If you're interested in this kind of general book in this this genre; I'd also recommend The Perfectionists by Simon Winchester. It's flawed in the back third but the balance of the book is an entertaining read. https://www.biblio.com/9780062652553
Adam Savage has an interesting (45m!) video entitled "Epiphany on the Science of Measurement!" where he gets a bit philosophical on accuracy and precision (using gauge/Johansson blocks as jumping off point):
I second this recommendation. It's a wonderful book. There are many fascinating tidbits in here that makes you really appreciate the importance of being able manipulate materials with precision. It's easy to take this for granted today, but it's critical to basically every technology we enjoy.
I heard the NPR piece about this yesterday. I enjoyed when they asked a 100 year what the most impactful invention of their lifetime has been and they said the interior spring mattress.
Even if the technology has moved beyond, it doesn’t affect you, and you aren’t aware of the full implications doesn’t mean that it’s not true.
Often, seemingly simple things like this open up whole new possibilities.
Like shipping containers. They allow us to effectively and efficiently move goods on and off transport. Without them, whole areas of logistics simply aren’t needed.
Oh, shipping containers I absolutely agree. (The Box by Marc Levinson is well worth a read if you haven't already.) But, given that a non-trivial number of people in the world sleep on something other than a box spring mattress by choice, suggests it's not so transformative. I'm not sure how I see it opening up all these new possibilities. But I also admit to not being terribly fussy what I sleep on and have actually never owned that type of a mattress.
But even if you have a memory foam or whatever, it's likely that we don't have that unless we have interior spring mattresses. Also, we're not talking about the foundation, but the mattress itself. The box spring is the thing that goes under the mattress.
An innerspring mattress has the springs in the mattress itself.
That is radically different from a innerspring mattress.
But even outside of futon mattresses, prior to the 19th century, mattresses were essentially just thicker futon mattresses. Heavy, prone to sagging, breeding ground for all sorts of vermin depending on the filling material, mattresses weren't super great.
