Ancient Inventions Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of Ancient Inventions book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.
Author : Peter J. James,Nick Thorpe,I. J. Thorpe Publisher : Random House Digital, Inc. Page : 702 pages File Size : 47,5 Mb Release : 1995 Category : Reference ISBN : 9780345401021
Ancient Inventions by Peter J. James,Nick Thorpe,I. J. Thorpe Pdf
A guide to ancient accomplishments and inventions unearths the origins of modern creations, including computers in ancient Greece, plastic surgery in India in the first century B.C., and a postal service in medieval Baghdad
Ancient Engineers' Inventions by Cesare Rossi,Flavio Russo,Ferruccio Russo Pdf
We live in an age in which one can easily think that our generation has invented and discovered almost everything; but the truth is quite the opposite. Progress cannot be considered as sudden unexpected spurts of individual brains: such a genius, the inventor of everything, has never existed in the history of humanity. What did exist was a limitless procession of experiments made by men who did not waver when faced with defeat, but were inspired by the rare successes that have led to our modern comfortable reality. And that continue to do so with the same enthusiasm. The study of the History of Engineering is valuable for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it can help us to understand the genius of the scientists, engineers and craftsmen who existed centuries and millenniums before us; who solved problems using the devices of their era, making machinery and equipment whose concept is of such a surprising modernity that we must rethink our image of the past.
Ancient Engineers' Inventions by Cesare Rossi,Flavio Russo Pdf
This book describes the inventions and designs of ancient engineers who are the precursors of the present. The period ranges mainly from 300 B.C. to 1600 A.D. with several exceptions. Many of the oldest inventions are documented by archaeological finds, often very little known, mainly from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae and reveal a surprising modernity in their conception. Most of the inventions presented in the first four parts of this book were conceived up to the late Roman Empire and may be considered as milestones, each in their respective field. The fifth part concentrates on more recent centuries. The sixth part deals with some building construction techniques. Generally, for each of the presented inventions, three elements of research and reference are provided: written documents (the classics), iconic references (coins, bas-reliefs, etc.) and archaeological findings. The authors did not write this book for engineers only; hence they describe all the devices without assuming wide technical knowledge. The authors’ main aim is to try to communicate their enthusiasm for the inventions and the inventors of the past and to contribute to the fascinating study of the History of Engineering. This second edition includes new topics and chapters that are of special interest to engineers.
The Seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World by Brian M. Fagan Pdf
Presents the history of early human innovations, from tools and cooking utensils to early transportation vehicles and contraceptives, along with photographs, diagrams, reconstructions, and maps.
Adam Hart-Davis, one of the nations favourite TV presenters, returns to our screens with a tour through the Top Ten developments of each of the great civilisations of the past. From the Egyptians to the Romans, Babylonians to the Arabs, Adam takes us on an epic history of the world, looking at some of the great legacies left to us by ancient cultures. What the Past Did For Us accompanies a major 9-part new format autumn show, in which Adam is the anchorman who leads us through the history of inventions while testing some of these in the studio. The accompanying book is an entertainingly written history of ancient cultures, capturing Adams enthusiasm for the subject. Adam tells the story of the Chinese inventors who came up with the mariners compass, paper money and gunpowder right through to the Ancient Indians who, according to Einstein taught us how to count as well as giving us the 12-month calendar year and 7-day week.
A rich exploration of the importance of books and libraries in the ancient world that highlights how humanity’s obsession with the printed word has echoed throughout the ages • “Accessible and entertaining.” —The Wall Street Journal Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. Emperors and Pharaohs were so determined to possess them that they dispatched emissaries to the edges of earth to bring them back. When Mark Antony wanted to impress Cleopatra, he knew that gold and priceless jewels would mean nothing to her. So, what did her give her? Books for her library—two hundred thousand, in fact. The long and eventful history of the written word shows that books have always been and will always be a precious—and precarious—vehicle for civilization. Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. Award-winning author Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world from Greece’s itinerant bards to Rome’s multimillionaire philosophers, from opportunistic forgers to cruel teachers, erudite librarians to defiant women, all the while illuminating how ancient ideas about education, censorship, authority, and identity still resonate today. Crucially, Vallejo also draws connections to our own time, from the library in war-torn Sarajevo to Oxford’s underground labyrinth, underscoring how words have persisted as our most valuable creations. Through nimble interpretations of the classics, playful and moving anecdotes about her own encounters with the written word, and fascinating stories from history, Vallejo weaves a marvelous tapestry of Western culture’s foundations and identifies the humanist values that helped make us who we are today. At its heart a spirited love letter to language itself, Papyrus takes readers on a journey across the centuries to discover how a simple reed grown along the banks of the Nile would give birth to a rich and cherished culture.
The Seventy Great Mysteries of the Ancient World by Brian M. Fagan Pdf
Describes various issues in mythology and prehistoric and ancient history, from the Garden of Eden to the effects of meteor impacts, including tombs, writing systems, and the fall of civilizations, and suggests explanations.
Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Ancient World by Robert E. Krebs,Carolyn A. Krebs Pdf
This reference work describes the trial-and-error experiments, discoveries, and inventions of early humans who lived from before recorded history to the Middle Ages. Krebs travels through the ancient periods of Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica, to the classical Greek and Roman periods, and finally to the Christian era, providing students with the link between science and history, while revealing information about many cultures around the world. Each entry provides the who, when, and where of each discovery, invention, or experiment. Entries include calendars, gunpowder, anesthesia, contraception, spontaneous generation, the Arctic Circle, language, and tides. Part of the Groundbreaking Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries through the Ages series, this book provides readers with a detailed look early humans' relation to world around them and the scientific advancements they made. It will be useful to high school and college students, teachers, and the general public interested in the history and science behind ancient civilizations.
We all like to think we are pretty smart. New medical advances seem to come along every day; space travel suddenly doesn't seem so difficult; self-driving cars are no longer a thing of the future . but if we were stranded on a desert island tomorrow, most of us wouldn't know how to catch a fish or start a fire, let alone rebuild all that extraordinary technology we now rely on. The truth is that we're not necessarily more clever than our ancestors, we just have an accumulation of centuries of technological progress on which we can rely. As this book shows, many of the ancients were much more advanced that we realize - indeed there are recent inventions that had actually been discovered centuries earlier and then forgotten. And what about all those modern day devices and machines that rely on ancient inventions such as paper, levers and gears? From brain surgery in the Stone Age to Chinese whisky from the 7th century BC, to Damascus steel - once the hardest metal in the world, which we no longer know how to make - this insightful book collects together the stories of hundreds of ancient devices, inventions and breakthroughs from around the world and across the centuries, giving us a fascinating glimpse into past eras that were far more technologically advanced than we sometimes realize.
We in the twentieth century tend to assume that our era has a monopoly on the inventions of clever machines, labor-saving devices, feats of engineering, and advanced technology. But as the authors of this fascinating and eye-opening book reveal, some of humankind's most important and most amazing inventions actually date back thousands of years. Written with the pure joy of discovery, Ancient Inventions is a treasure trove of the triumphs and marvels of applied science, from the stone tools hewn by the earliest prehistoric people to the dawn of the modern era in 1492. Historian and archaeologist team Peter James and Nick Thorpe have pooled their expertise in amassing this compendium of human ingenuity through the ages. Together they conclusively prove that our ancestors, however long ago they lived and whatever part of the globe they occupied, were brilliant problem-solvers. Organized thematically, Ancient Inventions covers everything from medicine to communication, from high-tech devices to city life, from military equipment to sports and leisure, from transportation to human sexuality. Brimming with odd facts and entertaining curiosities, written with zest and humor, comprehensive and fun to read, Ancient Inventions is a wonderful celebration of the endless inventiveness of the human mind.
*A New York Times Notable Book* Boldly challenging conventional wisdom, acclaimed science writer and Omni magazine cofounder Dick Teresi traces the origins of contemporary science back to their ancient roots in this eye-opening and landmark work. This innovative history proves once and for all that the roots of modern science were established centuries, and in some instances millennia, before the births of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton. In this enlightening, entertaining, and important book, Teresi describes many discoveries from all over the non-Western world—Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, India, China, Africa, Arab nations, the Americas, and the Pacific islands—that equaled and often surpassed Greek and European learning in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, cosmology, physics, geology, chemistry, and technology. The first extensive and authoritative multicultural history of science written for a popular audience, Lost Discoveries fills a critical void in our scientific, cultural, and intellectual history and is destined to become a classic in its field.
Visible Language by University of Chicago. Oriental Institute Pdf
This unique exhibit is the result of collaborative efforts of more than twenty authors and loans from five museums. It focuses on the independent invention of writing in at least four different places in the Old world and Mesoamerica with the earliest texts of Uruk, Mesopotamia (5,300 BC) shown in the United States for the first time. Visitors to the exhibit and readers of this catalog can see and compare the parallel pathways by which writing came into being and was used by the earliest kingdoms of Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and the Maya world.
