Book description
'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.
William Rosen was a senior executive at Macmillan and Simon &
Schuster publishing houses for more than twenty-five years, working with
authors including Bernard Lewis, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Philip Craig
and Tim Clayton, Marina Benjamin, and Robert Lacey. He lives in
Princeton, New Jersey.
