Audio only
Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel
Technology and Invention in the Middle AgesBy Frances Gies, Joseph GiesNarrated by Anne FlosnikLength9h 24m
About this audiobook
In this account of Europe’s rise to world leadership in technology, Frances and Joseph Gies make use of recent scholarship to destroy two time-honored myths.
Myth One: that Europe’s leap forward occurred suddenly in the “Renaissance,” following centuries of medieval stagnation. Not so, say the Gieses: Early modern technology and experimental science were direct outgrowths of the decisive innovations of medieval Europe, in the tools and techniques of agriculture, craft industry, metallurgy, building construction, navigation, and war.
Myth Two: that Europe achieved its primacy through “Western” superiority. On the contrary, the authors report, many of Europe’s most important inventions—the horse harness, the stirrup, the magnetic compass, cotton and silk cultivation and manufacture, papermaking, firearms, “Arabic” numerals—had their origins outside Europe, in China, India, and Islam. The Gieses show how Europe synthesized its own innovations—the three-field system, water power in industry, the full-rigged ship, the putting-out system—into a powerful new combination of technology, economics, and politics.
From the expansion of medieval man’s capabilities, the voyage of Columbus with all its fateful consequences is seen as an inevitable product, while even the genius of Leonardo da Vinci emerges from the context of earlier and lesser-known dreamers and tinkerers.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (2.4K)
Includes LibraryThing, Goodreads, Amazon
GenreHistory
Length9 hrs 24 mins
Narrated byAnne Flosnik
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateJul 30, 2022
LanguageEnglish
More from Frances Gies, Joseph Gies
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
Fall and RiseMitchell Zuckoff17h 23m4.6 (9.8K)$40 · $0.00
The SurvivorJosef Lewkowicz, Michael Calvin9h 22m4.6 (2.5K)$29 · $0.00
Always FaithfulThomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki12h 12m4.6 (977)$29 · $0.00
The State of Society in France Before the Revolution of 1789 (Annotated)Alexis de Tocqueville17h 25m4.6 (1.2K)$2 · $0.00
All the Gallant MenDonald Stratton, Ken Gire5h 55m4.6 (11.8K)$24 · $0.00
Saint Joan (Annotated)George Bernard Shaw6h 20m4.6 (1.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
Medgar and MyrlieJoy-Ann Reid10h 52m4.5 (27.8K)$29 · $0.00
The History of the Peloponnesian War (Annotated)Thucydides24h 3m4.6 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
You may also like
How the States Got Their ShapesMark Stein6h 28m4.0 (14.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Naval War of 1812Theodore Roosevelt17h 7m4.1 (3.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Chess FundamentalsJosé Raúl Capablanca5h 45m4.3 (5.6K)$1.99 · $0.00
RhetoricAristotle6h 55m4.2 (7.6K)$3 · $0.00
Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (Annotated)Julian Stafford Corbett11h 14m4.1 (385)$1.99 · $0.00
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783Alfred Thayer Mahan22h 4m4.1 (1.5K)$2.30
Chess Fundamentals (Annotated)José Raúl Capablanca5h 49m4.2 (2.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Some Principles of Maritime StrategyJulian Stafford Corbett9h 25m4.2 (988)Free
My life on the plains : or, personal experiences with IndiansGeorge A. Custer17h 36m4.2 (470)$1 · $0.00
The History of the Peloponnesian WarThucydides22h 10m4.2 (54.2K)$2.30
On WarCarl von Clausewitz31h 11m4.1 (20.8K)Free
The Art of War in the Middle Ages: Military History of Europe (378-1515) (Annotated)Charles Oman6h 12m4.1 (812)$2 · $0.00
KC-390Bruno Américo Pereira, Flavio Neri Hadmann Jasper7h 47m$39 · $0.00
The Machinery Enthusiast's Library: 12 Essential ReadsArchibald Williams, Mary Elting, Eugene S. Ferguson, Grace Rogers Cooper, Ward L. Goodrich, A. Russell Bond, James Lukin, Richmond Mill Furnishing Works, Herbert Newton Casson, Robert P. Multhauf66h 36m$1.99 · $0.00
Canada Under British Rule 1760-1900John G. Bourinot12h 26m$1.99 · $0.00
The Accumulation of Capital (Annotated)Rosa Luxemburg18h 14m$2 · $0.00
Maxims of WarThe Officer's Manual3h 13m4.7 (10)$1.99 · $0.00
Canada Under British RuleJohn G. Bourinot12h 25m$1.99 · $0.00
How Legal Hermeneutics Can Assist The TheologianJohn Warwick Montgomery, John Warwick Montgomery42m$3 · $0.00
Modern ships of warEdward J. Sir Reed, Edward Simpson12h$1 · $0.00