The Best Tool of the Millennium The seeds of Rybczynski's elegant and illuminating new book were sown by The New York Times, whose editors asked him to write an essay identifying "the best tool of the millennium." An award-winning author who once built a house using only hand tools, Rybczynski has intimate knowledge of the toolbox -- both its contents and its history -- which serves him beautifully on his quest. One Good Turn is a story starring Archimedes, who invented the water screw and introduced the helix, and Leonardo, who sketched a machine for carving wood screws. It is a story of mechanical discovery and genius that takes readers from ancient Greece to car design in the age of American industry. Rybczynski writes an ode to the screw, without which there would be no telescope, no microscope -- in short, no enlightenment science. One of our finest cultural and architectural historians, Rybczynski renders a graceful, original, and engaging portrait of the tool that changed the course of civilization.

黎辛斯基 Witold Rybczynski

波蘭裔，一九四三年出生於愛丁堡，在英國與加拿大的耶穌會學校進學，擁有蒙特婁麥基爾大學建築學士與碩士學位，寫過多本和建築、科技相關的著作，廣泛論述家居、建築與工業技術等主題，定期為大西洋月刊、紐約客、紐約時報雜誌撰稿，並曾於賓州大學教授都市學。

著作《金窩、銀窩、狗窩：家的設計史》榮獲一九八六年「加拿大總督獎」；《遠方林中的空地》榮獲克里斯多福獎、魯卡斯獎，另著有《等待周末》、《漫遊建築世界》、《世上最美麗的房屋》、《都市生活》等。

二○○七年獲頒「文森斯庫里獎」，以表彰他在建築、歷史文物保護與城市設計領域的貢獻。

相關著作

《「一定用得上！」螺絲、起子演化史》

《金窩、銀窩、狗窩：家的設計史（經典復刻版）》

譯者 吳光亞

祖籍江蘇如皋，一九六九年生於台北市。台灣大學機械工程學系畢業後，赴美國蒙特瑞國際學院（Monterey Institute of International Studies）修習翻譯及口譯碩士課程，自一九九四年起定居美國俄勒崗州。曾為新浪網從事特稿及網頁之翻譯工作，譯有《行星使用者指南》。