The Origins of Invention
Title | The Origins of Invention PDF eBook |
Author | Otis T. Mason |
Publisher | London : W. Scott |
Pages | 470 |
Release | 1895 |
Genre | Ethnology |
ISBN |
The Greatest Invention
Title | The Greatest Invention PDF eBook |
Author | Silvia Ferrara |
Publisher | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
Pages | 227 |
Release | 2022-03-01 |
Genre | Language Arts & Disciplines |
ISBN | 0374601631 |
In this exhilarating celebration of human ingenuity and perseverance—published all around the world—a trailblazing Italian scholar sifts through our cultural and social behavior in search of the origins of our greatest invention: writing. The L where a tabletop meets the legs, the T between double doors, the D of an armchair’s oval backrest—all around us is an alphabet in things. But how did these shapes make it onto the page, never mind form complex structures such as this sentence? In The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how—and how many times—human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, traveling back and forth in time and all across the globe to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. With Ferrara as our guide, we examine the enigmas of undeciphered scripts, including famous cases like the Phaistos Disk and the Voynich Manuscript; we touch the knotted, colored strings of the Inca quipu; we study the turtle shells and ox scapulae that bear the earliest Chinese inscriptions; we watch in awe as Sequoyah single-handedly invents a script for the Cherokee language; and we venture to the cutting edge of decipherment, in which high-powered laser scanners bring tears to an engineer’s eye. A code-cracking tour around the globe, The Greatest Invention chronicles a previously uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research, and a faint, fleeting glimpse of writing’s future.
Mothers and Daughters of Invention
Title | Mothers and Daughters of Invention PDF eBook |
Author | Autumn Stanley |
Publisher | Rutgers University Press |
Pages | 792 |
Release | 1995 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 9780813521978 |
Stanley traces women's inventions in five vital areas of technology worldwide--agriculture, medicine, reproduction, machines, and computers.
The Invention of Yesterday
Title | The Invention of Yesterday PDF eBook |
Author | Tamim Ansary |
Publisher | PublicAffairs |
Pages | 501 |
Release | 2019-10-01 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1610397975 |
From language to culture to cultural collision: the story of how humans invented history, from the Stone Age to the Virtual Age Traveling across millennia, weaving the experiences and world views of cultures both extinct and extant, The Invention of Yesterday shows that the engine of history is not so much heroic (battles won), geographic (farmers thrive), or anthropogenic (humans change the planet) as it is narrative. Many thousands of years ago, when we existed only as countless small autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers widely distributed through the wilderness, we began inventing stories--to organize for survival, to find purpose and meaning, to explain the unfathomable. Ultimately these became the basis for empires, civilizations, and cultures. And when various narratives began to collide and overlap, the encounters produced everything from confusion, chaos, and war to cultural efflorescence, religious awakenings, and intellectual breakthroughs. Through vivid stories studded with insights, Tamim Ansary illuminates the world-historical consequences of the unique human capacity to invent and communicate abstract ideas. In doing so, he also explains our ever-more-intertwined present: the narratives now shaping us, the reasons we still battle one another, and the future we may yet create.
Concise History of Science & Invention
Title | Concise History of Science & Invention PDF eBook |
Author | Jolyon Goddard |
Publisher | National Geographic Books |
Pages | 355 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1426205449 |
A global view of science and technology as it developed over the centuries.
A History of Invention
Title | A History of Invention PDF eBook |
Author | Trevor Illtyd Williams |
Publisher | |
Pages | 367 |
Release | 2000 |
Genre | Technology & Engineering |
ISBN | 9780816040728 |
Profiles the history of invention from the first crude stone ax head to the latest achievements in biotechnology, including a biographical dictionary of the individuals responsible for these discoveries.
Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries
Title | Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries PDF eBook |
Author | Rodney Carlisle |
Publisher | Turner Publishing Company |
Pages | 711 |
Release | 2008-04-21 |
Genre | Science |
ISBN | 0470306920 |
A unique A-to-Z reference of brilliance in innovation and invention Combining engagingly written, well-researched history with the respected imprimatur of Scientific American magazine, this authoritative, accessible reference provides a wide-ranging overview of the inventions, technological advances, and discoveries that have transformed human society throughout our history. More than 400 entertaining entries explain the details and significance of such varied breakthroughs as the development of agriculture, the "invention" of algebra, and the birth of the computer. Special chronological sections divide the entries, providing a unique focus on the intersection of science and technology from early human history to the present. In addition, each section is supplemented by primary source sidebars, which feature excerpts from scientists' diaries, contemporary accounts of new inventions, and various "In Their Own Words" sources. Comprehensive and thoroughly readable, Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries is an indispensable resource for anyone fascinated by the history of science and technology. Topics include: aerosol spray * algebra * Archimedes' Principle * barbed wire * canned food * carburetor * circulation of blood * condom * encryption machine * fork * fuel cell * latitude * music synthesizer * positron * radar * steel * television * traffic lights * Heisenberg's uncertainty principle