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The Pinball Effect takes the reader on many different
journeys through the web of knowledge. Knowledge, it turns out, has many unforeseen
and surprising effects. The book, for instance, owes its existence to German jeweler
Johannes Gutenberg's getting the date wrong one day in the fifteenth century.
The lamp you may now be using to read by started life four hundred years ago,
thanks to Italian miners whose problems led to learning about the vacuum inside
a lightbulb. The discovery of America led to the science of anthropology. Renaissance
water gardens made possible the carburetor. James Burke,
author and host of the highly rated documentary series Connections 2, draws
upon years of research to examine the intrigues and surprises on the journey through
knowledge, a trip with all the twists and turns of a detective story. Ultimately,
the larger picture that emerges has far-reaching and important implications for
the future, revealing why the fundamental mechanism of change is the way things
come together and connect. To add to the excitement,
The Pinball Effect has been designed to be read interactively: throughout
the book, cross-chapter references mimic computer hypertext "hot links"
and allow readers to leap from one chapter to another. The result is a fascinating
tour through history's most dramatic innovations. James
Burke is the bestselling author of Connections and The Day the Universe
Changed, as well as the host of the highly rated documentary series Connections
2, which airs on The Learning Channel. Currently a regular columnist for Scientific
American, he lives in England. |
