Inventions of the Past: 44 Books Reflecting on Centuries of Technological Innovations
A Cultural History of Printing, Steam, Railways, Telegraphy, and ProgressBy James P. Boyd, Henry White Warren, A. Russell Bond, Hattie E. Macomber, Ray Stannard Baker, S. E. Forman, Willis Duff Piercy, M. Grace Fickett, Gertrude L. Stone, Archibald Williams, Derek J. de Solla Price, Russell Doubleday, Henry Bore, John H. White, American Railway Association, John Kimberly Mumford, Edwin A. Battison, Samuel Smiles, Harry E. Maule, Arthur May Mowry, William A. Mowry, Henry E. Baker, Rupert Sargent Holland, Abraham Lincoln, H. W. L. Hime, Henry Robinson, Edward W. Byrn, Grace Rogers Cooper, George Iles, Henry Dircks, Robert Routledge, Helen C. Knight, Theodore Low De Vinne, H. C. Forster, Harry Chase Brearley, Alfred Vail, George Grant, Elmer Ellsworth Burns, Thomas W. Corbin, Paul Severing
Length338h 28m
About this audiobook
Inventions of the Past gathers forty-four historical and popular accounts of technological change, tracing the human imagination from early mechanical devices to the infrastructures of modernity. Its capacious range encompasses biography, technical exposition, social history, educational prose, institutional reports, and reflective essays. Railways, printing, telegraphy, engineering, scientific instruments, and industrial processes emerge not as isolated triumphs but as interconnected transformations in labor, communication, mobility, and everyday life. The inclusion of writings on transportation and the making of technological knowledge gives the volume particular coherence. The contributors—engineers, historians, educators, journalists, inventors, public intellectuals, and professional associations—write from varied positions within the nineteenth- and twentieth-century cultures of invention. Their collective work reflects the era's faith in progress while also preserving the practical detail, civic ambition, and historical consciousness through which innovation was understood. Voices associated with industrial documentation, scientific history, popular explanation, and national memory bring distinct methods to a shared concern: how tools, systems, and ideas reshape societies. Together they illuminate the literary culture surrounding technological modernity. This volume is recommended for readers of history of science, industrial culture, and nonfiction prose, as well as for anyone seeking a broad encounter with invention's past. It offers an unusually rich comparative archive, inviting readers to trace convergences and tensions among technical expertise, public enthusiasm, and historical interpretation. Its many perspectives make it both an educational resource and a stimulating dialogue across centuries of technological thought.
Audiobook details
GenreTechnology, Literary Classics
Length338 hrs 28 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateMar 4, 2025
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Triumphs and Wonders of the 19th Century: The True Mirror of a Phenomenal Era
2Triumphs and Wonders of the 19th Century: The True Mirror of a Phenomenal Era
3INTRODUCTORY
4AUTHORS AND SUBJECTS
5ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS
Show all chaptersShow less
6WONDERS OF ELECTRICITY By JAMES P. BOYD, A.M., L.B.
7THE CENTURY’S NAVAL PROGRESS By REAR ADMIRAL GEORGE WALLACE MELVILLE, U.S.N.
8ASTRONOMY DURING THE CENTURY By SELDEN J. COFFIN, A.M., Professor of Astronomy, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. ITS PROGRESS, ACHIEVEMENTS, AND NOTABLE RESULTS
9STORY OF PLANT AND FLOWER By THOMAS MEEHAN, Vice President Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia.
10PROGRESS OF WOMEN WITHIN THE CENTURY By MARY ELIZABETH LEASE, Ex-President Kansas State Board of Charities.
11THE CENTURY’S TEXTILE PROGRESS By ROBERT P. HAINS, Examiner of Textiles, U.S. Patent Office.
12THE CENTURY’S RELIGIOUS PROGRESS By GEORGE EDWARD REED, S.T.D., LL.D., President Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.
13GREAT GROWTH OF LIBRARIES By JAMES P. BOYD, A.M., L.B.
14PROGRESS OF THE CENTURY IN ARCHITECTURE By WILLIAM MARTIN AIKEN, F.A.I.A., Former U.S. Supervising Architect.
15THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN CHEMISTRY By HARVEY W. WILEY, M.D., PH.D., LL.D., Chief Chemist Agricultural Department, Washington, D.C.
16THE CENTURY’S MUSIC AND DRAMA By RITER FITZGERALD, A.M., Dramatic Critic “City Item,” Philadelphia.
17THE CENTURY’S LITERATURE By JAMES P. BOYD, A.M., L.B.
18THE RECORDS OF THE PAST By MORRIS JASTROW, JR., PH.D., Professor of Semitic Languages, University of Pennsylvania.
19PROGRESS IN DAIRY FARMING By MAJOR HENRY E. ALVORD, C.E., LL.D., Chief of Dairy Division, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
20THE CENTURY’S MORAL PROGRESS By SARA Y. STEVENSON, Sc. D., Secretary Department of Archæology, University of Pennsylvania.
21PROGRESS OF SANITARY SCIENCE By CHARLES McINTIRE, A.M., M.D., Lecturer on Sanitary Science, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa.
22THE CENTURY’S ARMIES AND ARMS By LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ARTHUR L. WAGNER, Assistant Adjutant General, U.S. Army.
23THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN AGRICULTURE By WALDO F. BROWN, Agricultural Editor “Cincinnati Gazette.”
24PROGRESS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING By WALTER LORING WEBB, C.E., Assistant Prof. of Civil Engineering, University of Pennsylvania.
25THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD By D.E. SALMON, M.D., Chief of Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Agricultural Department.
26LEADING WARS OF THE CENTURY By MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER, U.S. ARMY.
27THE CENTURY’S FAIRS AND EXPOSITIONS By GEORGE J. HAGAR, Editor of Appendix to Encyclopædia Britannica.
28THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN COINAGE, CURRENCY, AND BANKING By HON. BRADFORD RHODES, Editor of “Banker’s Magazine.”
29THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN FRUIT CULTURE By H.E. VAN DEMAN, Late Prof. of Horticulture, Kansas State Agricultural College.
30THE CENTURY’S COMMERCIAL PROGRESS By EMORY R. JOHNSON, A.M., Asst. Prof. of Transportation and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania.
31EDUCATION DURING THE CENTURY By FRANKLIN S. EDMONDS, A.M., Asst. Prof. of Political Science, Central High School, Philadelphia.
32“THE ART PRESERVATIVE” By THOMAS J. LINDSEY, Editorial Staff Philadelphia “Evening Bulletin.”
33THE CENTURY’S PROGRESS IN MINES AND MINING By GEO. A. PACKARD, Metallurgist and Mining Engineer.
34ART PROGRESS OF THE CENTURY By JOHN V. SEARS, Art Critic Philadelphia “Evening Telegraph.”
35THE CENTURY’S ADVANCE IN SURGERY By J. MADISON TAYLOR, M.D., and J.H. GIBBON, M.D., Surgeon in Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospitals.
36PROGRESS OF MEDICINE By FRANK C. HAMMOND, M.D., Instructor in Gynecology, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
37EVOLUTION OF THE RAILWAY By E.E. RUSSELL TRATMAN, C.E., Assistant Editor of “Engineering News,” Chicago.
38ADVANCE IN LAW AND JUSTICE By LUTHER E. HEWITT, L.B., Librarian of Philadelphia Law Association.
39EVOLUTION OF BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS By MICHAEL J. BROWN, Secretary of Building Association League of Penna.
40EPOCH-MAKERS OF THE CENTURY By REV. A. LEFFINGWELL, Rector of Trinity Church, Toledo, Ohio.
41The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century
42The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century
43CHAPTER I. The Perspective View.
44CHAPTER IV. The Atlantic Cable.
45CHAPTER VII. The Electric Light.
46CHAPTER IX. Electricity—Miscellaneous.
47CHAPTER XI. The Steam Railway.
48CHAPTER XIII. Printing.
49CHAPTER XV. The Sewing Machine.
50CHAPTER XVII. Vulcanized Rubber.
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