Connections
How did the popularity of underwear in the twelfth century lead to the invention of the printing press?\ How did the waterwheel evolve into the computer?\ How did the arrival of the cannon lead eventually to the development of movies?\ \ In this highly acclaimed and bestselling book, James Burke brilliantly examines the ideas, inventions, and coincidences that have culminated in the major technological advances of today. With dazzling insight, he untangles the pattern of interconnecting...
Search in google:
How did the popularity of underwear in the twelfth century lead to the invention of the printing press? How did the waterwheel evolve into the computer? How did the arrival of the cannon lead eventually to the development of movies?In this highly acclaimed and bestselling book, James Burke brilliantly examines the ideas, inventions, and coincidences that have culminated in the major technological advances of today. With dazzling insight, he untangles the pattern of interconnecting events: the accidents of time, circumstance, and place that gave rise to the major inventions of the world.Says Burke, "My purpose is to acquaint the reader with some of the forces that have caused change in the past, looking in particular at eight innovations — the computer, the production line, telecommunications, the airplane, the atomic bomb, plastics, the guided rocket, and television — which may be most influential in structuring our own futures....Each one of these is part of a family of similar devices, and is the result of a sequence of closely connected events extending from the ancient world until the present day. Each has enormous potential for humankind's benefit — or destruction."Based on a popular TV documentary series, Connections is a fascinating scientific detective story of the inventions that changed history — and the surprising links that connect them.
Author's AcknowledgementsIntroduction1The Trigger Effect12The Road from Alexandria153Distant Voices454Faith in Numbers815The Wheel of Fortune1156Fuel to the Flame1537The Long Chain1858Eat, Drink and Be Merry2159Lighting the Way24910Inventing the Future287Further Reading296Index299
