Twists and turns

Mr Rybczynski explores the history of the screw and its evolution. Much of this is modern (18th and 19th century) and, therefore, is well documented, including the story of the first company

Like many people whose lives rotate in a significant fashion around the written word, I read several books at a time. There are the volumes that are of interest because of a current subject or field in which one is interested for the long term. These are in various stages: Some half-read, some almost read, some unopened but available. These include books on learning languages, dictionaries, reference works, historical textsand the like.

Then, there are books that are of immediate interest (based perhaps on something that is happening around the world at that point in time) and bring illumination to a