Publication Date:June 1, 2010 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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ISBN13: 9781400067053
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Condition: New
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Product Description If all measures of human advancement in the last hundred centuries were plotted on a graph, they would show an almost perfectly flat line?until the eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution would cause the line to shoot straight up, beginning an almost uninterrupted march of progress.
In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it?the steam engine. In the process he tackles the question that has obsessed historians ever since: What made eighteenth-century Britain such fertile soil for inventors? Rosen’s answer focuses on a simple notion that had become enshrined in British law the century before: that people had the right to own and profit from their ideas.
The result was a period of frantic innovation revolving particularly around the promise of steam power. Rosen traces the steam engine’s history from its early days as a clumsy but sturdy machine, to its coming-of-age driving the wheels of mills and factories, to its maturity as a transporter for people and freight by rail and by sea. Along the way we enter the minds of such inventors as Thomas Newcomen and James Watt, scientists including Robert Boyle and Joseph Black, and philosophers John Locke and Adam Smith?all of whose insights, tenacity, and ideas transformed first a nation and then the world.
William Rosen is a masterly storyteller with a keen eye for the “aha!” moments of invention and a gift for clear and entertaining explanations of science. The Most Powerful Idea in the World will appeal to readers fascinated with history, science, and the hows and whys of innovation itself.
Interesting history, but poor analysisAugust 20, 2010 D. Koepsell 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The book offers an exciting and rich history of the development of a revolutionary technology. A major shortcoming is the superficial economic analysis which seems to credit the patent system for creating the environment for successful industrialization, whereas there is plenty of evidence that patents actually stifled its full development. I quote here from Boldrin and Levine's book, Against Intellectual Monopoly:
"In the specific case of Watt, the granting of the 1769 and especially of the 1775 patents likely delayed the mass adoption of the steam engine: innovation was stifled until his patents expired; and few steam engines were built during the period of Watt's legal monopoly. From the number of innovations that occurred immediately after the expiration of the patent, it appears that Watt's competitors simply waited until then before releasing their own innovations."
Rosen should not jump on the IP bandwagon so blithely.
Well Written and ResearchedAugust 6, 2010 Richard Jackson 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Rip OffAugust 3, 2010 George(Las Vegas) 0 out of 28 found this review helpful
I've only had my Kindle a short time but am already disappointed at the cost of some books such as "The Most Powerful Idea in the World". Am interested but not at this price. I will wait for this insanity to correct itself aka $10.
Great ReadJuly 31, 2010 Lois Leftwich 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!July 30, 2010 herk A wonderful book that tells a clear and entertaining story of how the invention of the steam engine came as a result of a flourishing of the idea of invention itself, and the laws and cultural atmosphere that fostered that attitude. The author, William Rosen, has an engaging style and a pure love of the material- one imagines him smiling as he writes every word.
