The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge [Hardcover]

James Burke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0684859343 | ISBN-13: 978-0684859347 | Publication Date: June 9, 1999

In "The Knowledge Web," James Burke, the bestselling author and host of television's "Connections" series, takes us on a fascinating tour through the interlocking threads of knowledge running through Western history. Displaying mesmerizing flights of fancy, he shows how seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off one another, spinning a vast, interactive web on which everything is connected to everything else: "Carmen" leads to the theory of relativity, champagne bottling links to wallpaper design, Joan of Arc connects through vaudeville to Buffalo Bill.

Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a journey across the web, Burke breaks down complex concepts, offering information in a manner accessible to anybody -- high school graduates and Ph.D. holders alike. The journey touches more than one hundred interlinked points in the history of knowledge, ultimately ending where it began. Gateways, set at various points in the narrative, allow readers to jump through literary hyperspace to other different but related concepts throughout the book.

At once amusing and instructing, "The Knowledge Web" heightens our awareness of our interdependence -- with one another and with the past. Taking Burke's webbed approach to knowledge is one way that we can manage our information overload as we approach the ever-more-complex world that awaits us in the twenty-first century. Only by understanding the interrelated nature of the modern world can we hope to identify complex patterns of change and direct the process of innovation to the common good.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

How is vivisection related to Stonehenge? It might take a few leaps of history, but you'll find the answer in The Knowledge Web, another of science historian James Burke's compelling collections of circular narratives that have informed and inspired astute readers for years. Best known for his outstanding documentary series Connections, Burke has a genius for unraveling complex threads of history and sharing with us the remarkable coincidences and contingencies that built our modern world. In The Knowledge Web he shows us how the rapid flow of information engenders greater possibilities for the kinds of chance meetings that drive progress.

Burke uses a very neat trick that both demonstrates the potential of hypertext and makes a more pleasurable reading experience. When mentioning certain key figures or events, he includes a footnote that points the reader not to the bottom of the page or the end of the book, but to another point in the text where the figure or event comes into play again. Many other writers would find this impossible to pull off, but Burke's style is perfectly suited for these jumps; if anything, his major theme of interconnectedness is driven home in a fresh new way. Whether or not you're a fan of Burke's unique style, The Knowledge Web will delight and amaze you with its visions of the delicacy of history and the many paths the past must take to reach the future. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

Continuing in the vein of The Pinball Effect, his unconventional history of technological change, Burke offers 20 new historical "story lines" that attempt to demonstrate the interactive, often serendipitous connections among ideas, events, people and innovations. His style matches his subject as he skips from one topic to another, moving at the speed of hypertext. The chapter on feedback systems hops from neural networksAcomputers that simulate the human brain's workingsAto studies of the physiology of animal emotion, Cyrus Field's pioneering transatlantic telephone cable in 1857 and thence to Napoleon, James Watt, Arts and Crafts movement leader William Morris and Theosophist Annie Besant. Burke always risks being charged with carrying on an intellectual parlor game that trivializes the history of science and invention, of stretching the maxim "everything is interconnected" to the point of meaninglessness. But because his material is intrinsically interesting and because Burke is a superb raconteur, his maverick guide to the byways of Western civilization is entertaining when consumed in small segments. This manic, associative tour of the cultural underpinnings of technological advancement fast, sexy and packed with information; but it's ultimately shapeless and provides little in the way of deeper understanding.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684859343
• ISBN-13: 978-0684859347
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,184,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Title, Blurb, Introduction, Etc., July 30, 2000

By 

Chris Georgen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Knowledge Web : From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge (Paperback)

This book was a sorry disappointment. I will preface my further remarks by saying that I am a huge fan of Mr. Burke's television productions, and (ironically) I actually enjoyed the book a great deal, but for mostly all the wrong reasons.

The fact is that the book does not deal with what is alluded to by the title, the jacket copy, or the author's introduction. Unfortunately, those were the only elements that I scanned when looking over the book in the store (and then buying it online ;-). The marketting blurb on the cover says "From electronic agents to Stonehenge and back...". Well, there was a very small bit about electronic agents and believe it or not, Stonehenge wasn't mentioned once throughout the entire book. Mr. Burke was not well served here by his market driven editors.

The only reason I still enjoyed the book is that I love both history and technology, and that's the terrain through which this addled account rambles. Regrettably, this book was more like an extended outpouring of jumbled, loosely 'connected' trivia from a hyper-loquacious Alzheimer's patient, than anything truly salient or purposeful. There was absolutely no discernible point to the narrative. The author's attempt to put the work into some kind of prosaic hyperlink format was a bit embarrassing as well. Lastly, the book ended abruptly and arbitrarily, almost as if Mr. Burke's nurse had come in and said "That's all for today. It's time for Mr. Burke's evening feeding. Maybe you can come back tomorrow." I hope not.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stimulates Your Mind, May 28, 2000

By 

Christopher Menkin (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge (Hardcover)

This is almost like a technological "Ulysses" by James Joyce. The author almost does a stream of consciousness, and does repeat himself at least three or four times through the 262 page book. It is a journey that reminds me of Andy Grove's book on change, as you see how inventions, technology, greatly influenced history and the advance of our knowledge. Most importantly, it shows how new things can make people a lot of money, those that don't change, lose a lot of money, and is fascinating---although the connections of events wanders from century to century and subject to subject. I thought this was not only fascinating, but there are many levels in the writing just as there are in James Joyce's fiction. This book is pure fact, however.

26 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, July 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge (Hardcover)

Burke writes well, but this book seems little more than a historical account of ideas and inventions. Of course, the reader could use the heavy cross-referencing to read this book in many different ways (ie taking different paths through the book) but the prospect doesn't excite me as much as it appeared to excite the author.

While the book purports to show the linkages between ideas and inventions, too often an idea came way out of left field with no apparent connection to the current stream of thought or historical characters.

I had really hoped for something a little more focussed on the evolution and use of knowledge per se rather than an account of how things came about, which can be read in any of a dozen other books.