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100 Diagrams That Changed the
World
by Maria Popova
A visual history of human sensemaking, from cave
paintings to the world wide web.
Since the dawn of recorded history, weve been
using visual depictions to map the Earth, order
the heavens, make sense of time, dissect the
human body, organize the natural world,
perform music, and even concretize abstract
concepts like consciousness and love. 100
Diagrams That Changed the World (UK; public
library) by investigative journalist and
documentarian Scott Christianson chronicles
the history of our evolving understanding of
the world through humanitys most
groundbreaking sketches, illustrations, and
drawings, ranging from cave paintings to The Rosetta Stone to Moses Harriss
color wheel to Tim Berners-Lees flowchart for a mesh information
management system, the original blueprint for the world wide web.
But most noteworthy of all is the way in which these diagrams bespeak an
essential part of culture the awareness that everything builds on what came
before, that creativity is combinatorial, and that the most radical innovations
harness the cross-pollination of disciplines. Christianson writes in the
introduction:
It appears that no great diagram is solely authored by its
creator. Most of those described here were the culmination of
centuries of accumulated knowledge. Most arose from
collaboration (and oftentimes in competition) with others.
Each was a product and a reflection of its unique cultural,
historical and political environment. Each represented specific
preoccupations, interests, and stake holders.
[]
The great diagrams depicted in the book form the basis for
many fields art, astronomy, cartography, chemistry,
mathematics, engineering, history, communications, particle
physics, and space travel among others. More often than not,
however, their creators mostly known, but many lost to
time were polymaths who are creating new technologies or
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