Trained as a physicist and employed for twenty years as an engineer, my great interest in the application of science then led me to write. I authored technical papers on the physics underpinning venerable machines such as pendulum clocks and waterwheels; these were read by the chief editor at Johns Hopkins University Press, who invited me to turn them into a popular science book–the first of fourteen. Often, technological advances were made empirically–the development of sailing ships, bridges, or pocket watches–by working people with no formal knowledge of science, yet their designs survive as triumphs of human thought, as well as useful machines.
I wrote
Their Arrows Will Darken the Sun: The Evolution and Science of Ballistics
My first go-to book when I want an intro to some aspect of science history. I learn something new (ok–something old) every time I open this book.
Published sixty years ago and surely out of print–but a classic. Covers all the sciences from the dawn of history. Surprisingly readable and SO comprehensive. (Except for the last 60 years. But you knew that.)
The evolution of scientific inquiry and ideas since the time of the ancient Babylonians and the influence of modern cultural and technological convictions and expectations on contemporary research are examined
I love this book for its affection for its characters and the colorful details of the world in which they lived.
It is a coruscating read about five curious men (curious in both senses) in eighteenth-century England at the dawn of the first industrial revolution–a revolution that they helped to create.
Led by Erasmus Darwin, the Lunar Society of Birmingham was formed from a group of amateur experimenters, tradesmen and artisans who met and made friends in the Midlands in the 1760s. Most came from humble families, all lived far from the centre of things, but they were young and their optimism was boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were the ambitious toy-maker Matthew Boulton and his partner James Watt, of steam-engine fame; the potter Josiah Wedgwood; the larger-than-life Erasmus Darwin, physician, poet, inventor and theorist of evolution (a forerunner of his grandson Charles Darwin). Later came Joseph…
A Sumerian tale of irrigation, floods, and the creation of man
By
Ken Goudsward,
Contrary to popular belief, the Atrahasis Epic is not merely a flood myth. In some ways it can be called a creation myth. However, it does not concern itself with the creation of the universe or even of the earth. Rather, the created work in question is one of culture…
This book is unique, to my mind, in topic and style. How is it possible to write engagingly about such a niche subject? Gunpowder was invented in China, but it was in Renaissance Europe that it became adapted to warfare (to say the very least).
This book covers a neglected aspect of technological history in an age otherwise much written about and covers it readably.
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe explores the history of gunpowder in Europe from the thirteenth century, when it was first imported from China, to the sixteenth century, as firearms became central to the conduct of war. Bridging the fields of military history and the history of technology -- and challenging past assumptions about Europe's "gunpowder revolution" -- Hall discovers a complex and fascinating story. Military inventors faced a host of challenges, he finds, from Europe's lack of naturally occurring saltpeter -- one of gunpowder's major components -- to the limitations of smooth-bore firearms. Manufacturing cheap, reliable gunpowder proved a…
Knowledgeable academic experts often write technical tomes that are as dry as their subjects, But Deane's historical exposition of Britain's Industrial Revolution is fascinating, full of insights, and well-written.
Why Britain first? The answers intrigue and engage. Why did other countries (the United States and Germany) outstrip the British from the mid-nineteenth century?
This book identifies the strategic changes in economic organisation, industrial structure and technological progress associated with the industrial revolution, which took place in Britain over the century 1750-1850 and which marked a watershed in world economic development - the beginnings of modern economic growth for developed countries and an example of spontaneous industrialisation for third world countries. The book assesses both starting point and achievement, analyses the substance of economic transformation and evaluates the role of government policy and institutional change in retarding or accelerating economic development. The second edition updates and expands the first by taking into account (and…
This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…
Put plainly, this biography of a key figure in the history of science is so beautifully written. Of course, it is knowledgeable and full of historical details, yet so enjoyable to read that I felt sorry it ended after a mere 800 pages.
The characters–eccentrics, heroes, villains–are many and various and expertly placed in their historical perspective. The authors' enthusiasm for their odd, unorthodox, and brilliant subject is very clear, as is their writing.
A biography of the naturalist disputes misconceptions, including Darwin's status as a true scientist, discussing how Darwin concealed his theory of evolution for twenty years, agonizing over its implications and the impact it would have on his social standing.
This book is a technical history of ballistics, from javelins to ICBMs. It explains the science behind slings and catapults, bows and arrows, rifles, and artillery. It is heavy on history and has technical notes for readers who crave the details.
Why must an arrow be flexible to fly straight at its target? Why are longbows more efficient than guns? Why were medieval catapults better than those of the ancient Greeks and Romans? Why does spin stabilize a bullet? Why do artillery shells drift when there is no wind?
A magisterial history of Indigenous North America that places the power of Native nations at its center, telling their story from the rise of ancient cities more than a thousand years ago to fights for sovereignty that continue today
An enthralling portrait of the Bloomsbury Group’s key figures told through a rich collection of intimate photographs. Photography framed the world of the Bloomsbury Group. The thousands of photographs surviving in albums kept by Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Dora Carrington, and Lytton Strachey, among others, today offer us a private…
