The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

ThomasNet News - In The Most Powerful Idea in the World, author William Rosen traces the development of the steam engine through a close examination of the creative processes of pioneering inventors, examining the trials and tribulations they faced and the importance of intellectual property protection.

Erudite and persuasive, Rosen's narrative shows how the fuse for the invention explosion of the 18th century was ignited in the 17th: by the scientist and diplomat Francis Bacon, who first defended a national responsibility for investment in research; by the jurist Edward Coke, who wrote the world's first patent law; and by the philosopher John Locke, who championed the right to own one's ideas.

The Most Powerful Idea in the World is not simply a description of how coal burns, gears engage and steam condenses; not merely a primer on metallurgy, textile manufacturing, mechanical engineering, legal theory and economic history. It is a dazzling and thought-provoking narrative of the moment when a generation of English artisans became the most inventive population in human history.