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Title: Cathedral, Forge, and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies, Joseph Geis ISBN: 0-06-016590-1 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: February, 1994 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Don't Listen to "A reader from Seattle, WA USA"
Comment: Ok, the Giles may got wrong some detail in this book, but it is a good book anyway. Most of the time we use things wich origin we don't know. Sometimes we think that what we are using is very modern and it actually comes from the middle ages.
This book is a very good book to know how they worked, what kind of machines they used, etc.
At the end of his review, A reader from Seattle writes something about torture. First he should read books like "Those terrible Middle Ages", "The Origins of Spanish Inquisition" and/or search for "the Myth of the Renaissance" on google.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good book, but some flaws of fact & one stupid opinion
Comment: I liked this book and will keep it around, but it does get some
facts wrong. E.g., the book discusses printing & Gutenberg at
some length (as it should) but is all wrong about Gutenberg's
ink chemistry. This is no small point. Gutenberg's books are
famous for their stable, glossy ink. This (Gieses') book says
G's ink was based on carbon black (which fades). Everyone has
known since 1983 or soon after (Google "Gutenberg ink cyclotron")
that Gutenberg created metallic inks. His inks were better than
most which followed. The Gieses should have been aware of this
by 1994, when they published their book. I think this sort of
error is common in survey works, and I think there are other
errors of this sort in the book at hand.
Also, the Gieses take time late in the book to denounce firearms
as the *only* "pernicious" technology developed during the middle
ages. This appears quite witless, since they generally applaud
technological improvements which promoted social leavening, and
firearms meet that test easily ("God made men but Sam Colt made
them equal"). I can easily nominate a more "pernicious" medieval
technology: that of torture. Many are the museums in Europe
which lovingly preserve elaborate machines for inflicting
pain--something which we now regard as forensically worthless and
morally abhorrent.
Rating: 5
Summary: Fascinating look at the einventive middle ages
Comment: Obviously, you have to be interested in this period and the daily life of its people (rather than just kings and battles) to even consider it, so all I can say is that it is well written, and delivers a fascinating account of the high tech revolution of the Middle Ages.
FWIW, parts of the computer game "Age of Kings" were (loosely) based on this.
"If you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you will like" :)
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Title: Medieval Technology and Social Change by Lynn Townsend White ISBN: 0195002660 Publisher: Clarendon Pr Pub. Date: December, 1966 List Price(USD): $11.65 |
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Title: Life in a Medieval City by Joseph Gies, Frances Gies ISBN: 0060908807 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 30 October, 1981 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies ISBN: 0060920467 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 30 January, 1991 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Life in a Medieval Castle by Joseph Gies, Frances Gies ISBN: 006090674X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 June, 1979 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Knight in History by Frances Gies ISBN: 0060914130 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 13 May, 1987 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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