The ancient engineers
by L. Sprague De Camp · first published 1963
100% recommend
This book is about those whose genius enabled the Egyptians to build their pyramids, the Phoenicians to cross stormy seas, the Romans to erect magnificent public buildings--that this carefully researched and fascinatingly written account of the advance of early technology has been written.Mr. de Camp describes the methods used by early irrigators, architects, and military engineers to build and maintain structures to serve their rulers' wants. He tells, for example, how the Pharaohs erected obelisks and pyramids, how Nebuchadnezzar fortified Babylon, how Dionysios' ordnance department invented
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Sci-Fi author L. Sprague de Camp's 1963 book, "The Ancient Engineers", is also worth a look, from early Egyptian engineering up to Galileo. From an Amazon review: “History, technology, culture, finance, and sociology intersect here. It’s not history from the top (kings…
on “Bill Gates Has an Idea for a History Class” ↗> it requires understanding political, historical, and social issues A good primer on the social context of engineering is L. Sprague de Camp's "The Ancient Engineers", https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8158385 "The first engineers were irrigators, architects, and military engineers. The same man was usually expected to be an expert at all three kinds…
on “Orfox: New Firefox-based Android Private/Secure Browser” ↗…antiquities, https://archive.org/details/harpersdictiona00peckgoog David Rumsey Map Collection (includes old "maps" of human knowledge, today could be called infographics), http://www.davidrumsey.com The Ancient Engineers, by L. Sprague de Camp, http://www.amazon.com/The-Ancient-Engineers-Sprague-Camp/dp/... Oxford English Dictionary, 1888 Edition, 15000 searchable pages as a Windows app, https://archive.org/details/oed11_201407
on “Ask HN: I feel like I'm in a filter bubble. How can I “expand my horizons”?” ↗…cultural works are accessible to all, and in which consumers and creators alike participate in a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and creativity." 2) Sci-Fi author L. Sprague de Camp's 1963 book, "The Ancient Engineers", covers the period from early Egyptian engineering up to Galileo. http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Engineers-L-Sprague-Camp/dp/03... “History, technology, culture, finance, and sociology intersect here.…
on “Ask HN: Books with a high signal to noise ratio?” ↗You might want to read the book The Ancient Engineers
on “Archaeologists uncover ancient street food shop in Pompeii” ↗The Ancient Engineers by L. Sprague de Camp (1963), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8158385
on “Ask HN: Good books on philosophy of engineering?” ↗