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  <title><![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
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  <read_at>Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Apr 07 16:34:52 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jul 05 18:49:37 -0700 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Although I don't typically like short-chapter books like this one, James Burke is a standout from the good ol' days (remember Connections, anyone?) and this book is only a little disappointing.  Each chapter takes a person, event, or idea from history, sort of traces connected events (like so-and-so...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19675854">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/19675854]]></url>
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]>
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  <average_rating>3.85</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2000</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Dec 10 10:33:29 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sun Jan 04 14:35:41 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Interesting book - sort of a &quot;6-degrees of&quot; game.  He starts with an idea, then follows a link from it through many different aspects of history and technology and brings it back to the original idea or thought.  Sometimes you wish he'd spend more time on a topic, but I guess the book is a...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39786998">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</review>
      <review>
  <id>46278366</id>
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    <id>1825720</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sps]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]>
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  <average_rating>3.84</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2000</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Feb 16 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Fri Feb 13 17:51:30 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Feb 17 12:15:11 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Fun technology tidbits with loads of puns and Britishisms.  A little insubstantial or non-rigorous or something.  But Isambard Kingdom Brunel! Angelica Kauffmann! Louis Quatorze! <br/><br/>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46278366]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46278366]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>43372821</id>
    <user>
    <id>976686</id>
    <name><![CDATA[JoAnna]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/976686-joanna-spring]]></link>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]>
  </title>
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  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55012.Circles_Fifty_Roundtrips_Through_History_Technology_Science_Culture</link>
  <average_rating>3.84</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2000</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
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  <date_added>Sat Jan 17 12:25:24 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jan 17 12:25:41 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[from Maura's list.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43372821]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>36919498</id>
    <user>
    <id>1684728</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Kelly]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1684728-kelly-carder]]></link>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]>
  </title>
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  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170446842s/55012.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55012.Circles_Fifty_Roundtrips_Through_History_Technology_Science_Culture</link>
  <average_rating>3.84</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2000</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 04 15:11:16 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Nov 04 15:14:01 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I feel like I could read this book over and over.  James Burke can do a &quot;6 degrees of separation&quot; but in circular format with just about any historical event or figure.  ]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36919498]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/36919498]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>3457757</id>
    <user>
    <id>213773</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sarah]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Saint Louis, MO]]></location>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture]]>
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  <average_rating>3.84</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2000</published>
</book>

    <rating>5</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[science and history enthusiasts]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Thu Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 1999</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Jul 24 10:24:31 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue Jul 24 10:25:31 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[this book makes really fascinating connections between inventions and historical events, and brings everything full circle (hence the title).  i highly recommend it]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3457757]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[I so enjoyed this book!  This is exactly the kind of book that answers certain questions you never knew you had.]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
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    <![CDATA[Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In <em>The Knowledge Web</em> Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in <em>Circles</em> are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to <em>Skylab</em> to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to <em>Skylab</em>. Whew!<p>  &quot;There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape,&quot; Burke says. &quot;One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences.&quot; He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. <em>--Mary Ellen Curtin</em></p>]]>
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