Reviews for Connections

The average rating for Connections based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-11 00:00:00 Michael Nelms The world seems to be infinitely complicated and quite frankly totally beyond the comprehension of any of us. As science progresses one would need to live a dozen lifetimes and would still not be able to understand all of the processes and theories that are used daily to create the world we inhabit. You might think it is hard to program your DVD Recorder (I almost said VCR, but who has one of those nowadays?) but what if you had to build a television set from scratch? What if you had to go back and work on a farm with no petrol and no farming equipment - would you have any idea how to use a plough? This book, a companion to the television series was in The Book Grocer and I couldn't have been more delighted to have gotten it. I've liked James Burke ever since seeing his The Day the Universe Changed, but this was on TV before that and if anything it is a better series. We like to think that it is the great men who make the remarkable discoveries that cause the great technological leaps forward. Burke is the best cure for this kind of thinking. He shows that really the world of knowledge is more like a huge jigsaw puzzle and it is only when all of the pieces are in place that you can start to see the picture. He shows that one invention doesn't quite lead to the next invention in a straight line - what might be invented so as to spray perfume might just get used next to make a carburettor. As you see, hardly a straight line. Newton once said that if he had seen further it was because he was standing on the shoulders of giants - okay, so he was saying that so as to annoy one of his rivals who was particularly short - but all the same, the idea was right, even if the intent was a bit nasty. To Burke it is only within interconnections and relationships that the world makes any sense at all. The last part of this work is still as relevant today as it was in 1979. What are we to do about the increasing complexity and speed of technological advance? How dangerous and frightening is it that we simply don't know or don't understand even the basics of how all the bits that make up our world fit together? Is there a way to stop or should we happily hand over control of the world to the bureaucrats who 'know best'? Because that is the other thing Burke shows, that every great step forward initially looked, well, a bit daft when it was first invented. Powerful, thought-provoking and exciting - God, if television was more like this I would go back to watching it. The book has wonderful illustrations and more than just what is on the series. If you can get your hands on this it really is worth having. I've just discovered that two further series of this were made - i'm looking forward to seeing them.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-04-14 00:00:00 Steve Grier This is the only "history" book I am aware of that follows lines of thought through history, rather than an individual person or invention. This is the proverbial butterfly fluttering its wings in the 12th century, leading to cell phone technology today. The book can be a bit disconcerting to read, since you can read it in any order you like. This is a unique experience in my book-reading life, and the first time I read this book I read it front to back. Later I went back and followed particular threads of thought through the book. You read a paragraph on something, and it mentions something else interesting. You can either continue reading in a linear manner, or jump to the "link" to the other thing. In this way, you can jump back and forth throughout the book, chasing a single line of thought through history. Amazing book...