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Circles
by James Burke
Prepare to take a short trip through everything.
James Burke's brilliant book is fairly short and quite easy to get through. The time flies by when reading this connect-the-dots through history, technology, science and culture. The full title of this book is Circles: 50 Round Trips Through History, Technology, Science and Culture. The title does not disappoint. Starting with one topic, Burke finds some connecting thread to an entirely different event or person, and continues to do so, while maintaining a connection throughout to the beginning idea. Somehow he ties the beginning ideas, through time and space, to the ending idea of each chapter.
Chapter 13, titled "Breakfast Thoughts" begins with the author washing the dishes he had just eaten cornflakes off of, then shifts to jet of high pressure water (used to wash out his breakfast dishes,) and moves to many other topics such as the Hydraulic Ram, and manages to end back on oat husks and cobs, and then cornflakes.
The chapters are amazing feats of intellectual coordination, as Burke looks for ways to connect the seemingly interconnected. James Burke's novel is a winning one, as he makes clear that so many aspects of our world appear to be isolated, and yet are not at all. Full of very interesting historical tidbits, Burke's book will indeed make you feel as though it is a small world after all.
Title: Circles
Author: James Burke
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 074320008
Review written by: Susie Kopecky
Reviewer's Rating:8
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
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