Five innovations that changed human history : transitions and impacts / Robin Derricourt.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Derricourt, Robin M., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Technology and civilization.

Communication and technology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 293 pages) : digital, PDF file(s), illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, [2024]

Summary:

We live in an era of major technological developments, post-pandemic social adjustment, and dramatic climate change arising from human activity. Considering these phenomena within the long span of human history, we might ask: which innovations brought about truly significant and long-lasting transformations? Drawing on both historical sources and archaeological discoveries, Robin Derricourt explores the origins and earliest development of five major achievements in our deep history, and their impacts on multiple aspects of human lives. The topics presented are the taming and control of fire, the domestication of the horse,and its later association with the wheeled vehicle, the invention of writing in early civilisations, the creation of the printing press and the printed book, and the revolution of wireless communication with the harnessing of radio waves. Written in an engaging and accessible style, Derricourt's survey of key innovations makes us consider what we mean by long-term change, and how the modern world fits into the human story

Contents:

Taming Fire

Domesticating horses

Developing writing

Inventing printing

Communicating wirelessly

Innovation, progress and presentism

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on November 6, 2024).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781009523363

1009523368

9781009523387

1009523384

9781009523400

1009523406