The Knowledge Web
From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- A
1st Edition
Published on 11. May 2010
288 pages
978-1-4391-2821-3 (ISBN)
Description
A captivating journey through interconnected history and innovative ideas that reveal the surprising links shaping our modern world.
In The Knowledge Web, James Burke, the bestselling author and host of television's Connections series, takes us on a fascinating tour through the interlocking threads of knowledge running through Western history. Displaying mesmerizing flights of fancy, he shows how seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off one another, spinning a vast, interactive web on which everything is connected to everything else: Carmen leads to the theory of relativity, champagne bottling links to wallpaper design, Joan of Arc connects through vaudeville to Buffalo Bill.
Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a journey across a web, Burke breaks down complex concepts, offering information in a manner accessible to anybody?high school graduates and PhD holders alike. The journey touches almost two hundred interlinked points in the history of knowledge, ultimately ending where it begins.
At once amusing and instructing, The Knowledge Web heightens our awareness of our interdependence?with one another and with the past. Only by understanding the interrelated nature of the modern world can we hope to identify complex patterns of change and direct the process of innovation to the common good.
In The Knowledge Web, James Burke, the bestselling author and host of television's Connections series, takes us on a fascinating tour through the interlocking threads of knowledge running through Western history. Displaying mesmerizing flights of fancy, he shows how seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off one another, spinning a vast, interactive web on which everything is connected to everything else: Carmen leads to the theory of relativity, champagne bottling links to wallpaper design, Joan of Arc connects through vaudeville to Buffalo Bill.
Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a journey across a web, Burke breaks down complex concepts, offering information in a manner accessible to anybody?high school graduates and PhD holders alike. The journey touches almost two hundred interlinked points in the history of knowledge, ultimately ending where it begins.
At once amusing and instructing, The Knowledge Web heightens our awareness of our interdependence?with one another and with the past. Only by understanding the interrelated nature of the modern world can we hope to identify complex patterns of change and direct the process of innovation to the common good.
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Other editions
Additional editions
James Burke
The Knowledge Web
From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back -- And Other Journeys Through Knowledge
Book
06/2000
Simon & Schuster
€19.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
James Burke is the author of several bestselling books, including Circles, American Connections, and The Knowledge Web. He is a monthly columnist at Scientific American and also serves as director, writer, and host of the television series Connections 3 on The Learning Channel. He is the founder of the James Burke Institute for Innovation in Education, whose flagship project, the Knowledge Web, an interactive website, was recently launched. He lives in London.
Content
- Cover Page
- Front
- Other Frontmatter
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Contents
- Introduction
- How to Use This Book
- Feedback
- What's in a Name
- Drop the Apple
- An Invisible Object
- Life Is No Picnic
- Elementary Stuff
- A Special Place
- Fire from the Sky
- Hit the Water
- In Touch
- Bibliography
- IndexFeedback
- About the Author
- Illustration Credits
