The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention Book + PRICE WATCH * Amazon pricing is not included in price watch

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention Book

The most important invention in the whole of the Industrial Revolution was invention itself.' Those words are at the heart of this remarkable book - a history of the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine, as well as an account of how inventors first came to own and profit from their ideas and how invention itself springs forth from logic and imagination. Rocket. It was the fortuitously named train that inaugurated steam locomotion in 1829, jump-starting two centuries of mass transportation. As William Rosen reveals, it was the product of centuries of scientific and industrial discovery. From inventor Heron of Alexandria in AD 60 to James Watt, the physicist whose 'separate condenser' was central to the development of steam power - all those who made possible the long ride towards the Industrial Revolution are brought to life. But crucial to their contributions are other characters whose concepts allowed their invention to flourish - John Locke and intellectual property; Edward Coke and patents. Along the way, Rosen takes us deep into the human mind, explaining how 'eureka' moments occur - when the brain is most relaxed.Read More

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    Some days change the world. Monday July 25 1698 was one of them. In London an anonymous clerk at the Great Seal Patent Office granted patent number 356 'A new Invention for Raiseing of Water and occasioning Motion to all Sorts of Mill Work by the Impellent Force of Fire'. Steam power was born and with it the Industrial Revolution. But why did steam power happen when it did? And why was it Great Britain and her onetime North American colonies that staked out a technical and commercial lead over the rest of the world which they would never really relinquish? With "The Most Powerful Idea in the World" Bill Rosen combines narrative history with cutting-edge scientific theory to offer a simple controversial answer: Britain's unique patent laws were the vital catalyst. In this remarkable book we discover that only in Britain did the law enshrine the notion that people should profit from their ideas and so was born the first generation in human history in which the desire to invent was prompted not simply by the quest for knowledge but by a drive for financial glory.Rosen takes us on a journey from the factories of the Black Country to Pennsylvanian iron foundries and Peruvian silver mines as he tracks the incredible acceleration of the Revolution. He introduces us to thinkers like John Locke and Edmund Burke who provided the philosophical framework for these great advances; inventive geniuses like Thomas Newcomen James Watt William Murdoch and George Stephenson; and the keen entrepreneurs like Matthew Boulton who transformed these technological leaps into pure profit. Rich in extraordinary detail "The Most Powerful Idea in the World" is popular history at its absolute best: a compelling authoritative and completely new perspective on one of humanity's most important eras.

  • Foyles

    'The most important invention in the whole of the Industrial Revolution was invention itself.'Those words are at the heart of this remarkable book - a history of the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine, as well as an account of how inventors first came to own and profit from their ideas and how invention itself springs forth from logic and imagination.Rocket. It was the fortuitously named train that inaugurated steam locomotion in 1829, jump-starting two centuries of mass transportation. As William Rosen reveals, it was the product of centuries of scientific and industrial discovery. From inventor Heron of Alexandria in AD 60 to James Watt, the physicist whose 'separate condenser' was central to the development of steam power - all those who made possible the long ride towards the Industrial Revolution are brought to life. But crucial to their contributions are other characters whose concepts allowed their invention to flourish - John Locke and intellectual property; Edward Coke and patents. Along the way, Rosen takes us deep into the human mind, explaining how 'eureka' moments occur - when the brain is most relaxed.

  • ASDA

    In London a clerk at the Great Seal Patent Office granted patent number 356 'A new Invention for Raiseing of Water and occasioning Motion to all Sorts of Mill Work by the Impellent Force of Fire'. Steam power was born and with it the Industrial Revolution. This book introduces readers to thinkers like John Locke and Edmund Burke.

  • Blackwell

    In London, a clerk at the Great Seal Patent Office granted patent number 356, 'A new Invention for Raiseing of Water and occasioning Motion to all Sorts of Mill Work by the Impellent Force of Fire'. Steam power was born, and with it the Industrial...

  • 1845951352
  • 9781845951351
  • William Rosen
  • 2 June 2011
  • Pimlico
  • Paperback (Book)
  • 400
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