How did DNA become the blueprint for life? Who decided the length of a metre or the value of a dollar? Why do we trust a screw to fit every time?
Everything on our planet is underwritten by standards. Behind every leap in human progress is a quiet agreement: a shared standard that lets us build on each other's work. But how does a standard become a standard, and who decides how standards themselves should be standardized?
In The Screw that Changed the World, Karl Turner journeys through time and technology, starting with the genetic codes that turned microbes into world-makers. Then, he examines the rise of language, money, and measurement, before landing on the Whitworth screw: the humble piece of hardware that launched the modern industrial age.
Today, in a time marked by ongoing wars and the after-effects of colonization, our planet is once again at a critical turning point. Where do we go from here? And how can an understanding of standardization help us navigate the new contexts of our time?
For fans of Malcolm Gladwell, this fascinating history reveals the hidden architecture of standardization, and the extraordinary ways that standards can make anything we dream into a reality, for worse or for better.
