What the Past Did for Us: A Brief History of Ancient Monuments

When we think of plastic surgery, vending machines, computers and fast food, many of us assume that they are modern inventions. Amazingly, these were all invented hundreds, or even thousands, of years ago.

In What the Past Did for Us, presenter and enthusiast Adam Hart-Davis takes us on a journey into the ancient world, revealing an astonishing array of innovations that occurred long before many of us would ever have thought they had.

The Greeks are well-known for inventing the Olympics, but only a few of us are aware that they were responsible for building the first known computer, around 100 BC. The Romans-famous for their road building-also gave us double glazing and central heating. All in all we owe a huge debt to the ancients-from the Chinese who invented paper money and the wheelbarrow, to the early Britons who developed the first housing estate at Skara Brae, home to the world's oldest known lavatories.

Based on the television series What the Past Did for Us, this book will change the way that we look at the everyday inventions we take for granted and until now thought were from the modern age.