Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture... (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Dusan Petricic (Illustrator) "I SUPPOSE MY view of history tends away from the orderly and toward the chaotic, in the sense of that much overused phrase from chaos..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, United States, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Unlike Perry Mason, James Burke does not try to assemble watertight (if convoluted) cases. His essays in the history of technology are more like random walks, paeans to serendipity. In The Knowledge Web Burke attempted to duplicate on paper the feeling of inter- and cross-linking trends that you find in history and on the World Wide Web. The essays in Circles are more artificially restricted, topological circles that wrap around. A typical trip goes from the Space Shuttle to Skylab to Werner von Braun to feedback to digestion to lab animals to the Humane Society to sea rescues to charting sea currents to Foucault to astronomical photography to the solar corona to Skylab. Whew!

"There are two reasons why I make such play of the unstructured nature of history, but then, in this book, give it a formal shape," Burke says. "One reason is that otherwise these essays would have mirrored the serendipity I described, just going from anywhere to anywhere.... Choosing to go round in circles, and to end each story where it begins, lets me illustrate perhaps the most intriguing aspect of serendipity at work, which shows itself in the way in which history generates the most extraordinary coincidences." He might have added that trying to guess how Burke proposes to connect all this up makes these tales a game for reader as well as writer, a most educational amusement. --Mary Ellen Curtin

From Publishers Weekly

In this delightful collection of 10-minute essays that first appeared in his popular Scientific American column, "Connections," Burke (author of the bestselling The Knowledge Web, etc.) charts the far fewer than 360 degrees of separation between the famous, the not-so-famous, and their technical and artistic creations across far-flung epochs, locales and professions. Burke believes, and demonstrates, that everything comes full circle: for example, in "Cheers," a gin and tonic at a hotel bar gets Burke thinking about Jacob Schweppes, who first devised bottle-cap effervescence, which leads to Joseph Priestley, inventor of soda water and a product of the Dissenter academies inspired by Amos Komensky, who also influenced the great Leibnitz, whose role as librarian to the Elector of Hanover brings Burke to diarist, bibliophile and Admiralty secretary Samuel Pepys... and he follows the thread on until it leads him to Felix Booth, who had made his fortune from Booth's Gin. Whew! Readers will be fascinated by Burke's route through the labyrinthine corridors of history. This book is ideal for dipping into, a few essays at a time. Agent, Carlton Sedgeley, Royce Carlton Inc. (Dec. 12) Forecast: Though British, Burke has a dedicated following on these shores. In addition to writing his Scientific American column, he hosts the Learning Channel's Connections 3, and his Knowledge Web was on Business Week's bestseller list. This book is an alternate selection of several of Doubleday Selects' science clubs (Natural Science, Library of Science) and the Readers Subscription club, and it is also a QPB alternate. There will be a radio satellite tour and online publicity for the book, as well as a national print publicity campaign. Nonscientists and young readers will enjoy following Burke through his web of knowledge.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1st edition (December 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074320008X
• ISBN-13: 978-0743200080
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #836,760 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Delights of Reading James Burke, January 16, 2001

By	Edward Garea "Edward Garea" (Branchville, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

James Burke strikes again. The author of such compelling books as Connections, The Day the Universe Changed, the Pinball Effect and the Knowledge Web has come up with yet another catchy title to describe his latest effort. And on no level does he disappoint here, using the metaphor of a circle to begin his journey, describe the improvements and sidebars during the trip, and take us back to almost right where we began.

Tne book is also full of the sort of hooks and traps we have grown to enjoy in his writing over the years. Consider this passage at the beginning of one chapter: "Thanks to mass production and distribution, I can go back to the shop and get a free replacement copy for a cup that I found a flaw in last week. It weas one of those willow-pattern things. Genuine Wedgwood. An ironic term, really, because Wedgwood's original stuff was fake." Just when you think you can get out, he pulls you back in again. And don't think you can skim your way through. The facts in this book are so well interwoven that to skim a sentence may mean losing your place in the chapter.

An excellent book for that rainy day or suuny day in the park, or on the train, or anywhere, for that matter.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Light and fun, but far from his best, July 21, 2003

By A Customer

I've been a big fan of Burke for many years, and his web theory of history is a fascinating way to look at the past. But that said, I think that Burke may just have explored all the really good paths through the knowledge web already, and is starting to get stuck for connections. 'Connections' and 'The Day The Universe Changed' really give you a sense of cause-and-effect links through history. In the former, we see a natural and logical progression toward modern technologies, and in the latter, toward aspects of modern society. In 'Circles', though, what we have is just a narrative of a series of coincidences. The things he tries to relate aren't really related -- at least not the way he relates them. Whereas in 'Connections', most of the connections were of the form "In solving problem X, they created problem Y", in 'Circles', the connections tend to be less sound: "One of the guys who was working on problem X knew a guy who was working on problem Y." Unfortunately, this is symptomatic of a lot of Burke's later work, and Circles is more reminscent of Connections 3 than of the early work. It is a fun read, and while Burke's supply of historical connections may be running thin, his supply of wit and literary competance hasn't. But if you're looking for something closer to serious history, stick to his older stuff.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as previous works, April 11, 2004

By	James C. Dewey (SE Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Circles : Fifty Roundtrips Through History Technology Science Culture (Paperback)

I've loved most of James Burke's Works, but found this one to no be quite up to the standard of his other works. Still a good read.