Connections - the companion volume to the BBC television series - is
James Burke's new examination of the ideas, inventions and coincidences that have
culminated in the major technological achievements of today.
Connections takes eight innovations on which we now
depend and which may prove most influential for this and future generations: the computer,
the telephone, the production line, the aeroplane, the atomic bomb, plastics, the guided
rocket and television. It untangles the pattern of interconnecting events, the accidents
of time, circumstance and place that have given rise to each of these innovations and to a
host of others on the way.
In doing so, James Burke shows how and why change takes place.
Abandoning convention, he demonstrates that history is less a matter of great men and
lonely geniuses, more a process involving every member of society - the ploughmen, the
carpenters, the metalworkers, the weavers, without whose skills the instruments of
invention would not have been available. The background to each event is seen to be a
fascinating mixture of craftsmanship, climatic change, observation, ambition, deceit,
greed, religious belief and war. All have proved vital to the major inventions that have
changed the course of history and contributed to the man-made world of today.
- Both the beginning and the end of the story are here. The end is man’s present-day
dependence on technology. For the beginning James Burke explains how plowing, building,
writing, taxation and astronomy began and their interdependence.
- The story begins with the standardization of precious metals used in coins, thus
stimulating trade from Greece to Persia. An important innovation - the compass - permitted
navigation and further investigations of magnetism led to electricity, radar, and atomic
energy.
- Telecommunications is part of our lives today because the Normans wore stirrups at the
Battle of Hastings. This simple advance caused a revolution in warfare and expensive
weapons. The need for money led to the investigation of natural laws to get silver out of
deep mines. These experiments led to contemporary telecommunications.
- Telecommunications is part of our lives today because the Normans wore stirrups at the
Battle of Hastings. This simple advance caused a revolution in warfare and expensive
weapons. The need for money led to the investigation of natural laws to get silver out of
deep mines. These experiments led to contemporary telecommunications.
- The power to see into the future rested 3,000 years ago with priest-astronomers. The
secrets of ancient knowledge were translated and spread rapidly to Europe, ushering in a
new spirit of scientific inquiry, and gave rise to such inventions as the pendulum clock,
the telescope, forged steel and the idea of interchangeable machine parts, the basis of
the modern industrial system.
- For reasons that are still unclear, a dramatically colder climate gripped Europe during
the 13th century and the course of history was profoundly affected. This episode details
many of these developments, particularly the changes in energy usage.
- Here is a glimpse into the literal substance of history - materials discovered, often by
accident, that altered the course of the world. The example traced is pitch to coal tar,
gaslight lamps, waterproofed garments, a brilliant mauve dye, and nylon, the first of the
modern miracle plastics.
- The army of Charles the Bold had a new weapon, the pike, which encouraged a growth in
infantries. Then, provisions had to be stored and a Frenchman took a novel approach -
preserving sterilized food in empty champagne bottles, an idea modified by the British who
tried tin cans. This led to experiments with refrigeration, which led to liquid oxygen and
hydrogen.
- This episode reconstructs the complex and incredible events that led to Thomas
Edison’s remarkable invention; George Eastman’s production of celluloid, the
“magic lantern” of an Austrian ballistics teacher, and the story of Eadweard
Muybridge, and Englishman who traveled to California in 1872 to settle a bet. The result:
today’s moving pictures and television.
- Essential moments from the previous programs are reviewed to illustrate the common
factors that make for change. Will they go on operating to affect our own futures? And,
can we recognize them? Finally, need is shown for a radical change in the availability and
use of information if we are to control our own destinies.
Above summaries from www.sfsu.edu/~avitv/AV.mediacatalog.html
Web Owner
Copyright © James Burke 1978.
Revised: 09-09-2005. (dd/mm/yr)
