I've had this book in my library stacks for years now and procrastinated reading because I thought it would be plodding and boring. That was a mistake on my part. If you can get a copy and you're interested in visiting a small slice of France as it was prior to the French Revolution, you'll be amply amused and rewarded.

 

Kurzweil spins an interesting historical tale about a Claude Page, a boy with a talent for mechanisms in the late 1700s. Claude's studies are often interrupted by his poverty, lack of professional connections, and eccentric employers who put him to use with menial tasks, such as emptying the chamber pot (closetool, aka toilet) and painting pornographic watch cases.

 

The writing is vivid and well researched, namedropping many of the luminaries of the mechanical world at that time, as well as taking the reader through what life was like back then for poor and rich folks. The only flaw I can find in the work is quite minor: the ending wraps up a little too quickly for my tastes. It's not near as bad as a John Gresham novel (that guy hates writing endings, if his books are any indication), but still it would have been nice not to be rushed into an abrupt closing.