The Most Powerful Idea In The World: A Story Of Steam, Industry And Invention
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A masterful work of narrative history, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention chronicles the birth of the steam engine and the explosive chain of innovation it unleashed during the Industrial Revolution. William Rosen argues that the true engine of this transformation was not merely the machine itself, but the radical concept of intellectual property — the idea that inventors could own their ideas — which ignited an unprecedented era of human ingenuity. With the precision of a scholar and the storytelling flair of a novelist, Rosen traces the lives of the tinkerers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries — from Thomas Newcomen to James Watt — whose obsessive drive to harness steam reshaped civilization. The narrative is rich with scientific detail and human drama, illustrating how a handful of practical-minded men in Britain managed to crack open the vast stores of energy locked within coal and water. The result is a sweeping, intellectually rigorous account of how one transformative idea changed the course of human history forever.
Author: William Rosen
Format: Paperback
Published: 2011, Pimlico
Genre: History
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A masterful work of narrative history, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry and Invention chronicles the birth of the steam engine and the explosive chain of innovation it unleashed during the Industrial Revolution. William Rosen argues that the true engine of this transformation was not merely the machine itself, but the radical concept of intellectual property — the idea that inventors could own their ideas — which ignited an unprecedented era of human ingenuity. With the precision of a scholar and the storytelling flair of a novelist, Rosen traces the lives of the tinkerers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries — from Thomas Newcomen to James Watt — whose obsessive drive to harness steam reshaped civilization. The narrative is rich with scientific detail and human drama, illustrating how a handful of practical-minded men in Britain managed to crack open the vast stores of energy locked within coal and water. The result is a sweeping, intellectually rigorous account of how one transformative idea changed the course of human history forever.