The Ratchet of Technology, a site by Michael Magoon

A Library of 280+ Book Summaries on Technology, History, Economic Growth & Progress

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Category: Technology

October 27, 2021November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary:“Leonardo to the Internet” by Thomas Misa

October 26, 2021April 17, 2022 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism..” by Daniel Headrick

January 26, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Age of Wood” by Roland Ennos

January 26, 2021December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Box: How the Shipping Container…” by Marc Levinson

May 11, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Alchemy of Air: … the Scientific Discovery that Fed the World” by Thomas Hager

May 8, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Ingenium: Five Machines that Changed the World” by Mark Denny

May 5, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Prime Movers of Globalization: The History of Diesel Engines and Gas Turbines” by Vaclav Smil

May 3, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Power over Peoples: Technology, Environments and Western Imperialism…” by Daniel Headrick

May 3, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Technology: A World History” by Daniel Headrick

May 2, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Transforming the Twentieth Century” by Vaclav Smil

May 1, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Tools for the Job: A Short History of Machine Tools” by LTC Rolt

April 11, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Fifty Inventions that Shaped the Modern Economy” by Tim Harford

April 8, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Invisible Weapon: Telecommunications and International Politics 1851-1945” by Daniel Headrick

February 18, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism 1850-1940” by Daniel R. Headrick

January 13, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Unbound: How Eight Technologies Made Us Human” by Richard L. Currier

January 10, 2020December 2, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “The Nature of Technology” by W. Brian Arthur

January 1, 2020November 21, 2021 Michael Magoon

Book Summary: “Creating the Twentieth Century” by Vaclav Smil

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Top Posts & Pages

  • Book Summary: “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” by Richard Wrangham
  • Book Summary: “The Tragedy of Great Power Politics” by John Mearsheimer
  • Book Summary: "Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World" by Walter Russell Mead
  • Book Summary: “Kicking Away the Ladder” by Ha-Joon Chang
  • Book Summary: “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” by Paul Kennedy

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