Ever so often arrives a titan of skill supreme and sublime

Whose life and works will with achievement itself rhyme

Such as may have set the stage, mayhaps even defined an age

But our man, if you will, was not of an age, but for all time

We’ve already seen in this mini-series, a trilogy tracing the development of the English language, such as in Episode 35A becoming slimmer, stronger and sleeker having shed the unnecessary baggage of word endings, then in Episode 35B where Chaucer gave respectability to that language, and finally in Episode 35C where despite the hit-and-miss development of spelling, English found a foothold and some unexpected advantages.

We will now meet English’s greatest and smoothest operator, its most effective and eloquent elevator, its most remarkable and rakish reinventor. Yes, we will.

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, most voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Ackroyd, Peter. (2005). Shakespeare: The Biography. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385511391.

* Bate, Jonathan. (2009). Soul of the Age: A Biography of the Mind of William Shakespeare. Random House. ISBN 978-1400062065.

* Greenblatt, Stephen. (2004). Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393050572.

* Shapiro, James. (2005). A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599. Harper Collins.

* Shapiro, James. (2015). The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606. Simon & Schuster.

* Bloom, Harold. (1998). Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Riverhead Books.

* Bryson, Bill. (2007). Shakespeare: The World as Stage. HarperCollins.

* Bevington, David. (2010). Shakespeare and Biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199586479.

* Garber, Marjorie. (2004). Shakespeare After All. Pantheon.

* Crystal, David; Crystal. (2002). Shakespeare’s Words: A Glossary and Language Companion. Penguin.

* Crystal, David. (2012). Spell it out: the singular story of English spelling. Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84668-567-5.

* Crystal, David. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 3rd. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108437738.

Today I’ll discuss, even explain, a very weird phenomenon that we are confronted with every single day. If not justify it, I hope to partly answer a burning question underlying it.

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Crystal, David. (2012). Spell it out: the singular story of English spelling. Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84668-567-5.

* Hellinga, Lotte. (2010). William Caxton and Early Printing in England. British Library. ISBN 978-0712350884.

* Crystal, David. (2019). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. 3rd. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1108437738.

* Crystal, David. (2003). English as a Global Language. 2nd. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521530323.

* Crystal, David; Crystal. (2014). You Say Potato: A Book About Accents. Macmillan.

* Lerer, Seth. (2015). Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231174473.

* Wolfe, Patricia M.. (1972). Linguistic Change and the Great Vowel Shift in English. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520018358.

* Stenbrenden, Gjertrud Flermoen. (2016). Long-Vowel Shifts in English, c.1050–1700: Evidence from Spelling. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107055759.

* Tutschka, Victoria. (2009). Great Vowel Shift: From Middle to Standard English. GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3640489374.

* Lounsbury, Thomas R.. (1909). English Spelling and Spelling Reform. Harper & Brothers. ISBN 978-1164071594.

* Okrent, Arika. (2021). Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don’t Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English Language. Oxford University Press.

So last time we discussed what might appear to be largely a theoretical point - linear perspective, promising to give you a sort of ‘live demo’. So here we are, demo time! I also withheld the name of the guy who essentially ‘invented’ linear perspective. So this article is about him as well.

Finally, as part of this, I will also extend the promise or case I made in the earlier Episode 24. Let’s take the whole thing in perspective!

Read full article here.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* King, Ross. (2000). Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 978-1-62040-193-4.

* Prager, Frank D.; Scaglia. (1970). Brunelleschi: Studies of His Technology and Inventions. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-16031-5.

* Saalman, Howard. (1993). Filippo Brunelleschi: The Buildings. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 978-0-271-01067-0.

* Battisti, Eugenio. (2002). Filippo Brunelleschi. Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-1-904313-12-0.

* Bussagli, Marco; Gregori. (2021). Brunelleschi’s Dome in Florence. Scripta Maneant. ISBN 978-8-89584-797-9.

* Galluzzi, Paolo. (2020). The Italian Renaissance of Machines. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674984394.

* Brotton, Jerry. (2006). The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192801630.

Back in Episode 24, I made a what-might-seem-bold claim about a certain method being the best tool we have to understand reality, with Episode 32 being one case in point. Today, I’ll explore another one - an altogether more visual one.

But first...

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Ruggiero, Guido. (2015). The Renaissance in Italy: A Social and Cultural History of the Rinascimento. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107032545.

* Galluzzi, Paolo. (2020). The Italian Renaissance of Machines. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674984394.

* Brotton, Jerry. (2006). The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192801630.

* Brotton, Jerry. (2002). The Renaissance Bazaar. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0192802651.

* Jardine, Lisa; Brotton. (2000). Global Interests: Renaissance Art between East and West. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1861891662.

What is it that makes genius? How much of it is in the persona of an individual and how much of it comes from, what I’ve called, institutional technologies? How does it organize and amplify knowledge and skill? How does that relate to innovation? Let’s start unpacking this today.

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

*

We tend to use the words ‘invention’ and ‘innovation’ somewhat interchangeably, and we probably don’t pause to think about the difference between the two. Not only are they different, but their difference has a fundamental bearing on our journey here. Perhaps no other story demonstrates this better than that we are going to explore today. Let’s get to it.

But first let’s see what...

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Eisenstein, Elizabeth L.. (1979). The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early-Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521299558.

* Man, John. (2002). The Gutenberg Revolution: How Printing Changed the Course of History. Bantam. ISBN 978-0553819663.

* Abel, Richard. (2011). The Gutenberg Revolution: A History of Print Culture. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-1412849524.

* Kapr, Albert. (1996). Johannes Gutenberg: The Man and His Invention. Scolar Press. ISBN 978-1859280515.

* Scholderer, Victor. (1963). Johann Gutenberg: The Inventor of Printing. Trustees of the British Museum.

* Rees, Fran. (2006). Johannes Gutenberg: Inventor of the Printing Press. Compass Point Books. ISBN 978-0756520748.

* Koscielniak, Bruce. (2003). Johann Gutenberg and the Amazing Printing Press. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0618263516.

* Childress, Diana. (2008). Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 978-0822575207.

* Rudolph, Richard C. (1954). A Chinese Printing Manual, 1776. Ward Ritchie Press.

* McGovern, Melvin P. (1966). Specimen Pages of Korean Movable Types. Dawson’s Book Shop.

* Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. (2005). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. 2nd. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521845434.

* Mortimer, Ian. (2022). Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter. Vintage.

* Wood, Michael. The Story of China. Simon & Schuster.

* The Machine that Made Us - Documentary on the Gutenberg Printing Press with Stephen Fry

On the grand march of life, there are but forces few, Like green shoots in the soil, like early morning dew. After disease and despair, after death and destruction, Nothing comes close to reviving, as the new, as the new.

Welcome to the New Era! Happy New Era!

That’s right, that’s not an error, not a typo. Even as this piece is scheduled to go out as my first release in the new year, it also marks the beginning of a new era!

A new era, in our story of innovation - after all, the new is the very heart of innovation; in our study of achievement - after all, what can be accomplished without trying out something new; in our pursuit of progress - after all, where’s progress if there isn’t something new?

The last episode was...

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Turner, Marion. (2019). Chaucer A European Life. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16009-2.

* Kirkham, Victoria & Maggi, Armando. (2009). Petrarch. A Critical Guide to the Complete Works. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226437415.

* Mortimer, Ian. (2022). Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter. Vintage.

* Belich, James. (2022). The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691215662.

* Herlihy, David. (1997). The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674076136.

* MacCulloch, Diarmaid. (2005). The Reformation: A History. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0143035381.

* Lindberg, Carter. (2020). The European Reformations. 3rd. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1119640813.

* McGrath, Alister E.. (2021). Reformation Thought: An Introduction. 5th. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1119756583.

* Ozment, Steven. (2020). The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. 40th Anniversary. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300203554.

* Scheidel, Walter. (2021). Escape from Rome. The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691216737.

Alright, batten down the hatches, I’m not going to lie, this one is going to be grim. This story is about the greatest natural disaster ever known to strike humanity. It’s not pleasant, so feel free to stop reading and close this right away. That said, this is an essential part of the story of human progress and thus it cannot be left untold. For all the untold misery it did unfold, it’s also a story of how things get better after the worst.

This is the...

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Belich, James. (2022). The World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691215662.

* Bailey, Mark. (2021). After the Black Death: Economy, Society, and the Law in Fourteenth-Century England. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198857884.

* Benedictow, Ole Jørgen. (2004). The Black Death, 1346-1353: The Complete History. Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843830191.

* Kelly, John. (2005). The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780060006938.

* Hatcher, John. (2008). The Black Death: A Personal History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780306815713.

* Lagerås, Per. (2016). Environment, Society and the Black Death. Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781785700545.

* Herlihy, David. (1997). The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674076136.

Reaching the end of this phase in this series, 31-40, before begining a new era in the next ‘decade’, this decade is poised to end climactically on a couple of developments that were bloody consequential, in line with previous curtain-closers at Episode 20 and Episode 30. Fasten your seatbelts!

Read full article here.

Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Kelly, Jack. (2004). Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465037186.

* Andrade, Tonio. (2016). The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691135977.

* Partington, J. R.. (1999). A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801859540.

* Parker, Geoffrey. (1996). The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-1800. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521479585.

It’s been at least 40 episodes now, counting Part-B followups, in our series where I explore, as often mentioned, innovation, progress and achievement in this paradigm where I look upon both material and institutional innovations as “technology”, hence the technocentric, inspired by the original sense of the Ancient Greek tekhne, meaning skill, art. This time, I’m going to do something a bit different from these previous episodes. Let’s go.

Over the course of these episodes, spanning the earliest examples of human innovation, right up to the cusp of the Modern Era (the late Middle Ages if you prefer), we have explored a wide range of artefactual and institutional developments, starting with the simple handaxe and taming fire to plant and animal domestication, notably the horse, to the wheel, bronze, their impressive integration by the Proto-Indo-Europeans, writing, the development of institutions such as the state and the market on its basis, urbanization and in the first stage, its almost complete and utter collapse, and then renewal, iron, a great many intellectual developments including mathematics, the zero, law, language, universities and paper.

Now let’s play Jenga tower and start unpicking some of these and still see what stands!

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Article written by Ash Stuart

Images, voice narration and some footnotes generated by AI

Further Reading & Reference

* Mann, Charles C. (2005). 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. Knopf. ISBN 978-1-4000-3205-1.

* Mann, Charles C. (2009). Before Columbus: The Americas of 1491. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-5453-0727-7.

* Townsend, Camilla. (2019). Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-1906-7756-2.

* Moseley, Michael E. (2001). The Incas and Their Ancestors: The Archaeology of Peru (Revised Edition). Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-5002-8277-8.

* Marcus, Joyce and Williams, Patrick Ryan (Eds.). (2006). Andean Civilization: A Tribute to Michael E. Moseley. UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. ISBN 978-1-9317-4553-6.