Events Calendar

AM Book Club

Thursday, March 20

11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Location: Shorewood Public Library Program Room

The AM Book Club is a great opportunity to talk about what you’ve read, learn something new, discover more great books, and meet new friends. Join us this month as we discuss The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester.

Precision is an essential component of modern human existence that we seldom stop to think about . This book examines the relatively recent development of the notion of precision--the people who developed it and the ways in which it has shaped the modern world--and the challenges posed and losses risked by our veneration and pursuit of increasingly precise tools and methods. Eventually, the application of precision tools and methods in the development of guns, glass, mirrors, lenses, and cameras gave way to further advancements, including gene splicing, microchips, and the Hadron Collider. The fundamental questions at the heart of The Perfectionists are these: Why is precision important? What are the different tools we use to measure it? Who has invented and perfected it? Has the pursuit of the ultraprecise in so many facets of human life blinded us to other things of equal value, such as an appreciation for the age-old traditions of craftsmanship, art, and high culture? Are we missing something that reflects the world as it is, rather than the world as we think we would wish it to be? And can the precise and the natural coexist in society?

Pick up a copy at the customer service desk, or give us a call at 414 847-2670, and we would be happy to put one on hold for you.

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