3 ms·
Ask HN: What Are Some Good Books on the First Industrial Revolution?
- dredmorbius 4y agoYou could start with the guy who was there, and coined the term, Arnold Toynbee (not to be confused with his similarly-named nephew, who writes the preface to this edition), The Industrial Revolution, developed from a series of lecture notes 1880-81: <https://archive.org/details/industrialrevol00toyngoog/page/n6/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/industrialrevol00toyngoog/page/n...> See note on Worldcat links / surveillance below. I'm strongly partial to looking at history through the lens / frame of energy. Several books and authors do this: - Matthieu Auzanneau, Oil, Power, and War: a dark history. Chelsea Green Publishing Co., (2020). https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-power-and-war-a-dark-history/oclc/1124590359 https://www.worldcat.org/title/oil-power-and-war-a-dark-hist... - Vaclav Smil, Energy in World History. Routledge (1994) https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-history/oclc/1124490716 https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-in-world-history/oclc/... - Vaclav Smil, Energy and civilization : a history. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, (2018) https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-history/oclc/1134666593 https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-and-civilization-a-his... - Manfred Weissenbacher, Sources of power : how energy forges human history (2 vols). Praeger, (2009). https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-forges-human-history/oclc/1131512551 https://www.worldcat.org/title/sources-of-power-how-energy-f... - Richard Rhodes, Energy : a human history. Simon & Schuster (2019) https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-a-human-history/oclc/1134660012 https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-a-human-history/oclc/1... - Economic history of energy and environment. Springer (2016). https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-history-of-energy-and-environment/oclc/980482798 https://www.worldcat.org/title/economic-history-of-energy-an... - Anthony N Penna, A history of energy flows : from human labor to renewable power. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, (2020). https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-energy-flows-from-human-labor-to-renewable-power/oclc/1119745736 https://www.worldcat.org/title/history-of-energy-flows-from-... - Cutler J Cleveland, Concise encyclopedia of history of energy. Elsevier, (2009) https://www.worldcat.org/title/concise-encyclopedia-of-history-of-energy/oclc/520656249 https://www.worldcat.org/title/concise-encyclopedia-of-histo... - Joseph A Pratt, Energy Capitals : Local Impact, Global Influence. University of Pittsburgh Press, (2014). https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-capitals-local-impact-global-influence/oclc/878918855 https://www.worldcat.org/title/energy-capitals-local-impact-... There's a series edited by Joel Mokyr of Northwestern University and published by the Princeton University Press, "The Princeton Economic History of the Western World" with a number of highly recommended titles: <https://press.princeton.edu/series/the-princeton-economic-history-of-the-western-world https://press.princeton.edu/series/the-princeton-economic-hi...> In particular: - Gregory Clark, A Farewell to Alms, looking specifically at why the Industrial Revolution arose in Britain in the 19th century. - Robert J. Gordon The Rise and Fall of American Growth, on the 150 years from 1870--2020, and the trajectory of growth in the US over that period. (There are far more books in the series, and I've read only a small fraction. Numerous other titles look highly promising.) There's Joel Mokyr's own The Gifts of Athena: <https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691120133/the-gifts-of-athena https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691120133/th...> R.U. Ayres (Robert) has written a number of articles and essays looking at technological development which are IMO highly underrated. The question of why the IR arose in the UK has been called "the Needham Question" (especially in contrast with why it did not arise in China, which has a long and deep history of technological innovation). I'm not aware of any single treatment of this, and Needham's own Science and Civilisation in China despite its excellence in cataloguing China's accomplishments really doesn't serve as a concise answer either. Warning that Worldcat seems to exfiltrate both search terms and searcher's IPs to Facebook and Google. See: <https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1570183006689673222.html https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1570183006689673222.html>. Unfortunately I'm not aware of a suitable replacement service presently, though Internet Archive's Open Library is getting there.
- 082349872349872 4y agoWow, Toynebee's closing words (in a chapter entitled The Future of the Working Classes) are: > ... we must remember the real problem is not how to produce some improvement in the condition of the working man —for that has to a certain extent been attained already— but how to secure his complete material independence. He had such high hopes!
- nabi_nafio 4y agoThanks for the recommendations.
- croo 4y ago> The question of why the IR arose in the UK has been called "the Needham Question" (especially in contrast with why it did not arise in China, which has a long and deep history of technological innovation). I'm not aware of any single treatment of this, and Needham's own Science and Civilisation in China despite its excellence in cataloguing China's accomplishments really doesn't serve as a concise answer either. "Sapiens: a brief history of humankind" touches this topic and gives plausible theories.
- dredmorbius 4y agoAnd for a selection of R.U. (Robert Underwood) Ayres's works, see: <https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1x9jt1/robert_ayres_physicist_economist_selected_papers/ https://old.reddit.com/r/dredmorbius/comments/1x9jt1/robert_...> Listed there (with updated URLs given linkrot): - Technological Transformations and Long Waves <https://web.archive.org/web/20131005091202/webarchive.iiasa.ac.at/Admin/PUB/Documents/RR-89-001.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20131005091202/webarchive.iiasa....> (PDF) - Self-Organization in Biology & Economics (1988) <https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/3068/1/RR-88-001.pdf https://pure.iiasa.ac.at/id/eprint/3068/1/RR-88-001.pdf> (PDF) - EXERGY, POWER AND WORK IN THE US ECONOMY, 1900-1998] <http://energyuseandeconomicdevelopment.yolasite.com/resources/Exergy%20Power%20Work%20%20in%20the%20US%20Economy%201900-1998.pdf http://energyuseandeconomicdevelopment.yolasite.com/resource...> (PDF) - Information Evolution and Economics: A New Evolutionary Paradigm <http://books.google.com/books?id=AgijQrntlzYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=robert+ayres&hl=en&ei=leLqTNaeLsTCcY3KoJMK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=AgijQrntlzYC&printsec=front...> Libgen: <http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=0DA275E6E35446F77B7EC9605646F656 http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=0DA275E6E35446F77B7EC960...> - Turning Point: The End of the Growth Paradigm <http://books.google.com/books?id=maHS2Ta_nIUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=robert+ayres&hl=en&ei=leLqTNaeLsTCcY3KoJMK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=maHS2Ta_nIUC&printsec=front...> Libgen: <http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=75808EECD2892C24098DDCDFEACBE646 http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=75808EECD2892C24098DDCDF...>
- twright 4y agoEric Hobsbawm’s “Age of Revolution: 1789-1848” followed by “Age of Capital: 1848-1875”
- nabi_nafio 4y agoThanks!