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This is a website printed on paper. It’s elegant paper, typeset with style
and clarity. All nicely edited by writer and literary agent John Brockman, many
of whose clients appear among the scientific luminaries asked to name The
Greatest Inventions of the Past 2000 Years. So, who chose what? And why?
Freeman Dyson goes for hay, which allowed horses to survive winter—and
cities to flourish. Howard Gardner plumps for classical music, Brian Goodwin the
printing press, Susan Blackmore and Colin Blakemore pick the contraceptive pill
and several choose calculus. New Scientist’s Alun Anderson names the
caravel, which made the Portuguese voyages of exploration so swift, zipping
round the coast of Africa in half the time it took the Egyptians. Published by
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £14.99, ISBN 0297645757.