The Day the World Took Off

Book excerpt: The Day The World Took Off goes back 100 years, then 250, 500, 1,000 and finally 10,000 years, to examine the roots of technological development. To understand how technology evolves, and why it transforms some parts of the world and not others, requires a long-term view of world history that extends well beyond the last two centuries. This book takes the reader on a dizzying global journey through history in an attempt to identify the critical conditions that caused some civilizations to flourish and others to atrophy. Using diaries and first-hand accounts, as well as drawing on the latest academic research, it comes up with some surprising answers.