What the Past Did for Us: A Brief History of Ancient Monuments

What the ...s Did For Us

by Adam Hart-Davis

When we think of plastic surgery, vending machines, computers and fast food, many of us assume that they are modern inventions. Amazingly, these were all invented hundreds, or even thousands, of years ago.

In What the Past Did for Us, presenter and enthusiast Adam Hart-Davis takes us on a journey into the ancient world, revealing an astonishing array of innovations that occurred long before many of us would ever have thought they had.

The Greeks are well-known for inventing the Olympics, but only a few of us are aware that they were responsible for building the first known computer, around 100 BC. The Romans-famous for their road building-also gave us double glazing and central heating. All in all we owe a huge debt to the ancients-from the Chinese who invented paper money and the wheelbarrow, to the early Britons who developed the first housing estate at Skara Brae, home to the world's oldest known lavatories.

Based on the television series What the Past Did for Us, this book will change the way that we look at the everyday inventions we take for granted and until now thought were from the modern age.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2004

About the author

British photographer, writer and broadcaster.

Reviews

[Dave Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Byte sized chunks of interesting facts told in an engaging manner

[Ayush Dambale · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘What Did the Past Did for Us’ by Adam Hart Davis is an inclusive book covering all the Historical Invention through the World. The book encompasses all the intriguing inventions with its probable uses.

The Book covers topics from The Bronze Age and Tools, Origin of the Code of Law, Process of Mummification, Ancient Civilization of Mohenjo Daro to the Hypocausts of Rome and much more.
The book present history in a vivid and interesting way which always grab upon the reader’s attention. It also includes some of interesting facts like the invention of Batteries to even the real motive behind the invention of Kite.

Throughout the book, Adam also portrays mankind’s clever and ingenious ways to find solution to the problem, which for us form parts of our daily lives. Moreover, it reflects Adam’s keen zeal and passion towards presenting our proud history.

‘What Did the Past Did for Us’ is a book that will appeal to anyone who loves history and inventions. It is a book that celebrates the achievements of humanity and inspires us to learn more about our rich and diverse heritage.

[Tristan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the accompanying book for a TV documentary series. It has the light touch of such media, providing a lighthearted and pleasant-to-read mixture of facts, anecdotes, and history, without too much detail.

All the main civilisations of the ancient world have provided technical advances that are still used today. Much of the content I already knew but there were a good number of things I didn’t, so I’m glad to have read this easy going book.

I’m under the impression that the print version had illustrations not set out in the Kindle version, which is a bit annoying. Nevertheless, this was only a 99 pence Kindle Deal so I shouldn’t complain. I might read this again one day, in which case the score would rise, but this is a solid three star read for now.

[Steve Wales · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of ancient inventions, based around the geographical regions or cultures that spawned them, covering ancient Britain, Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Greece, the Roman Empire, the Arab/Islamic world and Mesoamerica/Incan South America. The book is based on the BBC series of the same name.

I enjoy such histories of inventions, and for anyone else who does too I would recommend Books, Banks, Buttons: And Other Inventions from the Middle Ages by Chiara Frugoni (available in English translation in many editions).