4 ms·

I was always interested how things were done through the various ages of the civilization. I wish there were some comprehensive book(s) that would describe how

I was always interested how things were done through the various ages of the civilization. I wish there were some comprehensive book(s) that would describe how civilization was "bootstrapped", from primitive tools and weapons to agriculture all the way to at least steam power.

michaelbuckbee 11y ago
It's not quite what you're asking for but there's a really interesting series of books called the "Cross-Time Engineer" [1] which is a thinly veiled thought experiment of how to reboot civilization from a medieval time period with modern knowledge. I recommend the series as it's absolutely fantastic from an engineering perspective, but also kind of horrifying from a culture one. 1 - http://www.amazon.com/Leo-A.-Frankowski/e/B000API2VY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 http://www.amazon.com/Leo-A.-Frankowski/e/B000API2VY/ref=dp_...
adrianN 11y ago
There is http://rebuildingcivilization.com/ http://rebuildingcivilization.com/ but it's still a little sparse in content.
ant6n 11y ago
It could make for a good reality/docu tv show; drop 50 engineers and scientists on a large desert island with many resources, and task them to rebuild civilization. It would be interesting to see how long it will take to get the required work just for food acquisition low enough so that one could engage in the civilization building. It would also be interesting to see whether there are big shortcuts, things that don't have to be redone. Oh another thought: In our modern civilization, we require a lot of materials that cannot be found in the wild. In order to get them, we need to do complex mining - but to do that, we need simpler mining -- to do that, we first need some tools -- do make those, we need more basic tools. I kind of wonder what the shortest chain/tree of prerequisite tools and materials is from the stone age, to, say, a modern cpu (to make it easier, let's assume availability of resources is not an issue). (I feel these thought experiements were kinda spurred by the finale of Battlestar Galactica, at least in my circle of friends.)
- Decade 11y ago
  It would be a horrible reality TV show. Primitive construction techniques are very slow, especially if you also need to worry about acquiring food through primitive means, and each technique takes a lifetime to master. We and our children would all be dead by the time they rebuild the steam engine. But the series would not run that long because it would be boring. The finale of Battlestar Galactica was totally the Golgafrincham “B” Ark from Douglas Adams. It turns out that “And they have a plan” was a lie, and the series just went downhill after season 2.
- bsder 11y ago
  > I kind of wonder what the shortest chain/tree of prerequisite tools and materials is from the stone age, to, say, a modern cpu I suspect the chain isn't as long as you think, and you probably spend most of your time on the last steps. The HUGE win is steel. You can almost go from stone age to well into the Industrial Revolution with almost no intermediate steps based on knowledge alone (blast furnaces date to 1st century AD--the limitation on steel was lack of chemistry knowledge rather than engineering). After that you start needing interlocking industrial infrastructure.
- fractallyte 11y ago
  Here's such a show, but with a small group of scientists, and more modest scope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Science (It was excellent!)
- mynegation 11y ago
  I, unlike, the sibling comment, believe that would be a great show, given the skillful background storytelling, and - possibly - scripted spectacular blowup here and there, carefully controlled with all safety measures taken of course. My interested was spurred by a Russian book for children "Where do things come from" and Jule Verne's "Mysterious Island", but now I am tempted to watch Battlestar Galactica!
- michaelbuckbee 11y ago
  There was something very similar to this called "The Colony" -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(U.S._season_1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(U.S._season_1)
pjmlp 11y ago
If you haven't done so already, read Herodotus's book. Here is a digital version, http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html While we cannot confirm everything he wrote, it is a good insight into the Mediterranean civilization around 440 BC. Old Greek, Roman and Egyptian transcripts are quite a good source. Some of them were preserved in Arab libraries during the middle age and as such survived the dark ages of the inquisition. Not an historian, so I don't know how easy it is to get written sources from other cultures (Maya, Chinese, Japanese, ...), specially in the several centuries that preceded BC/AD.
ASalazarMX 11y ago
I've been reading Lewis Dartnell's "The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch", and it is exactly what you want. A insightful collection of recipes to bootstrap civilization after a global disaster. http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/the-book/ http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/the-book/ I hope I don't get to use it ever, but it is really interesting as it necessarily explains the fundamentals of our current civilization.
- mynegation 11y ago
  Yes, I absolutely love this book! It is pretty high-level though which is better than nothing and necessary to condense a lot of knowledge into a small-ish book, but less desirable than more technical book with drawings, schematics, precise chemical recipes etc. Books like that must be created for the same reason insurances exist: you hope you never use it, but when and if (and over long horizons it is more a question of "when") disaster strikes, they are indispensable.

michaelbuckbee 11y ago

It's not quite what you're asking for but there's a really interesting series of books called the "Cross-Time Engineer" [1] which is a thinly veiled thought experiment of how to reboot civilization from a medieval time period with modern knowledge. I recommend the series as it's absolutely fantastic from an engineering perspective, but also kind of horrifying from a culture one. 1 - http://www.amazon.com/Leo-A.-Frankowski/e/B000API2VY/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 http://www.amazon.com/Leo-A.-Frankowski/e/B000API2VY/ref=dp_...

adrianN 11y ago

There is http://rebuildingcivilization.com/ http://rebuildingcivilization.com/ but it's still a little sparse in content.

ant6n 11y ago

It could make for a good reality/docu tv show; drop 50 engineers and scientists on a large desert island with many resources, and task them to rebuild civilization. It would be interesting to see how long it will take to get the required work just for food acquisition low enough so that one could engage in the civilization building. It would also be interesting to see whether there are big shortcuts, things that don't have to be redone. Oh another thought: In our modern civilization, we require a lot of materials that cannot be found in the wild. In order to get them, we need to do complex mining - but to do that, we need simpler mining -- to do that, we first need some tools -- do make those, we need more basic tools. I kind of wonder what the shortest chain/tree of prerequisite tools and materials is from the stone age, to, say, a modern cpu (to make it easier, let's assume availability of resources is not an issue). (I feel these thought experiements were kinda spurred by the finale of Battlestar Galactica, at least in my circle of friends.)

Decade 11y ago
It would be a horrible reality TV show. Primitive construction techniques are very slow, especially if you also need to worry about acquiring food through primitive means, and each technique takes a lifetime to master. We and our children would all be dead by the time they rebuild the steam engine. But the series would not run that long because it would be boring. The finale of Battlestar Galactica was totally the Golgafrincham “B” Ark from Douglas Adams. It turns out that “And they have a plan” was a lie, and the series just went downhill after season 2.
bsder 11y ago
> I kind of wonder what the shortest chain/tree of prerequisite tools and materials is from the stone age, to, say, a modern cpu I suspect the chain isn't as long as you think, and you probably spend most of your time on the last steps. The HUGE win is steel. You can almost go from stone age to well into the Industrial Revolution with almost no intermediate steps based on knowledge alone (blast furnaces date to 1st century AD--the limitation on steel was lack of chemistry knowledge rather than engineering). After that you start needing interlocking industrial infrastructure.
fractallyte 11y ago
Here's such a show, but with a small group of scientists, and more modest scope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Science https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Science (It was excellent!)
mynegation 11y ago
I, unlike, the sibling comment, believe that would be a great show, given the skillful background storytelling, and - possibly - scripted spectacular blowup here and there, carefully controlled with all safety measures taken of course. My interested was spurred by a Russian book for children "Where do things come from" and Jule Verne's "Mysterious Island", but now I am tempted to watch Battlestar Galactica!
michaelbuckbee 11y ago
There was something very similar to this called "The Colony" -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(U.S._season_1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colony_(U.S._season_1)

pjmlp 11y ago

If you haven't done so already, read Herodotus's book. Here is a digital version, http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html While we cannot confirm everything he wrote, it is a good insight into the Mediterranean civilization around 440 BC. Old Greek, Roman and Egyptian transcripts are quite a good source. Some of them were preserved in Arab libraries during the middle age and as such survived the dark ages of the inquisition. Not an historian, so I don't know how easy it is to get written sources from other cultures (Maya, Chinese, Japanese, ...), specially in the several centuries that preceded BC/AD.

ASalazarMX 11y ago

I've been reading Lewis Dartnell's "The Knowledge: How to Rebuild our World from Scratch", and it is exactly what you want. A insightful collection of recipes to bootstrap civilization after a global disaster. http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/the-book/ http://the-knowledge.org/en-gb/the-book/ I hope I don't get to use it ever, but it is really interesting as it necessarily explains the fundamentals of our current civilization.

mynegation 11y ago
Yes, I absolutely love this book! It is pretty high-level though which is better than nothing and necessary to condense a lot of knowledge into a small-ish book, but less desirable than more technical book with drawings, schematics, precise chemical recipes etc. Books like that must be created for the same reason insurances exist: you hope you never use it, but when and if (and over long horizons it is more a question of "when") disaster strikes, they are indispensable.