GAVIN WEIGHTMAN

Without the Thames there would be no London. From earliest times, the needs of the city - whether for stone, gold or coal, for hay to feed livestock or food, or wine and spices for human beings - were supplied from the river, as the fierce tides brought ships upstream or carried them down again. Only with the age of trunk road and rail did London s global importance as a port diminish. Even after that the tides continued to drive the great power stations.This fascinating book is the best possible introduction to the water and its ways, the buildings that line the banks, and the people who lived by the river, their customs and ancient knowledge. The Thames is here in every guise - highway and barrier, source of power and source of life, place of entertainment, port, and drainpipe.

La Revolución Industrial se presenta normalmente como la historia de las máquinas o del implacable proceso de innovación que arranca del pensamiento científico forjado en el Siglo de las Luces. Este apasionante libro se centra en los entusiastas personajes que contribuyeron con sus innovadoras ideas a transformar el mundo. El autor nos presenta a una sucesión de pioneros geniales, mentes inquietas, inventores visionarios, brillantes ingenieros, industriales emprendedores y hábiles artesanos, incluyendo a personajes fundamentales como Watt, Edison, Trevithick, Stevenson, Wedgwood, Daimler o Bessemer y a otros menos conocidos pero igualmente fascinantes.