By their very nature, inventions change the status quo. The innovations highlighted in this book have done so in a most dramatic, memorable, or effective fashio

From the preface: 'This is a book which synthesizes a lifetime of reflection on the origins of the modern world. Through forty years of travel in Europe, Austra

How did the modern world get to be the way it is? How did we come to live in a globalized, industrialized, capitalistic set of nation-states? Moving beyond Euro

An exciting account of the origins of the modern world Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capital

This book is a celebration of ideas: how they happen and their sometimes unintended results. Johnson shows how simple scientific breakthroughs have driven other