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The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

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The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

by Rosen, William

  • Used
  • Very Good
  • Paperback
Condition
Very Good
ISBN 10
0226726347
ISBN 13
9780226726342
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About This Item

University of Chicago Press, 2012. Softcover. Very Good. 6x1x9. Hardly a week passes without some high-profile court case that features intellectual property at its center. But how did the belief that one could own an idea come about? And how did that belief change the way humankind lives and works?William Rosen, author of Justinian's Flea, seeks to answer these questions and more with The Most Powerful Idea in the World. A lively and passionate study of the engineering and scientific breakthroughs that led to the steam engine, this book argues that the very notion of intellectual property drove not only the invention of the steam engine but also the entire Industrial Revolution: history’s first sustained era of economic improvement. To do so, Rosen conjures up an eccentric cast of characters, including the legal philosophers who enabled most the inventive society in millennia, and the scientists and inventors—Thomas Newcomen, Robert Boyle, and James Watt—who helped to create and perfect the steam engine over the centuries. With wit and wide-ranging curiosity, Rosen explores the power of creativity, capital, and collaboration in the brilliant engineering of the steam engine and how this power source, which fueled factories, ships, and railroads, changed human history.Deeply informative and never dull, Rosen's account of one of the most important inventions made by humans is a rollicking ride through history, with careful scholarship and fast-paced prose in equal measure.

Synopsis

William Rosen, the author of the award-winning history Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe , was an editor and publisher at Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and the Free Press for nearly twenty-five years. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

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Details

Bookseller
Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
SKU2010024792
Title
The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
Author
Rosen, William
Format/Binding
Softcover
Book Condition
Used - Very Good
Quantity Available
1
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10
0226726347
ISBN 13
9780226726342
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Place of Publication
Chicago, Il
Date Published
2012
Size
6x1x9
X weight
24 oz

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Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller

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About the Seller

Michael Patrick McCarty, Bookseller

Seller rating:
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New Castle, Colorado

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