Welcome to Litsy!

I probably would have liked this more as a paper book. The author read the audiobook and his voice is so scratchy and haggard-sounding that I found it distracted me from the content.

Debating whether to do #24B4Monday this weekend.

This is a good audiobook but I wish they had used a voice artist bc the author‘s voice is hard to listen to. It sounds like he‘s dying of throat cancer. 😕

As a former machinist and metrologist and someone who is obsessed with precision, this book was absolutely up my alley. From the intro, where I knew exactly what his father had brought home and rung together, to the history of precision, to measurement by quantum standard, I completely geeked out on The Perfectionists. I will likely return to this book couple more times in the future.

Another solid work of science history by an old pro.

If you‘ve ever been curious about how and why engineers talk about “tolerance” and measurement, and how we are now measuring into the subatomic level, this book is for you. And, as all works of engineering history do, the most interesting parts are when precision breaks down and you have billion-dollar problems like the original issue with the Hubble telescope.

The topic - precision engineering - isn‘t something that immediately draws me in. But having read Winchester‘s books before, I know them to be well-written and thoroughly researched. And when I listened to the sample, I was drawn in to the story because he began with how his father used to work as an engineer in a factory and one day brought home some machined metal tiles called gauge blocks used for measuring things. (C‘td below)

When woken before 5 on a Saturday by a kid with a bloody nose, and then the rain starts splattering down and all hope of going back to sleep is forsaken, it‘s time to just get out of bed and make waffles. #audiocooking

Also tried my hand at making some financiers for the first time. I didn‘t get that dome on the top so I‘ll have to try again. Plus they‘re such delightful little chocolatey bites
Recipe here https://wildwildwhisk.com/dark-chocolate-financiers/
#audiobaking

Some #audiobaking this afternoon with Simon Winchester reading to me. I made Chinese bakery-style sausage buns using tangzhong dough.

New audio book! Going to start it tomorrow!

Continuing work on the shawl. The kids are hard at work on the Lego Ninjago video game (after having done their chores, piano practice) so I‘ve got my headphones on.

Starting a new audiobook. I seem to be moving through lots of audiobooks these days. It wasn‘t exactly a topic that particularly drew me in at first but listening to the sample, I like how it was his father‘s factory work and interest in engineering that drew him into this topic.

This ended up being really interesting! My favourite chapter was Chapter 6, about how jet engines are manufactured. The glossary at the end of the book is well worth reading, too.

At the Great Exhibition of 1851, the exhibits were divided into broad classes. Class 3 was "Substances Used as Food" Sounds yummy ?

Picked up a few good things at my local bookstore today. 🤗 And it‘s autumn! 🍁🍂

This book is so engaging. After finishing HOMEGOING, I really needed to do a complete 180° read, but because this book is currently in the industrial revolution, the 19th century, I know that African slaves played a role in what was going on at that time in Britain and the United States. After all Eli Whitney did create the cotton gin. I‘m listening to this on CD and Simon Winchester has a wonderful reading voice. Great for science geeks.