The Perfectionists
The Perfectionists by Simon Winchesterby Simon Winchester
Shares rank 12 of 51 history books by recommenders
Recommended as an accessible history of how precision engineering developed and how it shaped modern manufacturing. One critic found it spends too long on irrelevant detail.
Recommended as an accessible history of how precision engineering developed and how it shaped modern manufacturing. One critic found it spends too long on irrelevant detail.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Spends time on irrelevant detail
“Felt that it spent a lot of time waffling about irrelevant detail”
Comment from 7 Oct 2026 in “How machines learned precision”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| The Perfectionistsby Simon WinchesterThis page | 7 | 1 | 88% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Felt that it spent a lot of time waffling about irrelevant detail”
“I think a machinist youtuber recommended it.”
“I read it a few years ago, and thought it was a really interesting journey through bootstrapping precision”
“Great book if you're into this stuff!”
“an accessible history of the evolution of precision manufacturing”
“it made me appreciate precision itself to a greater degree”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.