for ideas. She answered: "You always need a screwdriver for something."

Rybczynski discovered that the screwdriver is a relatively new addition to the toolbox, an invention
Invention

An invention is the creation of a new configuration, composition of matter, device, or process. Some inventions are based on pre-existing models or ideas....
 of the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe history of Europe in the periodization of the 14th and 15th centuries . The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early modern Europe ....
 in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and the only major mechanical device not independently invented by the Chinese
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
. Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
 was there at the start, designing a number of screw-cutting machines with interchangeable gears. Nevertheless, it took generations for the screw (and with it, the screwdriver and lathe) to come into general use, and it was not until modern times that improvements such as slotted screws came into being. Rybczynski spends some time discussing the underrated Canadian invention, the Robertson screwdriver
Robertson screwdriver

A Robertson screwdriver is a type of screwdriver with a Square -shaped tip with a slight taper . Robertson screws are used mainly in Canada , though they can be found elsewhere....
.

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