Nuts and Bolts: Seven Small Inventions That Changed the World in a Big Way by Roma Agrawal
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The author explains the history and workings of seven significant inventions in a casual and understandable manner. She is an engineer who knows her stuff, and has a flair for writing as well. The material is mostly on a basic level and familiar to those who took physics or engineering in school. As such, it is a bit dry. But the author makes it more interesting by personalizing it with stories that resonate, such as describing how lenses were critical in her own in vitro fertilization journey and pumps essential in her efforts to breast feed. I found it hard to read this for a sustained stretch, but whenever I picked it up, there was an interesting tidbit learned.