New Zealand Listener - May 26, 2018

MAY 26 2018 LISTENER

NEW

ZEALAND

YMPHONY

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AUCKLAND SAT 9 JUN

TOWN HALL 7.30PM

CHRISTCHURCH WED 13 JUN

ISAAC THEATRE ROYAL 7.00PM

DUNEDIN THU 14 JUN

TOWN HALL 7.00PM

WELLINGTON SAT 16 JUN

MICHAEL FOWLER CENTRE 7.30PM

HAMILTON FRI 8 JUN

CLAUDELANDS ARENA 7.30PM

PRINCIPAL PARTNERS:

LAWRENCE RENES CONDUCTOR

SIMON O’NEILL TENOR

IN ASSOCIATION WITH:

WAGNER

WESENDONCK LIEDER

BRUCKNER

SYMPHONY NO. 4 IN E FLAT MAJOR

AN

EVENING

WITH

SIMON

O’NEILL

PRESENTS

SO MEMORABLE

Wonderland one).

In Exactly, he makes a brief dip into

the ancient world with a story about the

Antikythera mechanism, a first-century

BC orrery that can reasonably lay claim to

being the earliest analogue computer. But

the substance of the story begins in the

late 18th century with John Wilkinson,

who invented a machine that bored a

precise hole through a solid block of iron

and made a cylinder that stopped Watt’s

steam engine from leaking pressure. (It’s

one of the delightful circularities of the

story that the steam engine and that laser

interferometer are both based on cylinders:

one is accurate to within a 10th of an inch;

the other to 10-35 of an inch.)

Winchester tells the stories of, among

others, Henry Maudslay (perfectly flat

surfaces), Joseph Whitworth (standardised

screws) and two very different car-making

enterprises started by men called Henry

(Royce and Ford). Each new phase of

development is anchored by an engrossing

yarn, and highly technical detail is made

intelligible and entertaining.

There are irritations: many footnotes

include material that would have fitted

well in the main text; illustrations are few

and of poor quality; and although this

is an English edition (the US title is The

Perfectionists), it adopts American spellings,

most grievously erasing the distinction

between the suffixes “-metre” (a unit

of measure) and “-meter” (a measuring

instrument). This last is regrettable in a

book dedicated to the

concept of precision,

but it delivers many

joys to compensate. l

EXACTLY: How Precision

Engineers Created

the Modern World,

by Simon Winchester

(William Collins, NZ rep

HarperCollins, $36)

Odd man out: Louis Pasteur doesn’t rate a

mention; Louis XV; Charles de Gaulle entering

Paris.

Surprising because, though the case

could possibly have been made in the

preceding 358 pages, Norwich doesn’t

make it. Racine, Molière and Corneille

are dismissed in one sentence; Balzac,

Flaubert and Zola are relegated to

footnotes. As for great scientists and

explorers like Lavoisier, Pasteur and

Dumont d’Urville? Well, mes amis, they

don’t even rate a mention. There are,

however, numerous pages about Louis

XV’s many mistresses (indeed there is

spicy stuff about the mistresses of nearly

every king or president), along with

numerous battles and plentiful bloodshed.

France is full of action and larger-than-

life characters, from Charlemagne to

Joan of Arc, Louis XIV to Robespierre,

Napoleon to the Paris Commune and

Verdun to Vichy France.

This book is very much like Simon

Sebag Montefiore’s Jerusalem: The

Biography, or Matthew Kneale’s recent

Rome: A History in Seven Sackings. It is great

fun to read, superficial in most respects

and determined to tell an engaging tale.

Norwich at least scores

points for eccentricity

in nominating the

bourgeois King Louis

Philippe as France’s

wisest ruler. l

FRANCE: A History From

Gaul To De Gaulle, by

John Julius Norwich

(Hachette, $37.99)

There are numerous

pages about Louis XV’s

many mistresses, along

with numerous battles

and plentiful bloodshed.