James Burke - Böcker

For James Burke, knowledge is a vast interconnected web - which means you never know how a new discovery or development, or even a chance accident, will affect everything else. To prove his point, he takes us on twenty exhilarating, all-new journeys through history's byways and shortcuts - from the zigzag path that starts with medieval spicy food and ends with smart bombs to the road that connects bottle caps with the Bowie Knife. Through these and hundreds of other fascinating examples - further linked by 447 cross references - Burke proves once more that he has 'one of the most intriguing minds in the Western world' - WASHINGTON POST.

What do the Hubble Telescope, Buffalo Bill, and the Spanish Inquisition have in common, and how is the answer found in a certain fast food chain? How do margarine's strange origins tie in to plankton shells, receding stars, hot chocolate, and the first solo Atlantic flight? Continuing the fascinating journey he began in THE PINBALL EFFECT, James Burke shows how seemingly unrelated ideas and innovations bounce off each other, spinning a vast web of knowledge. Burke explains how the Internet is responsible for bringing these connections to light and claims this new awareness of our interdependence, with each other and with the past, will change our lives. Taking Burke's webbed approach to knowledge is one way that we can manage our information overload as we approach the ever-more-complex world that awaits us in the Twenty-First Century. Only by understanding the interrelated nature of the modern world can we hope to identify complex patterns of change and direct the process of innovation to the common good.

From the bestselling author of The Knowledge Web come fifty mesmerizing journeys into the history of technology, each following a chain of consequential events that ends precisely where it began. Whether exploring electromagnetic fields, the origin of hot chocolate, or DNA fingerprinting, these essays all illustrate the surprisingly circular nature of change. In "Room with (Half) a View," for instance, Burke muses about the partly obscured railway bridge outside his home on the Thames, a musing which sets off a chain of thought that leads from the bridge's engineer to Samuel Morse, to firearms inventor Sam Colt, and finally to a trombonist named Gustav Holst, who once lived in the very house that blocks Burke's view. So it goes with Burke's entertaining and informative essays as each one highlights the interconnectedness of seemingly unrelated events and innovations. Romantic poetry leads to brandy distillation; tonic water connects through Leibniz to the first explorers to reach the North Pole. This unique collection is sure to stimulate and delight history buffs, technophiles, and anyone else with a healthy intellectual curiosity.

The Signers of the Declaration of Independence are like stuffed birds, museum exhibits from a moment in America's glorious past. They signed what might well have turned out to be their death warrant. And then, in almost every case, they faded from the scene. Who, for instance, remembers Button Gwinnett or Light-horse Harry Lee? AMERICAN CONNECTIONS brings the signers back to life. Each of the fifty-six chapters begins with a brief, humorous, thumbnail character sketch, in most cases revealing such hidden qualities as feet of clay, a dysfunctional family, a secret lover, financial shenanigans, or political back-stabbing, and so on. One of these connections triggers a series of linked events which, in the end, leads to the modern world, where the signer's name unexpectedly reappears. Some instances: - Josiah Bartlett reappears as the character carrying his name in the television show, 'The West Wing.' - William Whipple is a modern-world agronomist. - The modern-day Matthew Thornton is a NASA consultant. - Today's Robert Treat Paine is an oceanographer. - 20th century Samuel Adams set up the Food and Drugs Act. The storylines also introduce the reader to over 1,000 historical characters, ranging from kings and statesmen to spies, assassins, royal mistresses, astronomers, submariners, infanticides, con-men, actors, explorers, musicians, artists, inventors, transvestites, heroes, counterfeiters, conspirators, bomb-throwers, pill-makers and a host of others. The Signers of the Declaration of Independence will never seem the same again.

This book offers innovative strategies for designing an Integrated Product Portfolio Management (IPPM) system that prioritizes customers, quality, growth and profits.It explores current frameworks for building product portfolios and provides creative ways to adapt to dynamic environments. The authors present practical solutions to overcome challenges and ensure products and services remain competitive amidst shifting stakeholder expectations, customer demands, economic changes, technological advancements and social trends. The book includes case studies from different industries and showcases ways to balance product portfolios, analyze trends, adapt to changing market conditions, anticipate hurdles, and build flexible and sustainable product portfolios. It highlights the role of machine learning, including applications of ChatGPT, and examines the evolving nature of stakeholder capitalism, emphasizing environmental, social and governance pressures. A practical guide for leaders and individuals looking to advance innovation, it offers personal, professional and corporate guidance on ways to improve the odds of product and service success.This book will be a valuable resource for middle and senior managers, strategic planners and product development professionals. It also will be of interest to students and faculty in marketing, product management, entrepreneurship and small business management, project management, strategic management and business leadership.

This book offers innovative strategies for designing an Integrated Product Portfolio Management (IPPM) system that prioritizes customers, quality, growth and profits.It explores current frameworks for building product portfolios and provides creative ways to adapt to dynamic environments. The authors present practical solutions to overcome challenges and ensure products and services remain competitive amidst shifting stakeholder expectations, customer demands, economic changes, technological advancements and social trends. The book includes case studies from different industries and showcases ways to balance product portfolios, analyze trends, adapt to changing market conditions, anticipate hurdles, and build flexible and sustainable product portfolios. It highlights the role of machine learning, including applications of ChatGPT, and examines the evolving nature of stakeholder capitalism, emphasizing environmental, social and governance pressures. A practical guide for leaders and individuals looking to advance innovation, it offers personal, professional and corporate guidance on ways to improve the odds of product and service success.This book will be a valuable resource for middle and senior managers, strategic planners and product development professionals. It also will be of interest to students and faculty in marketing, product management, entrepreneurship and small business management, project management, strategic management and business leadership.

Desert by Design celebrates the interior worlds that exist in Earth’s most arid climes and, more importantly, the creative minds who inhabit themMarfa, Texas-based desert dwellers Molly Mandell and James Burke traveled the world to explore and photograph thirty incredible spaces. They made their way through the southwestern United States, to Mexico and Argentina, and to Morocco, Jordan, the Canary Islands, Rajasthan India, and even a micro-desert in New Zealand.They visited high desert and low desert, urban desert and rural desert, sandy desert and scrubby desert. They photographed everything from iconic properties inhabited by Yves Saint Laurent, César Manrique, and Donald Judd to thoughtfully curated, centuries-old adobe structures and modern, groundbreaking ones, all the while interviewing the choreographers, hoteliers, sculptors, environmentalists, chefs, audio engineers, and preservationists who bring them to life.This gorgeous coffee table book is an ode to these landscapes—their sounds, smells, flora, and fauna—filled with equal parts mystery and beauty and a glimpse into the projects and lives of those who have chosen to call them home.Desert by Design—its genuine, beautiful, and unexpected approach—is not your average interiors book. From tips for cultivating the intimate and unpretentious environment that is synonymous with the desert to images that evoke mindful living, it is both an homage to this unique and dynamic climate—its most extraordinary places and memorable personalities—and a manual for adopting elements of this lifestyle, no matter our location.Yes, this publication is for desert people, those who reside in it or who simply resonate with it. But it likewise exists for all of us who are seeking authentic design inspiration or courage to take the path less traveled, regardless of where we hang our hats.Deserts are known to be sensitive ecosystems where adaptability and resilience become common currency, requiring humans to live within the environment rather than apart from it. The result is a people who are inspired by challenge and who constantly create and innovate.