31 Inventions that Built Our World

This is a new book. Condition: Brand New.

For over 10,000 years, the human race has been busy altering our environment and embracing 'progress', evolving seamlessly from hunter gatherers to the modern urban sophisticates we see ourselves as today.

But what are the ideas and inventions that enabled humanity to become, by the early 21st century, a majority urban species for the first time? How did the essential infrastructure of modern life - the innovations that we barely even notice, but without which our world would fall apart - happen?

With his characteristic wit and boundless curiosity, Jonn Elledge invites us to join him on a fascinating and often surprising tour of the ideas and technologies that made modernity possible. From elevators to electric lighting, street numbering to sewers, he guides us through the history of civilisation itself.

Book details and technical specifications

Format: Paperback / softback
ISBN13: 9781035432776
Published: August 2026

Number of pages: 368
Width: 152 mm
Height: 232 mm
Depth: 30 mm

Publisher: Headline Publishing Group