Circles: Fifty Round Trips Through History Technology Science Culture

From the bestselling author of The Knowledge Web come fifty mesmerizing journeys into the history of technology each following a chain of consequential events that ends precisely where it began. Whether exploring electromagnetic fields the origin of hot chocolate or DNA fingerprinting these essays all illustrate the surprisingly circular nature of change. In Room with (Half) a View for instance Burke muses about the partly obscured railway bridge outside his home on the Thames a musing which sets off a chain of thought that leads from the bridges engineer to Samuel Morse to firearms inventor Sam Colt and finally to a trombonist named Gustav Holst who once lived in the very house that blocks Burkes view. So it goes with Burkes entertaining and informative essays as each one highlights the interconnectedness of seemingly unrelated events and innovations. Romantic poetry leads to brandy distillation; tonic water connects through Leibniz to the first explorers to reach the North Pole. This unique collection is sure to stimulate and delight history buffs technophiles and anyone else with a healthy intellectual curiosity.