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The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line—until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an almost uninterrupted march of progress.
In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men...more
In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men...more
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
June 1st 2010
by Random House
(first published January 1st 2010)
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*interview on the Daily Show
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon... *
Like Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond and James Burke, William Rosen asks an interesting question about success and society. The question is : Why did the Industrial Revolution occur in the British Isles instead of India, China, Eastern Europe, South America? I'm found this topic interesting as I think about the need for innovation regarding today's energy needs.
This book offers his theories and provides the history of this inv...more
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon... *
Like Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond and James Burke, William Rosen asks an interesting question about success and society. The question is : Why did the Industrial Revolution occur in the British Isles instead of India, China, Eastern Europe, South America? I'm found this topic interesting as I think about the need for innovation regarding today's energy needs.
This book offers his theories and provides the history of this inv...more
This the story of the Industrial revolution, starting with the simplest of steam driven device to the first successful steam locomotive 'Rocket' by Stephenson. Along the way one gets a good insight into the lives of inventors like James Watt, Stephenson, Arkwright, Brunel and many others along with mentions of several others who contributed their bit. There is a chapter showing the impact of the industrial revolution on Britain's economy with comparative data of Britain, France, Netherlands, Chi...more
Excellent read, for history of technology culture. Thesis of the book is that, more than artifacts like steam power, the real contribution of the Industrial Revolution was the culture, process, democratization and commercialization of invention itself. I.e., it was the first time in history that the common man began to think about invention and improvements as a way of creating wealth, rather than fixing some local problem or inconvenience or labor. Central to this was the development of the pat...more
Despite a title that sounds like self-help, this book is actually about the invention of steam locomotion.
In the process of documenting the dozens of technology innovations that went into building one of the first successful steam-powered land vehicles (a steam engine sitting on a wooden wagon known as "Rocket"), it ends up documenting most of the major elements of the industrial revolution.
"The greatest invention of the industrial revolution was invention itself." The book spend a great deal of...more
In the process of documenting the dozens of technology innovations that went into building one of the first successful steam-powered land vehicles (a steam engine sitting on a wooden wagon known as "Rocket"), it ends up documenting most of the major elements of the industrial revolution.
"The greatest invention of the industrial revolution was invention itself." The book spend a great deal of...more
This book is an interesting history of an innovation - the working steam engine. It focuses not on any one version of the engine, but on all the innovations and innovators necessary to make steam technology a commercial success. So it doesn't just focus on Watt and Boulton but on the entire English system of innovating and patenting. This is why the book leads up to the test of the Rocket locomotive, since that contest provide a useful focal point. It was a very informative book and was especial...more
This book looks at how the Industrial Revolution happened and how in a fairly small island off Europe fossil fuels were first harnessed which in turn led to the enormous increase in wealth over the past 200 years.
The book is well written and very much worth reading for people who are interested in the technology and concepts that changed humanity. Rosen asks the question as to why it was in Britain, rather than in China that this happened. Rosen credits the patents system substantially.
The boo...more
The book is well written and very much worth reading for people who are interested in the technology and concepts that changed humanity. Rosen asks the question as to why it was in Britain, rather than in China that this happened. Rosen credits the patents system substantially.
The boo...more
I enjoyed this take on the various historical threads that came together to feed the Industrial Revolution. The author proposes that the concept of incentivising innovation (through patent laws etc.) was the primary force for this historical period. He tries for a sweet spot between a straightforward historical recounting of details of some of the most important inventions (primarily the steam engine) and a broader treatment of a variety of philosophical and cultural influences on this era. Read...more
This was a good book to read for getting the nitty-gritty on the sequence of events leading to the Steam Engine and the Industrial Revolution. Rosen does provide a good narrative on the slow and incremental progress as Steam Engines evolved from energy hogs only efficient enough to pump water out of coal mines to Steam driven trains. For that, anyone interested in Steam power would likely be satisfied. I did enjoy the leaps from the simple Newcomen water pump to the Boulton & Watt steam engi...more
In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it—the steam engine. In the process he tackles the question that has obsessed historians ever since: What made eighteenth-century Britain such fertile soil for inventors? Rosen’s answer focuses on a simple notion that had become enshrined in British law the century before: that people had the right to own and profit from their ideas.
The result was...more
The result was...more
Those who picked up the book looking for a treatise on the evolution of steam engines would do well to look at the subtitle. (i.e. The Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention.)
For while the there is some valuable intormation on early steam engine evolution, primarily the Newcombe and Watt engines in the first couple of chapters and the first practical steam locomotive Rocket in the last, the author casts his net much wider than that. In a style that reminds one somewhat of a James Burke book, t...more
For while the there is some valuable intormation on early steam engine evolution, primarily the Newcombe and Watt engines in the first couple of chapters and the first practical steam locomotive Rocket in the last, the author casts his net much wider than that. In a style that reminds one somewhat of a James Burke book, t...more
A very interesting excursion through the history of invention, like a leisurely ramble through the countryside led by a true aficianado, with side trips that may seem to be taking you out of your way but will certainly enrich your journey.
The author uses the device of the Rocket, the first steam locomotive on display in the British Museum, as the unifying thread for the journey, and explores the development of every significant technological invention that led to it. This doesn't mean just the m...more
The author uses the device of the Rocket, the first steam locomotive on display in the British Museum, as the unifying thread for the journey, and explores the development of every significant technological invention that led to it. This doesn't mean just the m...more
I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but I'm not sure I can really recommend it whole-heartedly. It was interesting to learn about an area of history I wasn't too acquainted with (the 18th century in terms of technological development), and the narrative is generally quite captivating.
A major weakness is that a lot of time and space is spent describing the workings of various different types of steam engines and precisely what the advantages were of a host of different innovations pioneered by vari...more
A major weakness is that a lot of time and space is spent describing the workings of various different types of steam engines and precisely what the advantages were of a host of different innovations pioneered by vari...more
The book purports to be about the steam engine and the industrial revolution, but is in fact more about the importance of intellectual property as the "fuel for the fire of genius" which i found just as interesting and far more compelling.
It does jump around a bit and reading it on a kindle the few pictures and diagrams were not very informative, but if you were looking for a technical spec on early steam engines, you may want to look elsewhere.
Overall a very good and informative book.
It does jump around a bit and reading it on a kindle the few pictures and diagrams were not very informative, but if you were looking for a technical spec on early steam engines, you may want to look elsewhere.
Overall a very good and informative book.
Jul 27, 2010
Rebecca
marked it as to-read
Recommended to Rebecca by:
The Daily Show
Shelves:
scott-read
When I first saw this on The Daily Show Last night, I thought, another great idea for Scott!! But as of right now he still has 20-something books in line to finish before October, and we already decided I shouldn't send him anymore. (I guess I have to learn restraint somehow. :) But I personally have always been obsessed with trains since living in Europe, and as I watched the whole interview, I have decided I am looking forward to reading this one myself too . . .
Fascinating review of done scientific technological, business, finance, societal, and economic changes in 1600's and 1700's Britain that created the environment allowing the steam engine to be developed. But the sleeper is the legal changes that gave intellectual property value and provided the profit incentive that drove inverters and their financiers to devote decades of effort to developing a workable steam engine.
There are thousands of books on the industrial revolution, usually pushing a particular thesis about the how and why of it. Rosen's approach is slightly different. He uses Stephenson's Rocket as the symbol of the revolution, but describes the technological advances which led up to it, as well as crucial developments such as patent law. He uses an informal style without losing any of the scholarship.
I really enjoyed this book, follows the industrial revolution in England through the invention of the steam engine and the patent system and speculates that the newly implemented patent system helped to kick start the industrial revolution in England. The book spends a lot of time following the invention of the steam engine and the subsequent improvements that were made to it leading up to steam trains.
A detailed look at how the development of steam power helped shape the industrial revolution including a veritable who's-who of steam inventors and their stories.
The history is presented in a James Burke Connections sort of fashion, showing how a handful of seemingly unrelated "micro" events all tied together and allowed future innovations.
I thought it was well written and was an entertaining read.
The history is presented in a James Burke Connections sort of fashion, showing how a handful of seemingly unrelated "micro" events all tied together and allowed future innovations.
I thought it was well written and was an entertaining read.
It was a bit of a slog but worth it. Lots of detail about the myriad of developments and individuals that created and perfected the steam engine - the main tool of the industrial revolution. Was it patent law, an anglophone advantage, something special about late 17th and 18th century Britain - it's coal, it's size, it's deluded inventor/tinkers, it's competitive environment? All are examined. I liked the comparison to China based on Joseph Needham's observations. The book end's with A. Lincoln'...more
I am increasingly convinced that the steam engine is (symbolically at least) the most important invention in human history. This is a book about that, but also about a whole lot more. The key is less the technology than the social, cultural, and political contexts that helped to facilitate an age of invention.
Rosen tells the story of how humans learned to harness steam power, which spans from the Greeks until the first mobile steam engine was built in the 1800s. The most powerful idea, however, is actaully the idea of intellectual property that spurred more people toward a life of inventing. Rosen argues that the reason Britain (and also the United States) was the place that originated the steam engine was precicely because of the patent laws (and also a critcal mass of population) that provided inve...more
Jul 26, 2011
H Wesselius
added it
As a treatise on the origins of the steam engine, I lost interest as assumptions were made about a reader's background knowledge. The real value of the book was its tracing of an idea and the motivation to innovate and invent. A very good outline of why it was the UK in the 18th and 19th century that began the Industrial Revolution instead of an other place and time. Done with very little tendency to Whiggism and English destiny.
Great piece of industrial history. It ties British innovation together well with the strength of their patent system to make a case for why England prospered more than other nations, even though many critical innovations were created outside of England.
I was a little disappointed by this book. The scientific achievements were not clearly explained; this book made me appreciate the good technical writing of others (not Rosen). In addition, I felt the whole book was a bit jumbled.
Sometimes I'm amazed at how long it took for mankind to harness the power of steam. This book does a great job in revealing the near misses and guiding the reader through the trials and successes on the way to the industrial revolution.
Author Rosen has a wonderful sense of humor and the ability to present very scientific materical in a very readable and fascinating manner.
The history and analysis of the process of invention and patents was terrific
The history and analysis of the process of invention and patents was terrific
Jul 28, 2010
Carolyn
marked it as to-read
I'd love to learn more about how the industrial revolution happened, and since this seems to focus on the role trains played (and my Dad LOVES trains), it seems a good choice. Plus, The Daily Show and a friend recommended it...
Great review of history steam, patents and rewarding invention and all its related parts. It really sold me on the idea, that it takes humanity 10 years before an invention can be harness by industry.
Lots if great information and stories about science, invention, and society. Sometimes the narrative was a little slow or the analysis too deep, but overall a well written and interesting read.
Very interesting! This book is actually more about innovation and especially on how important patent law is. Very thought provoking, a must read for aspiring entrepreneurs.
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William Rosen is an historian and author who previously was an editor an publisher at Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and the Free Press for nearly twenty-five years. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
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