 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | You can make all the plans you will, plot to make a fortune in the commodities market, speculate on developing trends: all will likely come to naught, for "however carefully you plan for the future, someone else's actions will inevitably modify the way your plans turn out." So writes the English scholar and documentary producer James Burke in his sparkling book Connections, a favorite of historically minded readers ever since its first publication in 1978. Taking a hint from Jacob Bronowski's Ascent of Man, Burke charts the course of technological innovation from ancient times to the present, but always with a subversive eye for things happening in spite of, and not because of, their inventors' intentions. Burke gives careful attention to the role of accident in human history. In his opening pages, for instance, he writes of the invention of uniform coinage, an invention that hinged on some unknown Anatolian prospector's discovering that a fleck of gold rubbed against a piece of schist--a "touchstone"--would leave a mark indicating its quality. Just so, we owe the invention of modern printing to Johann Gutenberg's training as a goldsmith, for his knowledge of the properties of metals enabled him to develop a press whose letterforms would not easily wear down. With Gutenberg's invention, Burke notes, came a massive revolution in the European economy, for, as he writes, "the easier it is to communicate, the faster change happens." Burke's book is a splendid and educational entertainment for our fast-changing time. --Gregory McNamee |
Average Customer Rating:   Great Book I don't usually care too much for books but this book was very well written and I wanted to read it. Amazing! This is a great book, that follows more or less to the original Connections series. Although you don't have Burke's wonderful accent to lead you along as in the series, the information in this book is fantastic filled with a multitude of unknown connections. 6 Stars for this Series and Book...5 stars just isn't enough! I saw James Burke's Connections Series when it came out years ago and it made a tremendous impact on me. I then read the book cover to cover!
It was a joy to watch Burke carefully take us (the viewers) with him on an amazing journey. He showed time and again how people throughout history used their critical thinking skills to create amazing human creations from seemingly unrelated discoveries and decisions that were made before them.
Burke showed that whatever we create today, we can't possibly imagine what type of morphing it will go through time and what incredible thing it may become tomorrow.
Connections (the series and book) also allow us to peek into the mind of the inventor. For example in his book Connections, Burke writes about Thomas Edison: "When Edison died he had over a thousand patents filed in his name, thanks to the work of the men in his laboratory. Each man was a specialist in his field, serving the needs of Edison's fertile imagination as well as his acute understanding of the seller's market in which he lived. Edison never developed an idea unless he knew in advance that it would be profitable."
Years after reading the book and watching the series I went to a James Burke lecture. He is as personable, passionate, interesting, animated and fun in person as he is on the series! At one point during the lecture I asked a question and he answered it and joked with me. When he signed my book later he asked if I was okay with his ribbing. I said I was pleased that he had such a great sense of humor and allowed me to be part of it!
The underlying theme in connections is how we as humans are connected to our species though our works and discoveries. We are in this thing called life together!.
6 Stars for this Series and Book...5 stars just isn't enough!
The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking
Connections James Burke takes the reader through history and the inventions that were made. He is very insightful as to the reasons for the inventions and he explains how events lead from one thing to the next. It follows his TV series very closely. It would be useful to any history teacher as a reference. For all of those who nearly died of boredom in history and science class James Burke has built a career out of showing people that not only aren't history and science boring but that the two disciplnes relate to one another in the most unexpected ways. Burke takes modern day events or objects and shows the reader how these things came to be, tracing back the origins to antiquity and describing the many interesting twists and turns of their development.
For those who have seen any of Burke's television series, (THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED and CONNECTIONS) this is an enjoyable companion work. Those who haven't seen either of the televised versions or read any of Burke's other works will find CONNECTIONS a delightful introduction to Burke's unusual approach to history. He makes history and science not only palpable but interesting to those who suffered through long boring lectures that required memorizing names, dates and formulae for the sole purpose of passing a standardized test. |  |
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