Inventions History

The Pleistocene is the epoch of geologic time closest to our own. It’s a time of ice ages, global migrations, and mass extinctions - of woolly rhinos, mammoths, giant ground sloths, and not least early species of Homo. It’s the world that created ours. But outside that environmental story there exists a parallel narrative that describes how our ideas about the Pleistocene have emerged.

Earthquake and the Invention of America: The Making of Elsewhere Catastrophe explores the role of earthquakes in shaping the deep timeframes and multi-hemispheric geographies of American literary history. Spanning the ancient world to the futuristic continents of speculative fiction, the earthquake stories assembled here together reveal the emergence of a broadly Western cultural syndrome that became an acute national fantasy: elsewhere catastrophe, an unspoken but widely prevalent sense that catastrophe is somehow "un-American."

This book covers fascinating origin stories of 55 everyday items that were invented by accident; that is, the inventor did not expect to make the product when the product was discovered. Not only will this book share amazing stories about everyday products, but it will also inspire you. We all encounter things that go wrong, and this book reminds us that when life gives lemons, we can make lemonade. (Seriously, pink lemonade was made by accident—listen to the story inside.) Each story is written to encourage kids and adults to be curious and be inspired to create.

In the 1790s an extraordinary group of friends changed the world. Disappointed by the French Revolution's rapid collapse into tyranny, what they wanted was nothing less than a revolution of the mind. The rulers of Europe had ordered their peoples how to think and act for too long. Based in the small German town of Jena, through poetry, drama, philosophy and science, they transformed the way we think about ourselves and the world around us. They were the first Romantics.

When Jesus sent 70 disciples on ahead of him, part of their mission was to heal the sick. In fact, they were supposed to heal the sick before they preached the Gospel. Best-selling author Mike Aquilina calls this command the healing imperative. And it's an imperative that ushered in the world of modern medicine. In The Healing Imperative: The Early Church and the Invention of Medicine as We Know It, Aquilina reconstructs the fascinating history of a uniquely Christian institution: the hospital.

Jeevan Vasagar, former Singapore correspondent for the Financial Times, masterfully takes us through the intricate history, present and future of this unique diamond-shaped island one degree north of the equator, where new and old have remained connected. Lion City is a personal, insightful and essential guide to the city and how its remarkable rise is shaping East Asia and the rest of the world.

In Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy, the revolutionary, acclaimed book, radio series and podcast, best-selling economist Tim Harford introduced us to a selection of 50 radical inventions that changed the world. Along the way he entertained us with a myriad of great stories and revealed some of the most surprising landmarks in our history.

The inspiring true story of Loïe Fuller, a radical 19th-century art nouveau icon who turned artificial light into performance art and became the incandescent inventor of modern dance, is revealed in this transportive and hypnotic historical narrative.

The secrets of science meet the drama of the high seas. Amir D. Aczel - the distinguished science writer behind God's Equation and Mystery of the Aleph - turns detective as he uncovers the fascinating story of the invention of the compass.

The typical military history presents a chronicle of battles and wars and the commanders and troops who fought them. This book takes a different approach. It presents battles and wars and people aplenty, but they are not its ultimate subjects. This book is about the turning points that not only make military history dynamic but crucial to the story of humanity and civilization.

A unique tour around the world in search of the great thinkers of our time and their next big ideas. With the world at the threshold of profound changes, the questions become: Where are the philosophers? Where are the great thinkers of today? Where is the next Jefferson, Curie, or Mandela? Which technologies and changes in the nature of life will they harness, embrace, or be inspired by?

Nikola Tesla was a Serbian-American innovator, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist who helped establish the contemporary rotating present (AC) electrical energy delivery system.

We do not see the ocean when we look at the water that blankets more than two thirds of our planet. We only see the entrance to it. Beyond that entrance is a world hostile to humans, yet critical to our survival. The first divers to enter that world held their breath and splashed beneath the surface, often clutching rocks to pull them down. Over centuries, they invented wooden diving bells, clumsy diving suits, and unwieldy contraptions in attempts to go deeper and stay longer.

Go on an illuminating journey through the evolution of knowledge and communication with the debut non-fiction book by best-selling author Chris Haughton. Discover how the ways we share and store information have shaped and changed the world in this utterly unique book. A fascinating listen for both children and adults, it is suitable for children from age 8+. What is it that makes technology improve rather than stay static or even fall into decline? The answer is information.

What will our world be like in the year 2010? Where will we work? How will we travel? What kind of advances can we expect in medicine and technology? Probable Tomorrows offers a look into the near-future advances, inventions, products, services, and everyday conveniences that will change how people live and work.

The gentrification of Brooklyn has been one of the most striking developments in recent urban history. Considered one of the city's most notorious industrial slums in the 1940s and 1950s, Brownstone Brooklyn by the 1980s had become a post-industrial landscape of hip bars, yoga studios, and beautifully renovated, wildly expensive townhouses. In The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn, Suleiman Osman offers a groundbreaking history of this unexpected transformation.

Practical guide showing inventors how to develop, prototype, protect, and market their inventions. Bob is an engineer with over 25 years experience developing and marketing products. He used his corporate and entrepreneurial experience to develop this step-by-step guide to help fellow inventors develop their products using a "boot strapping" approach. This helps inventors to successfully develop and market their inventions without breaking the bank.

With X-rays, doctors detect problems human eyes can't see. X-rays are a form of invisible radiation. This powerful medical technology helps experts look inside the body and even treat illnesses. But early on, X-rays caused harm too, as people used them without enough protection. This history covers the discovery of X-rays, the development of safety standards, and the rise of more powerful and precise X-ray machines. Find out how modern doctors create digital images of the inner body—even 3D images of our brains!

Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, is one of the most famous events of Western history. It inaugurated the Protestant Reformation and has for centuries been a powerful and enduring symbol of religious freedom of conscience and of righteous protest against the abuse of power. But did it actually really happen? In this engagingly written, wide-ranging, and insightful work of cultural history, leading Reformation historian Peter Marshall reviews the available evidence and concludes that very probably, it did not.

Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning, and the advent of science contributed to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period, and are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity that he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual. This history gives the listener a lucid, perceptive analysis of the splendid Renaissance.