(Random House, $28)
At its core, this book is a “wonderfully eclectic account” of the steam engine and its role in the Industrial Revolution, said Jeff Vandermeer in the Los Angeles Times. Yet it’s also an enthusiastic tribute to the engineers and scientists who harnessed steam, as well as a study of the “intricacies of invention and applied science.” The author dismisses the conventional explanations of why the Industrial Revolution first took hold in Britain, said The Economist. Instead, Rosen gives credit to the country’s early adoption of a patent system, which “transformed invention from a hobby pursued by the idle rich into an opportunity for spectacular commercial gain.” Of course, in recent years prospectors have stretched the definition of intellectual capital to include everything from human genes to generic business methods. “It would have been interesting to know what Rosen thinks of the way intellectual-capital laws are being challenged at the moment.”
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