Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly
complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.
In Nuts and Bolts, award-winning engineer and broadcaster Roma Agrawal deconstructs
our most complex feats of engineering into seven fundamental inventions: the nail,
spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string and pump. Each of these objects is itself a wonder of
design, the result of many iterations and refinements. Together, they have enabled
humanity to see the invisible, build the spectacular, communicate across vast distances,
and even escape our planet.
Tracing the surprising journeys of each invention through the millennia, Roma reveals
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.
She invites us to marvel at these small but perfectly formed inventions, sharing the
stories of the remarkable, and often unknown, scientists and engineers who made them
possible. The nuts and bolts that make up our world may be tiny, and are often hidden,
but they've changed our lives in dramatic ways.
