CONTENTS
Notes on conventions and abbreviations v
The Stone Ages: 2,400,000-4000 BC vi
The best rocks 2
Fire: The second key tool 4
Stone technology of the Old Stone Age 9
The first navigators 11
The first ceramics 4
Stone technology of the Middle Stone Age and Neolithic 16
New materials: Tooth, bone, and horn 18
The first machines 20
Machines that go around 22
The Metal Ages: 4000 BC -1000 CE 24
Irrigation and the rise of civilization 27
Metals and early smelting 28
The invention of the wheel .30
Inventing and writing numbers .31
City life 32
Early sailing 35
Building with brick and stone 44
Inventing writing and the alphabet 49
Paddles and oars 51
Domes, beams, and columns 52
Arches 53
Cast iron (part 1) 55
Archimedes 56
Hero of Alexandria 61
Salt and the fall of civilizations 71
What caused the Agricultural Revolution? (part 1) 75
What caused the Agricultural Revolution? (part 2)
What caused the Agricultural Revolution? (part 3) 79
The first great explorers 83
How the Egyptians did NOT build the pyramids 84
How the Egyptians DID build the pyramids 85
The Age of Water and Wind: 1000-1732 86
Cathedrals 90
Early surgery 92
Waterpower 94
Al-Jazari 99
Why is there no Classic steam engine? 101
Wind power 103
Francis Bacon and the scientific method 112
Leonardo da Vinci 118
Johann Gutenberg 119
Old and New World plants meet 128
Pendulum myths 144
Early clocks 146
Gunpowder and guns in East and West 147
Perpetual motion (part 1): An old dream 150
Recognizing the power of steam 156
The Industrial Revolution: 1733-1878 158
The canal age 161
The mechanization of farming 162
Steam engines power machines 164
Jacques Vaucanson 166
Cast iron (part 2) 174
James Watt 180
The atmospheric steam engine 182
The French describe technology 183
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier 189
Machine tools: The lathe 190
Systems of machine tools 192
Color and chemistry 194
The continuing search for fiber 195
The railroad system 206
US railroads 213
Eli Whitney 216
Ada Lovelace 237
The telegraph 242
The advent of electricity 246
Intellectual and technological property 250
The Crystal Palace 254
Perpetual motion (part 2): An obsession 266
The Electric Age: 1879-1946 278
The development of radio 281
The telephone 282
Louis Pasteur 294
Thomas Alva Edison 296
'"Bout as high as a building ought to go . . ." 298
Why is there no Classic steam engine? 101
Wind power 103
Francis Bacon and the scientific method 112
Leonardo da Vinci 118
Johann Gutenberg 119
Old and New World plants meet 128
Pendulum myths 144
Early clocks 146
Gunpowder and guns in East and West 147
Perpetual motion (part 1): An old dream 150
Recognizing the power of steam 156
The Industrial Revolution: 1733-1878 158
The canal age 161
The mechanization of farming 162
Steam engines power machines 164
Jacques Vaucanson 166
Cast iron (part 2) 174
James Watt 180
The atmospheric steam engine 182
The French describe technology 183
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier 189
Machine tools: The lathe 190
Systems of machine tools 192
Color and chemistry 194
The continuing search for fiber 195
The railroad system 206
US railroads 213
Eli Whitney 216
Ada Lovelace 237
The telegraph 242
The advent of electricity 246
Intellectual and technological property 250
The Crystal Palace 254
Perpetual motion (part 2): An obsession 266
The Electric Age: 1879-1946 278
The development of radio 281
The telephone 282
Louis Pasteur 294
Thomas Alva Edison 296
'"Bout as high as a building ought to go . . ." 298
Why is there no Classic steam engine? 101
Wind power 103
Francis Bacon and the scientific method 112
Leonardo da Vinci 118
Johann Gutenberg 119
Old and New World plants meet 128
Pendulum myths 144
Early clocks 146
Gunpowder and guns in East and West 147
Perpetual motion (part 1): An old dream 150
Recognizing the power of steam 156
The Industrial Revolution: 1733-1878 158
The canal age 161
The mechanization of farming 162
Steam engines power machines 164
Jacques Vaucanson 166
Cast iron (part 2) 174
James Watt 180
The atmospheric steam engine 182
The French describe technology 183
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier 189
Machine tools: The lathe 190
Systems of machine tools 192
Color and chemistry 194
The continuing search for fiber 195
The railroad system 206
US railroads 213
Eli Whitney 216
Ada Lovelace 237
The telegraph 242
The advent of electricity 246
Intellectual and technological property 250
The Crystal Palace 254
Perpetual motion (part 2): An obsession 266
The Electric Age: 1879-1946 278
The development of radio 281
The telephone 282
Louis Pasteur 294
Thomas Alva Edison 296
'"Bout as high as a building ought to go . . ." 298
Why is there no Classic steam engine? 101
Wind power 103
Francis Bacon and the scientific method 112
Leonardo da Vinci 118
Johann Gutenberg 119
Old and New World plants meet 128
Pendulum myths 144
Early clocks 146
Gunpowder and guns in East and West 147
Perpetual motion (part 1): An old dream 150
Recognizing the power of steam 156
The Industrial Revolution: 1733-1878 158
The canal age 161
The mechanization of farming 162
Steam engines power machines 164
Jacques Vaucanson 166
Cast iron (part 2) 174
James Watt 180
The atmospheric steam engine 182
The French describe technology 183
Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier 189
Machine tools: The lathe 190
Systems of machine tools 192
Color and chemistry 194
The continuing search for fiber 195
The railroad system 206
US railroads 213
Eli Whitney 216
Ada Lovelace 237
The telegraph 242
The advent of electricity 246
Intellectual and technological property 250
The Crystal Palace 254
Perpetual motion (part 2): An obsession 266
The Electric Age: 1879-1946 278
The development of radio 281
The telephone 282
Louis Pasteur 294
Thomas Alva Edison 296
'"Bout as high as a building ought to go . . ." 298
Alexander Graham Bell 300
The perfect machine: The turbine 304
Guglielmo Marconi 306
Looking into people (part 1) 309
George Washington Carver 312
The Model T 326
Flight and the Wrights 328
Steel for strength 330
Aluminum for lightness 331
Nitrogen: A matter of life and death 332
Robots, fantasy and fact 338
Elmer Sperry 340
John Logie Baird 342
Industrial research 344
Wernher von Braun 350
Alan Mathison Turing 352
Vannevar Bush 353
Magic bullets (part 1) 356
Computers: From analog to digital 362
Computers: From telephone relays to vacuum tubes 365
Antibiotics 367
The Electronic Age: 1947-1972 368
The Hale telescope at Mt Palomar 375
First-generation computers 376
The transistor 382
Jonas Salk and Albert Bruce Sabin 383
Grace Murray Hopper 388
Satellites into space 389
The beginning of programming 392
The space race 395
Looking into people (part 2) 400
The integrated circuit, or chip 405
Scientists and defense 407
The coming of future shock 409
The Information Age: 1973-1993 410
Time shifting 413
High and low technology 414
The laser 421
Composites 424
The post-industrial society 425
Perpetual motion (part 3): "It keeps on going . . ." 426
Nuclear power 427
Alternative energy sources 428
The space shuttle 429
Kary Mullis 433
Steven P. Jobs 435
Communicating with light 438
High-temperature superconductors 444
Massively parallel computers 446
Convergence of modes 450
Magic bullets (part 2) 452
Name Index 455
Subject Index 466