As more historians acknowledge the central significance of science and technology in the making of the first Industrial Revolution, the need for a good, general history of the achievements of the Scientific Revolution has grown. Scientific Culture and The Making of the Industrial West explains this historical process by looking at how and why scientific knowledge became such an integral part of the culture of Europe. Seeking to understand the cultural origins of the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century, this text first looks at the scientific culture of the seventeenth...

Ever since the Industrial Revolution debate has raged about the sources of the new, sustained western prosperity. Margaret Jacob here argues persuasively for the critical importance of knowledge in Europe's economic transformation during the period from 1750 to 1850, first in Britain and then in selected parts of northern and western Europe. This is a new history of economic development in which minds, books, lectures and education become central. She shows how, armed with knowledge and know-how and inspired by the desire to get rich, entrepreneurs emerged within an industrial culture wedded...