'I have been ill and frightfully bored and the one thing I have wanted is a big album of your absurd beautiful drawings to turn over. You give me a peculiar pleasure of the mind like nothing else in the world.' - H. G. Wells to W. Heath Robinson (1914) This book takes a nostalgic look back to the imaginative and often frivolous world of William Heath Robinson, one of the few artists to have given his name to the English language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the expression Heath Robinson is used to describe 'any absurdly ingenious and impracticable device of the kind illustrated by this artist'. Yet his elaborate drawings of contraptions are not the only thing to make this book very Heath Robinson. Full of quirky images from Romans wearing polka dots to balding men seducing mermaids, Very Heath Robinson presents an unconventional history of the world in which technology and its social setting get equal billing.

In the sweltering summer of 1858 the stink of sewage from the polluted Thames was so offensive that it drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons. Sewage from over 2 million Londoners was pouring into the river, carried by the tides. The Times called the crisis "The Great Stink". Parliament had to act - drastic measures were required to improve London's primitive system of sanitation. The great engineer entrusted with this task was Sir Joseph Bazalgette, his response to conceive and build the system of intercepting sewers, pumping stations and treatment works that serves London to this day. In the process he cleansed the Thames and helped banish cholera, but this was only one of his great achievements. This enthralling history gives a vivid insight into Bazalgette's achievements and the era in which he worked and lived, including his heroic battles with politicians and bureaucrats, to transform the face and health of the world's largest city.

From Galileo's stargazing to quantum teleportation, Newton's work with optics to the splitting of the atom, Schrödinger's Cat tells the story of physics through fifty of its greatest experiments. Featuring engaging writing and clear explanations, Schrödinger's Cat introduces the reader to the scientific experiments that have shaped the modern world. Lucid exploration of the story of physics for the interested layperson Author is a well-known, award-winning science communicator and historian Part of the Great Experiments Series

Full of incredible tales of achievement and ingenuity, Engineers celebrates the greatest engineers that ever lived and the stamp they have left on our world. Learn all about how engineering projects have changed the course of history and added to human progress, from those who built the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Discover the impressive structures of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first forays into space travel, and the pioneering computer scientists of today. From initial concepts to prototypes and finished designs, Engineers is full to bursting with technical drawings, specially commissioned artworks, blueprints and virtual tours that help bring engineering's greatest structures, inventions and technological breakthroughs to life.

This lavishly illustrated visual encyclopedia tells the story of our world in depth and detail from the dawn of civilization to the present day. Charting human endeavour from every angle, History chronicles the significant events, ground-breaking ideas, political forces, and technological advances that have shaped our planet. Every historical episode is explored and explained with the help of stunning images that bring the authoritative text to life. Important points in history, from the battle of Hastings and the storming of the Bastille to D-Day and 9/11, have clear but concise coverage, together with profiles of influential figures, such as Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Nelson Mandela. It's time to head back in time and explore the past with this striking history book, which features: - Profiles of key people who have made history - Features on inventions, discoveries, and ideas that changed the world - Graphics lend immediacy and impact to key statistics - National Histories section separately chronicles key events of every country As each moment in history is defined and detailed, supporting panels note the causes and consequences, providing wider context and broadening our horizons. New and enhanced coverage of recent events - such as the Arab Spring - and contemporary issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, bring the book firmly into the present. With its broad-themed approach to important historical events, this book shows that ours is a history with genes and viruses, not just battle and treaties - and the stories and biographies of men and women from every corner of the globe who have shaped today's world reaffirm that History is the story of humankind in which everyone has a part to play.

Explore the science innovations as you have never seen them with this visual guide. From the humble beginnings of science, right through to today's information age - go on a journey through the history of science through its people, inventions, and discoveries. This updated 3rd edition explores astronomy, biology, geology, mathematics, and more in stunning visual detail. Inside the pages of Science: The Definitive Visual History, you'll find: - The most recent scientific discoveries across a variety of fields, from astronomy to genetics - Scientific concepts explained using clear, instantly understandable text combined with informative diagrams and CGIs - Feature spreads that illuminate the breakthroughs that changed the world - "Before" and "After" panels allow the reader to follow a particular theme throughout the book This fully comprehensive visual guide delves into the groundbreaking moments in science that changed the world. Explore the experiments, theories, and individuals and why each is so significant to developing scientific thought from Greek geometry to quantum physics. This science book also includes great scientists such as Zhang Heng, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie and gives you more information about the people behind each discovery. Updated to include the latest scientific developments, from recent advances in genetic engineering to the detection of gravitational waves 100 years after Einstein predicted their existence, Science is the ultimate gift for any science or history enthusiasts!

During the Victorian era, industrial and economic growth led to a phenomenal rise in productivity and invention. That spirit of creativity and ingenuity was reflected in the massive expansion in scope and complexity of many scientific disciplines during this time, with subjects evolving rapidly and the creation of many new disciplines. The subject of mathematics was no exception and many of the advances made by mathematicians during the Victorian period are still familiar today; matrices, vectors, Boolean algebra, histograms, and standard deviation were just some of the innovations pioneered by these mathematicians.
This book constitutes perhaps the first general survey of the mathematics of the Victorian period. It assembles in a single source research on the history of Victorian mathematics that would otherwise be out of the reach of the general reader. It charts the growth and institutional development of mathematics as a profession through the course of the 19th century in England, Scotland, Ireland, and across the British Empire. It then focuses on developments in specific mathematical areas, with chapters ranging from developments in pure mathematical topics (such as geometry, algebra, and logic) to Victorian work in the applied side of the subject (including statistics, calculating machines, and astronomy). Along the way, we encounter a host of mathematical scholars, some very well known (such as Charles Babbage, James Clerk Maxwell, Florence Nightingale, and Lewis Carroll), others largely forgotten, but who all contributed to the development of Victorian mathematics.