This book by Simon Winchester (The Professor And The Madman) chronicles the history of man's pursuit of precision in how things are manufactured. For example, James Watt invented the steam engine but a fellow named Wilkinson invented the tools to bore the more precise cylinders that made the steam engines work properly. The book describes the long struggle to create precision instruments and tools that led to everything from screw threads to the Hadron Collider. Don't worry that the book is only full of dry, technical stuff. Winchester is a good storyteller and has created an excellent read.
