John H. Lienhard, IV

Interesting and informative. "Things" are not invented in a vacuum!

So many great tidbits of engineering history. A great juxtaposition of engineering and humanity. Each chapter can stand by itself as an essay. So many interesting little stories that I'll have to buy many more books to complete them.

This book explains the incremental steps involved in technologies that changed the world. IT really goes to show that no idea comes from some kind of miraculous inception on its own, and that everything builds upon ideas from others. I like that it mentions the unsung heroes of the past, such as people who worked on the steam engine (and its predecessors) before James Watt, and those who worked on the printing press (as well as typefaces and other required technologies)before Gutenberg.

A fascinating study on the way technology develops.