MicroHistory: Ideas and inventions that made the modern world.

“Microhistory” is defined as “a study or account of the history of a very specific subject.” Books classified as “microhistory” have explored the origins and effects of everything from cod to the pencil, bananas to zero. This book similarly samples the stories behind the ideas and inventions that made the modern world. Rather than focus an entire book on one topic, however, MicroHistory ranges widely from the secret history of bacon to the invention of plastic, from soap to sunglasses, time zones to refrigerators. These are the stories of how the things we take for granted came to be.Many of the inventors and creators in these pages will be familiar names—Galileo, Fahrenheit, Nobel, Fulton, Otis—although you may not know the twists and turns behind their discoveries. None of these famous people worked in a vacuum, moreover, and you will see how many lesser-known steps preceded their leaps forward. Such breakthroughs also have less-celebrated ripple effects, and the book explores how innovations large and small affected our culture and daily lives.Other “microhistories” told in these pages focus on names you may never have heard of—innovators ignored by “macrohistory,” or lost to the sweep of time: the French traitor who gave us neon signs, the ancient librarian who popularized punctuation, the former office boy who linked America and Europe by cable, the son of slaves who developed the traffic light, the inventor of the “devil’s rope” that tamed the West. Still other stories have no single hero or heroine, but rather reflect the slow and often jittery march of progress that led to modern weddings, swimming pools, underwear, fire extinguishers and so much else we see or use every day.Mistakes were made along the way. Predictions about the future often proved humorously awry. Early prisons sought penance at the expense of rehabilitation. Explosives and rifles continue to take a human toll. Soft drinks and cigarettes, variously promoted as boons to health, turned out to be banes. And despite the countless claims that apocalypse was just around the corner, we’re still here.Exploring these histories up close, however, gives us the chance to learn from the pitfalls of progress. Seeing the breakthroughs that genuinely moved humanity forward, whether by famous inventors or unknown ancients, can shed light on how to better create our own futures. The result might be putting a human on Mars or just better bacon, new vaccines or simply toilets that don’t run.Ultimately, the “micro” of history is in the eye of the beholder. If you want to build a skyscraper, an elevator turns out to be pretty important. If you just want to catch a fish, however, a better rod and reel seems mighty important, too. Even this book would not exist without some of the inventions chronicled here—from the QWERTY keyboard on which it was typed to the modern successor to mail-order catalogs on which you ordered it.Thinking small, it turns out, can sometimes lead to big things. Read on to see how.