Technology And Science In The Industrializing Nations By Eric Dorn Brose

Technology and Science in the Industrializing Nations 1500-1914. Second Edition. By Eric Dorn Brose. Humanity Books, 2006.

In this book, author Eric Dorn Ambrose, survey’s the history of technology and science over four centuries beginning around 1500 and ending with the outbreak of World War One in 1914. The book contains three chapters beginning with “The Search for a New Atlantis”, followed by “Science and Technology in the World’s Workshop” and closing with “Lands of Unlimited Possibilities”. This book starts out as a history lesson of sea-faring, English travelers, who have become lost and find themselves encountering a city. It goes on to explain how the travelers are at first denied entrance to their new found city, however are
later led ashore and welcomed to the kingdom of Bensalem.
Brose continues through the chapter with a long and drawn out history of various different scholars such as Francis Bacon, Aristotle, and Plato, to name a few. As he progresses further through chapter one, the relevance of the dry, boring, and relatively unneeded filler material begins to drag. Then, as though he realized no one would make it past the first ten pages of his book, the flood gates opened and the relevance of his previous explanations became apparent. Mr. Brose began to relate his previous references of the traveling Englishmen, Aristotle, and Plato. In the discussion and further reading he explains how these men advanced what could be understood as a “primitive” knowledge of the surrounding world and laid the groundwork for others to follow. Continuing on, Brose began to discuss such important events as the invention of the spinning wheel to produce yarn, the windmill and waterwheel which both were used as tools to process grain, process wood, and other various applications which are also used today. The explanations he has given are informative on the process of how these simple machines were ever important in fact that they helped lead advancement for
more complex, efficient, and useful machines which followed. Also during this chapter, he discusses the advent of metal forging and lists some of the advancements that these new techniques brought about. From these new found methods, mining technology saw a dramatic increase of supply and demand. From this metal being mined more efficiently, the population of the world has benefited from a variety of different tools that made the lives of people of the period easier. However, as with anything good, comes something bad. Along with the upgrades and inventions of tools, etc., Mr. Brose makes mention of weapons (cannons). In chapter two, “Science and Technology in the World’s Workshop” we are exposed to a clear advancement in the technologies and the introduction economics. The technologies that are focused on are such things as John Wyatt and Lewis Paul’s spinning frame (1738), an ingenious combination of rollers and flyer mechanisms that spun fibers onto twenty-four spindles.1 During the same period, John Kay intended his fly shuttle (1733) as a machine to weave wool.2 Other technologies included John Smeaton’s refining of the Newcomen steam engines. Seamton’s improvements on the Newcomen engines resulted in a doubling of their efficiency.3 These are just a few of the innovations that were presented in chapter two. I addition to the previously mentioned innovations, the rise of an economic atmosphere during the time period led to a boom in population growth and the rise of institutionalized government borrowing. England’s North American colonies began to grow and prosper. It is stated that population rose from about 50,000 in 1550 to 251,000 in 1700, and then quadrupled to nearly 1.2 million in 1750.4 During this economic boom during the late 1600’s, the practice of government borrowing was institutionalized in 1694 with the establishment of the Bank of England. The bank’s first charge was to lend the state 1.2 million pounds.5 Brose states that “It’s vital intermediary role of funneling the nation’s growing wealth into government coffers grew during a second round of fighting, the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713). By the wars end the national debt of England stood at an impressive 37.4 million pounds.”6 Chapter three describes the “Second Industrial Revolution” in which new ways were developed to produce stronger steel, the development of chemical batteries, and the coming of World War Two. Also, the chapter describes the rise of France as an important producer of artificial soda, the country of Germany emerging as a dominant power in the production of electricity and electrical componets, and the steady fall of England from being one of the world’s leading exporters of goods. All in all, this book was a decent read, although the material is a bit dry and repetitive. Mr. Brose has done a thorough job in his research and his compiling of this information into a clear and concise format. Within the realm of this book being about history, he’s got it, but if Mr. Brose was truly intending on writing a comprehensive examination of the technology and sciences associated within the industrializing nations, it could have been better. Certain aspects of this book could have been left out altogether, such as in chapter one, describing the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the America’s. Yes, they are important events in the history of the world however, the beginning expeditions were before the time frame in which the book was intended, and the world as a whole know they took place. In addition, the expeditions only vaguely had anything to do with the technology and sciences that were being developed during the focused time frame of this book. This was wasted ink that could have been better used on some other form of science or technology that was being practiced during the books intended time frame. An example of this could be that the first flush toilets began to appear in the 1500’s. This is quite more important than sailors travelling to countries that have already been “visited”. Once again, all in all a decent read just a few things that could have been left out and a few things that could have been added.