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Rating: 
Summary: well organized & usable as a reference
Review: I am very impressed by the usability of this book. The cross referencing footnotes really helped when flipping to different subjects or time periods. The index and biographical information really work well for me. The organization of subjects is wonderful, inventions are arranged linearly within the subject chapter. The information is concise and interesting. The illustrations, timelines and photographs were extremely helpful. This book is a great way to familiarize oneself with man-made technological progress.
Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Achievement
Review: If a higher rating were available, I would give it to this book. This is an illustrated history of human creativity with its primary focus on several hundred inventions. The range of inventions discussed extends from "stone axes to silicon chips." The book is lavishly, abundantly illustrated. Vivid and compelling graphics include artists' renderings, photographs, maps, and time lines of various eras, from "The Beginning of Civilization" (Chapter 1) until "The Shrinking Earth" (Chapter 35). The concluding chapter, "Into the Future", examines three driving forces: convergence, communication, and collaboration. The reader is then provided with an immensely useful Biographical Dictionary and Bibliography to pursue in greater detail subjects of special interest. Without the illustrations, this book would still be a magnificent scholarly achievement. Lest you be deterred, I hasten to add that its narrative frequently reminded me of a novel such as Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. What I have is a "Revised Edition" of a work first published in 1987. For me, as already implied, this is one of the most entertaining as well as one of the most informative books I have read in recent years. Trevor I. Williams is identified as the author; William E. Schaaf, Jr. with Arianne E. Burnette are credited wth the updating and revising of Williams' original material. For purposes of convenience, I shall refer to them as "the collaborators" and hope that no one takes offense. The collaborators examine those inventions which had especially great impact on the societies in which they were introduced. These were inventions which, thousands of years ago, created new industries (eg agriculture, construction, and transportation) or transformed basic human activities (eg education, communication, and war). Indeed, the term "revolution" is especially appropriate when we consider the impact of cereals, the domestication of animals, irrigation, writing and the calendar, and farming implements during what the collaborators refer to as "The Agricultural Revolution." With regard to the first half of the twentieth century, the collaborators examine the impact of military technology during the First World War, new sources of energy, new channels of communication, the emergence of travel by road and air, new building techniques, and the rise of the chemical industry. No brief commentary of mine can possibly do full justice to a book such as this. It provides a feast for the mind as well as for the eyes. Bon appetit!
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