The Pinball Effect

How Renaissance Water Gardens Made Carburetor Possible - and Other Journeys

Paperback, 352 pages

English language

Published Aug. 1, 1997 by Back Bay Books.

ISBN:
978-0-316-11610-7
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5 stars (1 review)

The pinball effect is a metaphor of the seemingly random routes a pinball traces. Human knowledge will unadvertedly unleash unexpected consecuences: new inventions or discoveries now possible because someone shared an idea.

3 editions

Review of 'Pinball Effect' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

James Burke is someone I regard as one of the treasures of the human race. I first fell in love with him with his series Connections, and then used his series The Day The Universe Changed when I taught a course on the History of Science. If you have any interest at all in science and technology you need to check him out. The pinball effect is what Burke calls the way seemingly unrelated bits of science, engineering, and technology become related. For instance, there is a relationship between Renaissance water gardens and the carburetor, which he explains. Of course, this is very much the theme of Connections, but that is just fine with me.

I listened to the audio book version of this.

Subjects

  • History of science
  • Science
  • History - General History
  • Biography/Autobiography
  • Science/Mathematics
  • General
  • History
  • World - General
  • Science / History
  • Inventions