This book reveals how James Watt-inventor of the separate-condenser steam engine-became an icon fit for an age of industry and invention. Watt has become synonymous with the spirit of invention, while his last name has long been immortalized as the very measurement of power. But contrary to popular belief, Watt did not single-handedly bring about the steam revolution. His "perfect engine" was as much a product of late-nineteenth-century Britain as it was of the inventor's imagination.
Ben Marsden is a lecturer in cultural history and the history of science at the University of Aberdeen.
An informative and well-organized introduction to Watt... Recommended [for] general readers, lower-division undergraduates, and two-year technical program students. Choice Marsden declaims on the steam engine's putative inventor in a half-bemused, half-impressed tone that will amuse technology buffs in addition to giving them an appreciation for Watt's significance... Crystal clear on technical points, Marsden is archly amusing in discussing how reputations are made. Booklist A lively historical coverage of how the engine evolved and reflected not only the promise, but the problems of the industrial revolution. A fine, wide-ranging history. Bookwatch An engagingly written little book. Eighteenth-Century Scotland
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