Nuts and Bolts

Shard engineer Roma Agrawal deconstructs our most complex inventions into seven fundamental objects: the nail, spring, wheel, lens, magnet, string and pump.

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‘Delightful’ TIM HARFORD, FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Appeals to the nerdy side of just about all of us… a great book to give’ JANE GARVEY

‘Splendid. Clearly written, elegantly structured full of facts you are unlikely to chance on anywhere else’ DAILY MAIL

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE * A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

Smartphones, skyscrapers, spacecraft. Modern technology seems mind-bogglingly complex. But beneath the surface, it can be beautifully simple.

Tracing their journeys through the millennia, she shows us how handmade Roman nails led to modern skyscrapers, how the potter’s wheel enabled space exploration, and how humble lenses helped her conceive a child against the odds. Eye-opening and engaging, Nuts and Bolts reveals the hidden building blocks of our modern world, and shows how engineering has fundamentally changed the way we live.

‘A wonderful book’ MARK MIODOWNIK

‘A masterclass in storytelling’ JESS WADE

‘A riveting love letter to the small, wonderful, and mundane things that make the modern world.’ ROMAN MARS

AS HEARD ON RADIO 4 START THE WEEK, OFF AIR WITH FI AND JANE AND 99% INVISIBLE

Author Biography

Roma Agrawal is an engineer, author and presenter who is best known for working on the design of The Shard, Western Europe’s tallest tower. She studied engineering at Imperial College London and physics at the University of Oxford. Roma has given talks to thousands at universities, schools and organisations around the world, including TEDx. She has also presented numerous TV shows for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery, and hosts her own podcast, Building Stories. Her first book, BUILT (2018) won an AAAS science book award and has been translated into eight languages. Roma is passionate about promoting engineering and technical careers to young people, particularly those from minoritized groups, and has won international awards for her technical prowess and for her advocacy for the profession, including the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering’s Rooke Award. She was appointed an MBE in 2018 for services to engineering.