Today I want to talk to you about an amazing non-fiction book called How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World. This book written by Steven Johnson in 2014 covers six of, in his opinion, the most important inventions that shape the world today. Those six inventions are glass, cold, sound, clean, time, and light. I know it might seem boring at first but the little bit of extra something that makes this book amazing is how he brings together all six of the inventions into somewhat of a cohesive reading that simplifies everything. He doesn't just introduce what glass is he brings in examples and stories to make the book more entertaining while he explains how glass was made. Along with little stories, he goes one step deeper and actually explains the significance of the innovation and then connects it to another topic. That is the magic of Steven Johnson. I've never been so hooked on a book in my life. His writing style just connected with me immediately on a book that I genuinely enjoyed reading and that I hope you will too. I can't recommend this book enough especially if you're tired of the regular boring non-fiction, textbook-like books.
fun fact: The same year the book came out, a six episode docu-series came out on P.B.S with one episode per innovation. So if you are less of a reader and more of a watcher I would strongly recommend watching it at least.
'till next time, jameson
I believe that the six innovations are truly glass, cold, sound, clean, time, and light. For a very long time, average lifespans were short because there was no such thing as public sanitation, keeping track of time was difficult over long distances because of a lack of precision, artificial lights used unstable and volatile fire, and chemicals and hot substances were not handled safely (since glass is chemically inert). However, I wonder about the sound part. Does sound imply communication over long distances, or music, or something different? I'd like to read the book, though. Thank you for recommending this book. Another good read related to this is What If by Randall Munroe, which gives "serious scientific answer to absurd hypothetical questions."
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DeleteI also started reading How We Got to Now some time ago too. I'm still on the first few pages, but because another person wrote their review on it here, I'm even more determined to get further into the book and eventually finish it in the future. I'll also have to check out the PBS series because I didn't know that beforehand. Great job Jameson
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