Book Description
In The Knowledge Web, James Burke, the bestselling
author and host of television's Connections series,
takes us on a fascinating tour through the interlocking
threads of knowledge running through Western history.
Displaying mesmerizing flights of fancy, he shows how
seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off one
another, spinning a vast, interactive web on which everything
is connected to everything else: Carmen leads to the
theory of relativity, champagne bottling links to wallpaper
design, Joan of Arc connects through vaudeville to Buffalo
Bill.
Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a
journey across the web, Burke breaks down complex concepts,
offering information in a manner accessible to anybody --
high school graduates and Ph.D. holders alike. The journey
touches more than one hundred interlinked points in the
history of knowledge, ultimately ending where it began.
Gateways, set at various points in the narrative, allow
readers to jump through literary hyperspace to other
different but related concepts throughout the book.
At once amusing and instructing, The Knowledge Web
heightens our awareness of our interdependence -- with one
another and with the past. Taking Burke's webbed approach to
knowledge is one way that we can manage our information
overload as we approach the ever-more-complex world that
awaits us in the twenty-first century. Only by understanding
the interrelated nature of the modern world can we hope to
identify complex patterns of change and direct the process of
innovation to the common good.
In The Knowledge Web, James Burke takes us on a
fascinating tour through the interlocking threads of
knowledge running through Western history. Displaying
mesmerizing flights of fancy, he shows how seemingly
unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off one another,
spinning a vast, interactive web on which everything is
connected to everything else: Carmen leads to the theory of
relativity, champagne bottling links to wallpaper design,
Joan of Arc connects through vaudeville to Buffalo Bill.
Illustrating his open, connective theme in the form of a
journey across the web, Burke breaks down complex concepts,
offering information in a manner accessible to anybody - high
school graduates and Ph.D. holders alike.
