Customer Reviews

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The amount of information contained in this book is truly astounding. Just about every aspect of inventing that one can imagine is touched upon here, at least to some degree. These include but are not limited to: legal issues, social and political matters, psychology, even religion and philosophy. The reader is also introduced to a myriad of people who have contributed, in some way or other, to the Industrial Revolution. The most significant invention that is followed throughout is the steam engine. But many other inventions are also discussed such as: devices to address certain mining problems, making various types of iron, collecting and processing cotton and silk, various devices to improve upon prior inventions, etc. The amount of information contained in this book is truly encyclopaedic; the author's efforts in putting it all together must have been astronomical.

Unfortunately, despite all of these positive features, the book was not at all what I expected. I assumed that a book recounting the history of the steam engine would be rich in technical detail - either with plenty of illustrative sketches to complement the text or written in prose so rich in detail that sketches would be unnecessary; unfortunately I misjudged. The technical details that are given in the text are, in too many cases, much too brief to allow a technical reader to get a good appreciation of how a given device worked or what the technical issues were. And the few sketches that are included (nine in the entire book) are reproductions from centuries ago and do not add much to help the reader's technical comprehension. In addition, I found that the great many individuals that are introduced throughout, along with their contributions, eventually become hard to keep track of. Related to this is that the information presented is often so tightly packed as to be rather overwhelming. Finally, the timeline is not linear; throughout, the reader is repetitively led forward and backward in time, thus making following the story line rather tricky.

The writing style is quite friendly, lively and even peppered with welcome bits of humour. However, there are also many rather long-winded sentences that make those parts of the text a bit awkward to read. The book may be of most interest to those who are not so much looking for technical details but who rather enjoy reading some fascinating historical snippets related to inventing and the Industrial Revolution.

This book is about a major turning point in human history, and why it happened. By most measures of human advancement, the world pretty much stayed the same between the second and eighteenth centuries, and then something happened. Rosen tackles a question that has obsessed historians ever since--why it happened in England in the 18th c. The book is worth reading because Rosen is a good writer, both in terms of storytelling and explaining science, technology, and law, and because the book will help you to understand how societies can encourage innovation and therefore growth. If I had a complaint, it's that the author is so into his story that he occasionally followed tributaries that I didn't find interesting. But I found it pretty easy to skip over those parts without losing the thread.

I got pulled into this by a friend. We had liked Rosen's earlier book: Justinian's Flea Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe. His new book brings the same, easy to read style to another history subject. Just reading the first chapter got me right away. You can read the other reviews here...

But what really bothers me is that several people have voted only one stars on this book. They are not voting on the quality of the read, but on the pricing of the book by the publisher for the electronic version. Well, I bought the electronic version, and I saved money verses the hardcover. Yes, it is higher than many e-books, but that is not the fault of the author. Come on, rate the book on its merit.

I happened to catch the author on The Daily Show this week and was intrigued by how he "held his own" vs. Jon Stewart while also providing interesting nuggets as to how the concept of "inventions" emerged over time. It's not often that a book provides such a holistic view of the events surrounding the core theme - but Bill lives up to his "billing" with wit and wisdom on every page as he leads the reader through the shaping of the patent system.

This study of the industrial revolution is not just a listing of the inventions that led to the perfection of the steam engine. It goes to the background of legal ideas and structure of society in the 17th century which allowed invention to flourish in Britain (and later in New England). As an example, the author discusses the origin of patent law in England in the mid 1600s -- there was a key legal decision based on the new notion that an idea could be property and therefore given protection under the law.

The book is nicely written with both erudition and a gentle humor.

The book tended to jump around too much and it was hard to follow the thread of some chapters. Some decent diagrams could have helped. The few diagrams were a waste of space as they were small, unreadable, reproductions of 18th century diagrams. I stuck it out to the end of the book, but I was disappointed. Barely OK

Mr. Rosen has written a very interesting and well written book on the invention and improvement of the steam engine. Basically Mr. Rosen covers the period form the seventeenth century to the first part of the eighteenth century. Mr. Rosen ends his discussion with the development of the Rocket steam locomotive by George and Robert Stephenson and Richard Trevithick.

Mr. Rosen demonstrates that the social and legal climate in England in this period favored new inventions. The legal system, in part due to the efforts of jurist Edward Coke, protected intellectual property by patent rights. Thus inventors were much less likely to have their ideas and products stolen by other men who had done nothing to develop the invention. Thus inventors could prosper materially as well as socially from their efforts. Moreover inventing new techniques and new products was socially acceptable.

The result was that inventions occurred more and more often over the time interval. And new inventions in one product field added to the demand for and encouraged inventions in other fields. For example John Wilkinson's method of boring iron tubes greatly enhanced the production of steam engine equipment. Numerous other inventions fed the development of steam power.

Mr. Rosen goes into great and interesting detail about the inventors and inventions. For example, Mr. Rosen provides much detail on the life of James Watt, his birth near Glasgow Scotland, his work as a clockmaker and instrument maker in London, his study of the Newcomen steam engine, his new steam engine with a separate condenser and use of vacuum space, and his fertile partnership with Matthew Boulton. Mr. Rosen provides such details of many other inventors, including an American, Oliver Evans, who invented the steam furnace internal to the water boiler. This invention led to the railroad steam engine.

Mr. Rosen also discusses the legal, economic, and other causes for periods of multiple new inventions and scientific and technological progress.

In some cases some technical background is helpful in understanding Mr. Rosen's descriptions of the inventions. Moreover one could disagree with the steam engine being the most important discovery. A good case could be made for the Gutenberg printing press as the real most important discovery from which other inventions would follow.

Yet this book is a superb history of a period of important invention and the development of industrial civilization. The book is of particular importance to those interested in the development of railroads. The book is a must read.

Although I am not typically drawn to historical non-fiction, I found this book to be fascinating. Rosen has hit upon a key aspect of human nature by exploring the importance of claiming ownership of and receiving credit for ideas. Obviously Rosen is an intelligent writer and this book not only informs, but inspires.

It's like a book-length episode of James Burke's "Connections" or "Day the Universe Changed" TV programs. Rosen traces the development of the steam engine from Newcomen (with a nod to earlier mucking-about with the power of steam that led nowhere) up to the first demonstration of George Stephenson's "The Rocket" locomotive. That might be fascinating in itself for steam-power heads but what makes Rosen's book interesting for the general reader is the way he also traces the influence of the (sometimes very prickly) personalities involved, the development of patent law, politics, religion, geology and cultural differences between various European and other nations. In the process, he does severe damage to the sort of geographical determinism found in Jared Diamond's "Gun, Germs and Steel," along with a number of other theories of technological development and national dominance.

It's not all smooth sailing. Early on, Rosen drops in chunks of (rather speculative) neuroscience. They really did not seem to me germane to the book's overall argument. (Meaning Rosen would probably explain to me how they were utterly vital. Oh, well.)

And on pp. 315 - 316, Rosen indulges in a serious case of the vapors (Sorry.) about "irreversible climate change" and the need to sequester all the carbon injected into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels from Newcomen on. Thankfully, he's headed for the stable by that point and it doesn't affect the book as a whole.

Highly recommended and not just to lovers of old steam engines.

Rather than expound on the merits and shortcomings of this book and say much the same as others before me, allow me to refer you to the review posted by G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada).

While I enjoyed the scholarship invested in the book and the wide-ranging scope, the idea is almost lost in a cloud of verbiage - much like steam - and rambling sentences (like this one).

I did enjoy reading the book, but think tighter focus is worth consideration.

One other comment: the book did cause me to reminisce about a book/TV series from the late '70s entitled "Connections" by James Burke. Spellbinding!