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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 Softcover - 2012

by Rosen, William

  • Used
  • very good
  • Paperback

Description

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.
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Details

  • Title The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
  • Author Rosen, William
  • Binding Softcover
  • Edition Reprint
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Pages 376
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
  • Date 2012
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • Bookseller's Inventory # SKU2010024792
  • ISBN 9780226726342 / 0226726347
  • Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.9 x 6 x 1 in (22.61 x 15.24 x 2.54 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 18th Century
    • Chronological Period: 19th Century
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Library of Congress subjects Technological innovations - Economic aspects, Intellectual property - Economic aspects
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2011029743
  • Dewey Decimal Code 909.81

Categories

About the author

William Rosen spent nearly twenty-five years as editor or publisher at Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and the Free Press before beginning to research and write his own books.