When James Burke received an M.A. in English from Oxford University, little did he know that his career path would lead him inexorably in the direction of television – and science. After graduation, he chose what then seemed the logical route — teaching English at the Universities of Bologna and Urbino, and directing the English Schools at Bologna and Rome. He also collaborated on the production of a major Italian-English dictionary (Zanichelli) and edited sections of the Wiedenfeld & Nicholson Encyclopedia of World Art.

But all logic flew out the window when Burke entered broadcasting, starting with his work on Italian radio and as interpreter to the B’Nai Brith representative at Vatican II. In 1965 he made the move into television, first as a reporter for the U.K.”s Granada TV in its Rome bureau. From that moment on, James Burke became fascinated with television and its potential to entertain and then inform. In fact, television has allowed Burke to become a director, producer, lecturer and best-selling author and has given him the opportunity to take his idiosyncratic view of knowledge to a world-wide audience.

In 1966 Burke moved to London and BBC Television. Between 1966 and 1972 Burke produced, wrote and presented a number of major documentaries for BBC TV, and was co-host of a prime-time weekly science series, Tomorrow’s World. He also anchored all the BBC’s coverage of the Apollo moon flights. From 1972-1976 he produced, wrote and presented the weekly prime-time one-man science show, The Burke Special, for which he received the Royal Television Society’s silver and gold medals for excellence in television.

Burke’s fascination with technology and its impact on society led in 1979 to the highly-acclaimed, prize-winning series, Connections, a ten-part science-history series that was filmed in over 19 countries and 150 locations. The program took a series of seemingly unrelated events, people and situations and fit them into a puzzle that helped explain the fundamental process of social and technological change. As Burke notes, “There is always a connection but, if the link has never been made before, nobody knows its there.” When first broadcast in the U.S. on PBS , Connections achieved the highest-ever audience for a documentary series in the United States. To date, the series has been broadcast in more than 50 countries and is on the curriculum of some 350 colleges and universities in the U.S. The companion book has been a be st-seller in hardback and paperback on both sides of the Atlantic.

From Connections and the story of technology, Burke moved to an examination of the brain and the nature of human perception in a six-part series, The Real Thing, a BBC production that has been aired in some 30 countries. Throughout the 1980′s, Burke continued to produce and host several critically acclaimed and award-winning programs for the BBC and PBS including, The Day the Universe Changed, a ten-part series that aired in 1986; he anchored the coverage of the return of Halley’s comet; and produced After the Warming, a provocative two-hour mini-series on The Greenhouse Effect. In 1991, he hosted (for the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and PBS) Masters of Illusion, a program on Renaissance painting.

From 1991 to 1994, Burke wrote and produced the 20-part television series Connections 2, the sequel to Connections, for The Learning Channel, a network of Discovery Communications, Inc. He most recently published a major work on the effect of technology on social evolution called The Axemakers Gift and will soon publish the companion book to the Connections2 series, to be titled The Pinball Effect. The CONNECTIONS CD-ROM, published by Discovery Channel Multimedia, will be available in late February 1996.

Burke’s various books include UK best-sellers Tomorrows World I and Tomorrows World II, as well as the U.K.-U.S.A. best-sellers Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. He has contributed to Vogue, Harper’s, New Scientist and Atlantic Monthly magazines and writes a monthly column for Scientific American. He is also on the U.S. lecture circuit, keynoting for organizations such as IBM, NASA, MIT, VISA, the United Nations and the European Parliament.

He holds two honorary doctorates for his work in communication.

James Burke was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and currently resides in London.

previous page – return to Resources Menu – next page

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I TO L

Incendiary Weapons
Lumsden, Malvern – Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press – 1975

Indiarubber and Gutta Percha
Seeligman, T., Torrilhon, G., and Falconnet, H. – London: Scott, Greenwood & Sons – 1910

Influence of England on the French Agronomes, 1750-1789 (The)
Bourde, Andre J. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press – 1953

Influence of Islam on Mediaeval Europe
Watt, M. – Edinburgh University Press – 1972

Intellectual Origins of the Industrial Revolution (The)
Hill, Christopher – Oxford University Press – 1965

Intelligent Agents
Guilfoyle, Christine, and Warner, Ellie – London – 1994

Interests and the Growth of Knowledge
Barnes, Barry – Routledge & Kegan Paul: London – 1977

lntroduction of the Ironclad Warship (The)
Baxter, J. P. – Cambridge: Harvard University Press – 1933

Introduction to John Law
Lande, Dr. Lawrence – Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Centre for Canadian Studies – 1989

Invention and Innovation in Radio
Machlaurin, W. R. – Macmillan: New York – 1949

Iron and Steel in the Industrial Revolution
Ashton, T. S. – Manchester University Press – 1963

Isaac Casaubon
Pattison, Mark – Oxford: Clarendon Press – 1982

Isaac Newton
Andrade, E. N. – M. Parrish: London – 1950

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Vaughan, Adrian – London: John Murray – 1991

Islamic Pottery
Fehervari, G. – London: Faber & Faber – 1973

Italian City Republics (The)
Waley, David – World University Press: Stamford – 1969

Italian Renaissance in Its Historical Background (The)
Hay, D. – Cambridge University Press – 1960

Izaak Walton: A Short Study
Marriott, Ernest G. – Nottingham: Nottingham Fly Fishers’ Club – 1986

Jacob Berzelius: The Emergence of His Chemical System
Melhado, Evan M. – Stockholm Almqvist & Wiksell International – 198O

James Cook, Maritime Scientist
Stamp, T., and C. Stamp – Whitby, England: Caedmon of Whitby Press – 1978

James Lind
Roddis, Louis H. – London: William Heinemann Ltd. – 1951

James Smithson and the Smithsonian Story
Carmichael, Leonard, and Long, J. C. – New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons – 1965

Jeep (The)
Clayton, Michael – London: David & Charles – 1982

Jenny Lind
Hall-Jones, Roger – Malvern: First Paige – 1992

Jet Age (The)
Gunston, Bill – Arthur Barker: London – 1971

Jews in Colonial Brazil
Wizniter, Arnold – New York: Columbia University Press – 1960

Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic (The)
Shaw, Stanford J. – London: Macmillan – 1991

Joan of Arc
Warner, Marina – London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson – 1981

Johann Gottfried Herder
Koepke, Wulf – Boston: Twayne Publishers – 1987

Johann Gutenberg: The Inventor of Printing
Scholderer, Victor – British Museum Publications – 1970

Jonathan Swift, Major Prophet
Rowse, A. L. – London: Thames & Hudson – 1975

John Arbuthnot
Beattie, Lester M. – Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press – 1935

John Evelyn and His World
Bowle, John – London: Routledge & Kegan Paul -1981

John Galt
Gordon, Alistair – Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd – 1972

John Harrison and the Problem of Longitude
Hobden, Heather, and Mervyn Hobden – Lincoln, England: Cosmic Elk – 1989

John Hunter
Qvist, George – London: William Heinemann Medical Books Ltd. – 1981

John Locke
O’Connor, D. J. – Penguin: Harmondsworth – 1952

John Ray Naturalist: His Life and Works
Raven, Charles E. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press – 1942

John Smeaton FRS
Skempton, A. W. – London Thomas Telford Ltd. – 1981

John Wilkinson
Davies, Ron – London: The Dulston Press – 1987

John Wilkinson, Ironmaster
Dickinson, H. W. – Ulverston, England: Hume Kitchin – 1914

Joseph Dalton Hooker
Turrill, William B. – London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. – 1963

Joseph Priestley: Adventurer in Science and Champion of Truth
Gibbs, F. W. – London: Thomas Nelson & Sons – 1965

Josiah Wedgwood
Burton. Anthony – London: Andre Deutsch – 1976

Kammerlingh Onnes Memorial Lecture, in Journal of the Chemical Society, Vol. 1, pp. 1193-1209
Cohen, Ernst Julius. – 1920

Kant’s Life and Thought
Cassirer, Ernst – New Haven: Yale University Press – 1981

Karl Marx: His Life and Thought
McLellan, David – Macmillan: London – 1973

Keepers of the Gate
Pitkin, Thomas M. – New York University Press – 1975

Kepler
Casper, Max – Abelard-Schuman: New York and London – 1959

Knight and Chivalry (The)
Barber, Richard – Longman: London – 1970

Lacquer: An International History
Bourne, J. et al. – Marlborough, England: Crowood Press – 1984

Laurence Oliphant, 1829-1888
Taylor, Anne – Oxford: Oxford University Press – 1982

Leeuwenhoek Legacy (The)
Ford, Brian J. – London: Biopress – 1991

Leibniz
Aiton, E. J. – Bristol, England: Adam Hilger – 1985

Leon Battista Alberti
Gadol, J. K. – University of Chicago Press – 1970

Liberty Ships
Sawyer, L. A. – New York: Lloyd’s of London – 1985

Liebig and After Liebig
Moulton, F. R. – Pennsylvania: Science Press Co. – 1942

Life and Times of Titian (The)
Bortoloan, Liana – London: Hamlyn Publishing Group -1968

Life and Times of Tycho Brahe (The)
Gade, John Allyne – New York: Princeton University Press – 1947

Life in the English Country House
Girouard, Mark – Yale University Press – 1978

Life of James Beaumont Neilson, F.R.S.
Mackenzie, Thomas B. – Glasgow: West of Scotland Iron and Steel Institute – 1928

Life of James Watt
Muirhead, J. P. – London: Archival Facsimiles – 1987

Life of J. F. W. des Barres (The)
Webster, John C. – New Brunswick, Canada: Shediac – 1933

Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (The)
Halsband, Robert – New York: Oxford University Press – 1960

Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury (A)
Corbin, Diana – London – 1888

L. J. M. Daguerre
Gernsheim, Helmut, and Gernsheim, Alison. – London: Secker & Warburg – 1956

Lloyds Register of Shipping 1760-1960
Black, George – Lloyds Register of Shipping: London – 1960

London and North Western Railway (The)
Dorman, C. C. – Priory Press: Hove – 1975

Longbow: A Social and Military History
Hardy, Robert – Sparkford, England: Patrick Stephens Ltd. – 1992

Long-Haired Kings (The)
Wallace-Hadrill, J. H. – Methuen: London – 1962

Lord Cochrane
Lloyd, Christopher – Longman: London – 1947

Louis Pasteur
Cluny, Hilaire – London: Souvenir Press – 1965

Low Bridge! Folklore and the Erie Canal
Wyld, Lionel D. – Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press – 1962

Luther
Stevenson, Edward – Willem Janzoon Blaeu. – 1914

Face of the Sun (The)
Newton, H. W. – London: Pelican – 1958

“Fahrenheit and Roemer”, in Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 36, No. 11, 361-72
Dorsey, N. Ernest. – 1946

Ferdinand Braun
Kurylo, F. – Cambridge: MIT Press – 1981

Ferdinand de Lesseps, a Biographical Study
Beatty, Charles – London: Eyre and Spottiswoode -1956

Fertiliser and Food Production
Keeble, Frederick – Oxford University Press – 1932

Fields of Force
Berkson, William – Routledge & Kegan Paul: London – 1974

Fifteenth Century (The)
Aston, Margaret – Thames & Hudson: London – 1968

Fifty Years of X-Ray Diffraction
Ewald, Peter – Utrecht, Netherlands: International Union of Crystallography – 1962

Financial Revolution in England
Dickson, P. G. M. – Macmillan: London – 1967

Firearms
Ricketts, Howard – Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London – 1964

First 3 Minutes (The)
Weinberg, Steve – London: Andre Deutsch – 1977

First One Hundred Years of American Geology (The)
Merrill, G. P. – New Hawen, Conn.: Philip Hamilton .McMillan Memorial Publishing Fund – 1924

Five Hundred Years of Printing
Steinberg, S. H. – Pelican: Harmondsworth – 1955

Flesh and Bones, The Passions and Legacies of John Napier
Shennan, Francis – Edinburgh: Napier Polytechnic – 1989

Flora MacDonald
Vining, Elizabeth Gray – London: Geoffrey Bles – 1967

Flora MacDonald: The Most Royal Rebel
Douglas, Hugh – Stroud: Alan Sutton – 1993

Follow the Whale
Sanderson, Ivan T. – Cassell: London – 1958

Food in History
Tannahill, Reay – Eyre Methuen: London – 1973

Food in History
Tannahill, Reay – London: Penguin – 1988

Forerunners of Darwin
Glass, B. (ed.) – Johns Hopkins University Press – 1959

Forests and Sea Power
Albion, R. G. – Archon Books: London – 1965

Fossil Hunters (The)
Andrews, Henry N. – Ithaca: Cornell University Press – 1980

Founder of Modern Psychology
Hall, G. S. – New York: Appleton & Co. – 1912

Frames of Meaning: The Social Construction of Extraordinary Science
Collins, H. M., and Pinch, T. J. – Routledge & Kegan Paul: London – 1982

Francis Galton: The Life and Work of a Victorian Genius
Forrest, D. W. – London: Elek – 1974

Frederick the Great
Duffy, C. – London: Routledge & Kegan Paul – 1985

Frederick W. Taylor, Vols I, II
Copley, F. Barkley – A. M. Kelly: New York – 1923

French Aid to the American Revolution
Scott, Samuel F. – Ann Arbor, Mich.: William L. Clements Library – 1976

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn and His Time, 1778-1852
Uerberhorst, Horst – Munich: Heinz Moos Verlag – 1982

From Copernicus to Einstein
Reichenbach, Hans – Dover Publications: New York – 1980

From Medical Politics to Social Medicine
Rosen, E. – Cambridge University Press – 1948

From Memory to Written Record
Clanchy, M. T. – Edward Arnold: London – 1979

From Spark to Satellite: A History of Radio Communication
Leinwoll, S. – New York: Scribner’s – 1979

From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932
Hounshell, David – Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press – 1984

From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe
Koyre, Alexandre – Johns Hopkins University Press – 1957

Galileo
Drake, Stillman – Oxford University Press – 1980

Gambling Yesterday and Today
Jones, J. Philip – David and Charles: Newton Abbot – 1973

Gardens of Illusion: The Genius of Andre Le Nostre
Hazlehurst, F. Hamilton – Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press – 1980

Gauss. A Biographical Study
Buhler, W. K. – Berlin: Springer – 1981

Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact
Fleck, Ludwik – University of Chicago Press – 1979

Genesis and Geology
Gillispie, C. C. – Harvard University Press – 1951

Genesis of Relativity
Swenson Jr, L. S. – Burt Franklin: New York – 1979

Genesis of the Copernican World (The)
Blumenberg, Hans. Trans. Robert M. Wallace – Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press – 1987

George Westinghouse
Leupp, F. E. – Norwood, Mass.: Norwood Press – 1919

Georges Cuvier, Zoologist: A Study in the History of Evolution Theory
Coleman, W. – Harvard University Press – 1964

German Nation and Martin Luther (The)
Dickens, A. G. – Fontana: London – 1974

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Craven, William G. – 1981

Glass
Savage, George – Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London – 1965

God’s Englishman
Hill, Christopher – Harmondsworth, England: Penguin – 1972

Gowland Hopkins
Baldwin, E. – London: Van den Berghs Ltd. – 1962

Great Chain of Being (The)
Lovejoy, Arthur O. – Cambridge: Harvard University Press – 1936

Great Siege (The)
Bradford, Ernle – London: Hodder & Stoughton – 1961

Great Wine Blight (The)
Ordish, George – London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. – 1972

Greeks in Ionia and the East (The)
Cook, J. M. – Thames & Hudson – 1962

G. T. Fechner and Psychology
Brozek, Josef, and Horst Gundlach – Passau, Germany: Passavia – 1988

Guglielmo Marconi
Gunston, D. – Geneva: Edito-Service – 1970

Gunpowder Industry (The)
Crocker, Glenys. – Haverfordwest: Shire Publications Ltd. – 1986

Guns and Sails in the Early Phase of European Expansion
Cipolla, Carlo – Collins: London – 1965

Gustavus Adolphus and the Rise of Sweden
Roberts, Michael – London: English Universities Press, Ltd. – 1973

Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology
Smith, Merritt Roe – Cornell University Press – 1977

Haven Finding Art (The)
Taylor, E. G. R. – Hollis and Carter: London – 1956

Heinrich Pestalozzi, Father of Modern Pedagogy
Downs, Robert B. – Boston: Twayne Publishers – 1975

Henri Dunant
Brown, Pamela – Dublin: Wolfhound Press -1991

Herbart and Herbartianism: An Educational Ghost Story
Dunkel, H. B. – Chicago: University of Chicago Press – 1970

Heretic’s Feast (The)
Spencer, Colin – London: Fourth Estate – 1993

Herman von Helmholtz
Koenigsberger, Leo – Oxford, England: Clarendon Press – 1906

Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science
Cahan, David (ed.) – Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press – 1993

Hiroshima
Yass, Marion – Wayland Publishers: Hove, Sussex – 1976

History and Theory of Vitalism (The)
Driesch, Hans – London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd. – 1914

History of Astronomy (A)
Pannekoek, A. – Allen and Unwin: London – 1961

History of Astronomy from Herschel to Hertzsprung (The)
Herrmann, D. B. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press – 1973

History of Ballet and Its Makers (A)
Lawson, Joan – London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd – 1964

History of Calculus and Its Conceptual Development (The)
Boyer, Carl B. – Dover Publications: New York – 1949

History of Clocks and Watches (The)
Bruton, Eric – London: Orbis – 1979

History of Egypt (A)
Breasted, J. H. – Hodder and Stoughton: London – 1946

History of Electricity and Magnetism (A)
Meyer, Herbert W. – MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass. – 1971

History of Experimental Psychology (A)
Boring, Edwin B. – New York: Century – 1929

History of Hydraulics
Rouse, Hunter and Ince, Simon – Dover Publications: London – 1957

History of Luminescence (A)
Harvey, E. Newton – American Philosophical Society: Philadelphia – 1957

History of Photography
Eder, Josef Maria – New York: Dover Publications – 1978

History of Science
Clagett, Marshall – University of Wisconsin Press – 1969

History of Statistics (The)
Stigler, Stephen M. – Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press – 1986

History of Technology (A)
Singer, C. et al. (eds) – Oxford University Press – 1954

History of the Arabs, 10th ed.
Hitti, Philip K. – Macmillan: London – 1970

History of the Barometer (The)
Middleton, W. E. Knowies – Johns Hopkins: Baltimore – 1964

History of the Cotton Manufacture
Baines, Edward. – New York: Augustus M. Kelley – 1966

History of the Frozen Meat Trade (A)
Critchell, J. T. and Raymond, J. – Constable: London – 1912

History of the Lathe
Woodbury, R. S. – MIT Press: Cambridge, Mass. – 1961

History of the Rubber Industry
Dawson, T. R., ed. – Cambridge, England: W. Heffer & Sons – 1953

History of the Theatre
Brockett, Oscar G. – London: Allyn & Bacon -1995

History of the Telescope
King, H. C. – London: Charles Griffin & Co. – 1955

History of the Thermometer (A)
Knowles Middleton, W. E. – Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press – 1966

Hitler
Fest, Joachim C. – Harmondsworth, England: Penguin – 1977

House of Krupp (The)
Batty, Peter – London: Secker & Warburg – 1966

How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs
O’Leary, De Lacy – Routledge and Kegan Paul: London – 1949

Humbug, the Art of P. T. Barnum
Harris, Neil – Chicago: University of Chicago Press – 1981

Hundred Years War (The)
Neillands, Robin – London & New York: Routledge – 1990

CONNECTIONS (VIDEO)

The Trigger Effect
Death in the Morning
Distant Voices
Faith in Numbers
The Wheel of Fortune
Thunder in the Skies
The Long Chain
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
Countdown
Yesterday, Tomorrow and You

CONNECTIONS (BOOK)

The Trigger Effect
The Road from Alexandria
Distant Voices
Faith in Numbers
The Wheel of Fortune
Fuel to the Flame
The Long Chain
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry
Lighting the Way
Inventing the Future

THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED (VIDEO)

It Started with the Greeks
Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason
Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance
Printing Transforms Knowledge
Science Revises the Heavens
The Factory and Marketplace Revolution
Social Impacts of New Medical Knowledge
Darwin’s Revolution
The New Physics: Newton Revised
Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality

THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED (BOOK)

The Way we Are
In the Light of the Above
Point of View
A Matter of Fact
Infinitely Reasonable
Credit Where It’s Due
What The Doctor Ordered
Fit To Rule
Making Waves
Worlds Without End

THE AXEMAKER’S GIFT (BOOK)

GETTING AN EDGE

Getting an Edge
Token Contribution
The ABC of Logic

CUTTING UP THE WORLD

Faith of Power
Fit to Print
New Worlds
Root and Branch
Class Act
Doctor’s Order

PICKING UP THE PIECES

Journey’s End
Forward to the Past

CONNECTIONS 2 (VIDEO)

Revolutions
Sentimental Journeys
Getting It Together
Whodunit?
Something for Nothing
Echoes of the Past
Photo Finish
Separate Ways
High Times
Deja Vu
New Harmony
Bright Ideas
Hot Pickle
The Big Spin
Bright Ideas
Making Waves
Routes
One Word
Sign Here
Better Than the Real Thing
Flexible Response

THE PINBALL EFFECT (BOOK)

Making Waves
Revolutions
Photo Finish
Better Than The Real Thing
Hot Pickle
Flexible Response
High Time
Getting It Together
The Big Spin
Something for Nothing
Sentimental Journeys
Deja Vu
Separate Ways
Routes
New Harmony
Whodunit?
Sign Here
Bright Ideas
Echoes of the Past
One Word

CONNECTIONS 3 (VIDEO)

Feedback
What’s In A Name?
Drop The Apple
An Invisible Object
Life Is No Picnic
Elementary Stuff
A Special Place
Fire From The Sky
Hit The Water
In Touch

THE KNOWLEDGE WEB (BOOK)

Feedback
What’s In A Name?
Drop The Apple
An Invisible Object
Life Is No Picnic
Elementary Stuff
A Special Place
Fire From The Sky
Hit The Water
In Touch

CIRCLES (BOOK)

Bit of a Flutter
Satisfied Customers
Folies de Grandeur
A Lot of Baloney
Impressions
Making Your Mark
What Goes Around Comes Around
Sweet Dreams
Waving the Flag
The Silk Circuit
Out of Gas
Ordinary Buffoons
Breakfast Thoughts
Stones and Bones
Is This Essay Noticeably Different?
Showtime
Cool Stuff
Revolutionary Matters
Don’t Forget This One
Take Two Acronyms
The Buck Starts Here
Healthy Blooms
And Now the Weather
On Track
Is There Anybody There?
Turkish Delight
Sheer Poetry
Lucky He Missed
Cheers
What’s in a Name?
Feathered Friends
Scribble, Scribble
Heavy Stuff
Tick Tock
Rebellious Affairs
Local Color
Does This Take You Back?
Oops
Tea, Anyone?
A Light Little Number
Lend Me Your Ear
Entente Cordiale
Zzzzzzz
A Few Notes
Sound Ideas
Or Maybe Not
A Matter of Degree
Room with (Half) a View
Various, Unrequited
The O Zone

TWIN TRACKS (BOOK)

1804: Attack on Tripoli to Fish Sticks
1760: Fake Epic to Organ Transplants
1805: Battle of Trafalgar to Laser
1726: Encyclopedia to Vitamins
1792: Juniper Hall to Jet Aircraft
1750: Smallpox to Big Bang
1784: Sanskrit to Cybernetics
1610: Santa Catharina to Spectoscopy
1686: Political Jingle to Nylon
1703: Kit-Kat Club to Sunglasses
1770: Falklands War to Television
1724: Stone Age Boy to Photocopier
1745: Leyden Jar to Clingwrap
1790: Philadelphia General Advisor to Chemotherapy
1664: Lens Grinder to Hairdressing
1773: Boston Tea Party
1742: Bow Street, London, to Bar Code
1739: The Grand Tour to Liquid Crystal display
1795: Man in the Iron Mask to Hovercraft
1673: Siege of Maastricht to Vending Machines
1786: The Marriage of Figaro to Stealth Fighter
1780: Edinburgh Oyster Club to DNA
1770: Church Sermon to Helicopter
1771: Pottery to Neon Signs
1676: Theology to Skyscraper

This newsletter and previous ones are available on-line as web pages at:
www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_archive.html

Please pass this newsletter along to other James Burke enthusiasts you know about, who may be unaware of its existence.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this newsletter comes from a wide variety of sources and is selected for publication solely by the newsletter’s editor/creator Tom Palmer. It is the editor’s intent to address the common interests of the individuals who appreciate Mr. Burke’s public offerings and to supply them with information that relates to any topic Mr. Burke has covered. Please be advised that James Burke does NOT necessarily endorse or associate himself with the information or organizations mentioned in the James Burke Fan Companion website and periodic e-mail news updates. Likewise, the information contained in this publication does NOT necessarily represent the views and opinions of Mr. Burke.

Welcome to the 9th issue of the James Burke Fan Companion news update. I suppose you could call this the “back to school” issue. Of course, when it comes to James Burke, every day provides a bit of education.

So, after last month’s brain twisting essays, I am going to give you a break. As promised I am going to concentrate on links and books this time and leave the editorial content to the future.

I’m sure you have enough to think about. Therefore, relax and read on.

BURKE NEWS

———
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS (UPCOMING)

Again, here are the two speaking engagements for late 2002:

10/30/02: Discovery Centre – Halifax, Nova Scotia – i-i-i conference

11/02/02: West Chester University
(still no link on their website calendar)

———
For information on scheduling James Burke for a future speaking engagement, please contact his lecture agent Royce Carlton.
info@roycecarlton.com
www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/burke.html

———
A PERSONAL REQUEST FROM MR. BURKE

James has a trusted business associate that he would like to call your attention to and recommend.

“I’ve worked on and off for 11 years (on TV shows and books) with Carolyn Doree and she has a fallow period coming up between jobs for a few months from September and could do with some work. — She’s a brilliant researcher, prolific and accurate, has London Univ. Ph D in English, is really great on general academic research, lives in Oxford (and all the libraries there), and is absolutely first class. I can’t recommend her too highly.”

To contact Ms. Doree about potential work, please send a message to her, via me, at: info@palmersguide.com

———
THE KNOWLEDGE WEB PROJECT

The following is a report sent to me by Knowledge Web project leader Patrick McKercher regarding events that recently occured.
———
James Burke Knowledge Web Update

July was spent in intensive preparation for James’ visit to Washington and California. Gary Kelley did an excellent job organizing an intense effort to upgrade the database with Bruce Lowenthal. The new interface will streamline the importing of new biographies into the database and allow online editing, which is especially critical with our growing and widely distributed content team.

Seattle Teachers’ Workshop:

The Edtech committee did a fine job refining the schedule and suggesting optimum ways of getting feedback for the teachers workshops. The Seattle workshop was the result of the serendipious synchronicity which is becoming a recurring theme. Some Canadian teachers near Seattle had joined the Edtech team, and are creating a yearlong course based on the KWeb. Then a longtime advisor to James on education, Judy Kane, called to say she was working with a great group of teachers in Seattle and suggested we do a workshop.

Still, the experience in Seattle exceeded everyone’s expectations. The highlight of the week was when James arrived on Thursday to work with the teachers and students. Kathleen Ludgate and Bridget Mahoney had 8th to 12th grade students use the KWeb to assess the effect of the banana on US foreign policy. What was astonishing about this was with almost no instruction on the use of the KWeb, or the Inspiration mindmapping software used to create their own KWeb, in less than an hour the students had created a compelling network of ideas encompassing not only economic concepts such as dependency and infrastructure, but also politics, history, and even popular culture (a postage stamp with volcanos convinced people to put the canal in Panama rather than Nicaragua). In short, the students’ enthusiasm and results were a complete validation of the utility of the KWeb in schools.

Thursday afternoon, Steve DiPaola of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia gave a demonstration his amazing 3D avatars and Muse 3D software, which could add very compelling visuals to the Knowledge Web interface — particularly attractive to young people ( see www.dipaola.org/steve and musecorp.com ). The last day of the workshop was an extensive discussion for how to integrate the KWeb into the school.

San Jose Meetings:

Now that the basic foundation for the database has been established, the next step is to create the visualization software that will give the user access to the information in a compelling way. Sunday morning, old and new volunteers interested in the graphical interface gathered at TheTech to talk about the next steps.

Lecture:

Well over three hundred people (team members, teachers, folks from a variety of Silicon Valley companies, as well as organizations such as SETI, NASA, SRI, etc) gathered at TheTech Museum of Innovation in San Jose for an inspiring talk by James which provided the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the Knowledge Web, as well as outlining why it will cultivate the kinds of thinking which can help us solve problems of increasing complexity and urgency.

San Jose Teachers’ Workshop:

The session in San Jose had a different constituency and goal from the one in Seattle. Our diverse group here included teachers from middle school to community college, a librarian, a regional education technologist, and a curriculum developer from SETI. After briefing them on the Seattle session and walking through a demo of the KW, we had two days of valuable discussions. This will provide the basis for recruiting more teachers, and more curriculum development, and a graduate level online course.

Keep an eye on k-web.org for further updates and information on how you can participate.
———
As always, Mr. Burke would appreciate help from Graduate Students and Academics in researching some of the 2200 biographies for the online Knowledge Web project.

If you know anyone who would like to volunteer their time to this fantastic project, please send an e-mail to the K-Web team leader, Patrick McKercher at:

volunteers@k-web.org

Mr. Burke does has an informational website in place now that begins to describe the project. You can visit it at:

www.k-web.org

TV SCHEDULE (UPCOMING)
———
As often as these run, James Burke should seem like a member of the family by now.
The Connections 2 & 3 series continue to be rebroadcast on The (Discovery) Science Channel through September!

science.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=46

Connections 2 – The Science Channel – Now thru at least Sep. 18, 2002
FYI – series beginning = “Revolutions”, series conclusion = “Flexible Response”

Connections 3 – The Science Channel – Now thru at least Oct. 01, 2002
FYI – series beginning = “Feedback”, series conclusion = “In Touch”

Note: I do not know if either Connections series will be played in proper sequence or if the eventual final episodes scheduled will be the actual final episode for each series. Therefore, if you are planning to videotape these programs, don’t necessarily wait for the beginning episodes to cycle through.
———
science.discovery.com

WAYS TO COMMUNICATE

Want to communicate with other Burke fans? Don’t forget about the James Burke newsgroup and Yahoo “group” where you can post messages.

There is a growing list of fans in the Yahoo group and I see that a few messages are appearing from time to time. Great!

alt.fan.james-burke

groups.yahoo.com/group/connectionswithjamesburke/

MESSAGES FROM READERS AND VISITORS

Below are a couple of messages I have received, which I thought you would enjoy. One is in response to my previous “Burkespace” essay and the other is from an individual wanting to sign up for the newsletter. On occasion, I receive interesting stories about how Mr. Burke has affected people’s lives. I think this is a good example.
———
Subject: “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things”

Hi. I was impressed with the essay in your latest email newsletter, although I must admit that my eyes glazed over a couple of times. Think nothing of it; that happens a lot when I try to follow something that abstract on 6 hours of sleep.

It did remind me, though, of a couple of related concepts: Douglas Adams’ “fundamental interconnectedness of all things” and what’s commonly called the Kevin Bacon Game. I thought I’d mention these to you in case you haven’t already considered these ideas in light of your Connections model.

First, the Adams bit. From Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, page 115:

“I’m very glad you asked me that, Mrs Rawlinson. The term ‘holistic’ refers to my conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. I do not concern myself with such petty things as fingerprint powder, telltale pieces of pocket fluff and inane footprints. I see the solution to each problem as being detectable in the pattern and web of the whole. The connections between causes and effects are often much more subtle and complex than we with our rough and ready understanding of the physical world might naturally suppose, Mrs Rawlinson.

“Let me give you an example. If you go to an acupuncturist with toothache he sticks a needle instead into your thigh. Do you know why he does that, Mrs Rawlinson?

“No, neither do I, Mrs Rawlinson, but we intend to find out. A pleasure talking to you, Mrs Rawlinson. Goodbye.”

Aside from using “the fundamental interconnectedness of all things” as a scam to justify trips to Bermuda in search of a client’s 19-year-old cat, Dirk and his creator get a lot of mileage out of odd connections and apparent coincidences. This is true of the Hitchhiker’s books as well, in which Arthur Dent seems to be somehow connected to everything important that happens in the multiverse.

I suppose you could say something similar about most fiction, though. Fiction is basically the creative rearrangement of human experience into a connected narrative structure of characters and events, conflict and resolution. In my own nearly-completed Mâvarin books, various characters have separate but related storylines, which overlap and break apart, with long stretches of parallel development in which their individual conflicts are connected by theme and/or the mutual source of their difficulties. As Del is being poisoned by his family’s enemies, his twin is escaping from more of those enemies elsewhere. As Rani is discovering his long-lost father and what it means to be a tengrem, Carli is rescuing his long-lost father and discovering what it means to be a prince. As Fabi is suffering from amnesia and a loss of self, Darsuma is suffering from a similar loss of self for entirely different reasons. And so on. It’s all in the connections, between characters, between plot threads, between related explorations of the same themes.

As for the Kevin Bacon/Six Degrees of Separation game, I just read something about this. I think I’ll go see if I can find that and paste it in here.

Well, I couldn’t find it. Basically it was a claim that there are specific actors who are much more connected than Bacon is. I did a Google search, though. You may find the results amusing and/or instructive:

Google Search: Kevin bacon game
www.google.com/search…Kevin+bacon+game

I was especially intrigued by this listing:

Kevin Bacon, the Small-World, and Why It All Matters – Volume 14 Number 2 www.santafe.edu/sfi…smallWorld.html

The Kevin Bacon Game is a curious thing to be sure.

The actual article springboards from the game itself to the “small world” phenomenon. What is that if not connections at work?

Regards, KFB
———
Dear Mr. Palmer,

I am a huge fan of Mr. Burke, I watch his programs on TV regularly, and program my vtr for when I can’t get in front of the tube. I hold a masters degree, unfortunatley, I suffered a massive heart attack, and have been forced to retire….the upshot is that I have a fair amount of time on my hands, and James Burke helps fill the void of enlightenment I was so used to as a post graduate student. I suspect that Burke and I would have hit of off quite nicely, as “my mental head” has taken him to heart as a kindred spirit. I wish he and I had at some time met and become fast friends.

The doc’s said I should have rightly passed on in ’99 when I had the big one… I’m glad I survived if only to continue on as a fan. I was born and reared in Indiana, not too far from Harmony—- I hope James had a good time in “The Hoosier State” and was well treated during his visit. I think Burke is wonderful….and if you get the chance, please pass along my best wishes for his continued success and that I hope God Blesses him for the wonderful work he does to both entertain and educate… He truely is a gift to us all, and I think it would be “way cool” for him to know how much he is appreciated. I’ll be watching in Sunny Florida….

Sincerely yours, BWA

WEBMASTER NEWS

Hi! I am currently creating a personal on-line art gallery. Why not go have a look-see and tell me what you think. — Tom

www.palmersguide.com/gallery

LINKS OF INTEREST TO BURKE FANS
Before I go into the links I have uncovered this month, I wanted to call your attention to a facsinating new search engine a friend of mine pointed out to me a couple of days ago. It’s called Kartoo and it’s really cool. Its format is something James Burke fans should really appreciate.

www.kartoo.com

Since James is so into technology, I have been wanting to do a search for links relating to inventions and their patents. Aside from general patent office information, I searched for several modern inventions mentioned in the original Connections series. Here are my current finds.

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office – Patent Full-Text and Full-Page Image Databases

Ibiblio – Index To Manual Of Classification of Patents

Piper’s International Design Classifications

The History Of Patents

A History Of The United States Patent Office

Significant Historical Patents Of The United States

Delphion’s Gallery Of Historic Patents

First US Patent

BUBL Links

Google category – Invention and Innovation

Google category – Engineering and Technology

Greatest Engineering Achievements Of The 20th Century

Inventor’s Museum

Invent Now – National Inventors Hall Of Fame

History Of Inventions Index

Contemporary Black Inventors

International Black Inventions Museum

Inventor / Invention Index

Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions

Who Invented The … ?

Invention Facts And Myths

Inventions: A Czech Site

Today In Technology History

Today In Science History

Library Of Congress: Today In History Archives

Virtualology – Hall Of History Archives

100 Years Of Design

It’ll Never Work!
It’ll Never Work! – 2

Useless Information

ExpoMuseum

Internet Modern History Sourcebook

The Steam Engine Library

Printing: History & Development

Air Conditioning Anniversary Story

History Of The Elevator

Elevator Museum Timeline

History Of Radar

Re: Bell’s Telephone Patent

Bell Labs Physical Science Timeline

Adventures In Cybersound: Scientists & Engineers

History Of The Telephone

The Steam Loom

The Power Loom

Jacquard’s Punched Card

Recording Devices On Exhibit At The NMAH

Timeline Of Textile Machinery

History Of The Apple Computer

Brief History Of Computing

History of Computers

The Telescope

Who really Invented The Telescope?

Did Galileo Invent The Telescope?

The Men That Made The Water Closet

Bath & Toilet History

History Of Plumbing

History Of The Automobile

Phosphorous: From Urine To Fire

History Of Elastic

Polymers & Serendipity

Mauve: The Color Purple

Patent For The First Synthetic Plastic

History Of Plastics

History Of Plastics

History Of The Can

Milestones In U.S. Food and Drug Law History

Brief History Of Fruit Jars And Preserving

Can Central History Timeline

Historical Brewing Equipment

Media Profiles Timeline

Cinetext Time

Chronomedia Years

Paper History

Edison US Patent Collection

Complete History Of The Discovery Of Cinematography

Motion Picture Inventions

Thomas Edison Patents

Edison: Timeline For Inventing Entertainment

History Of The Light Bulb

The Lightbulb

Thomas Edison

Television Patent

History Of Television

Invention Of Television

The Birth Of Television

Who Is The Inventor Of Television?

Moog Synthesizer Patents

The Venus Project

A TRIP TO THE BOOKSTORE

Here are the results of yet another exciting trip to the local Barnes & Noble and Discovery Channel Store.

The New York Times Circuits: How Electronic Things Work – Henry Fountain

The Design Of Everyday Things – Donald A. Norman

Wondrous Contrivances: Technology at the Threshold – Merritt Ierley

Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale – Judith Hooper

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong – James W. Loewen

The Book: A History of the Bible – Christopher De Hamel

Machine Nature: The Coming Age of Bio-Inspired Computing – Moshe Sipper

Rex Appeal: The Amazing Story of Sue, the Dinosaur That Changed Science, the Law, and My Life – Peter L. Larson

Star Trek: I’m Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact – William Shatner

World Design: The Best in Classic and Contemporary Furniture, Fashion, Graphics and More – Uta Abendroth

Geographica’s World Reference: Over 1,000 Pages of Global Information

Great Failures Of The Extremely Successful – Steve Young

Learn to Power Think: A Practical Guide to Positive and Effective Decision Making – Caterina Rando

Head First: 10 Ways to Tap into Your Natural Genius – Tony Buzan

EBAY LISTINGS (CURRENTLY UP FOR SALE)
As found on eBay Sep. 03, 2002
www.ebay.com
———
VIDEOS

The Day The Universe Changed – 1 copy
Connections 1 – 2 copies

———
BOOKS

Connections – 3 copies

———
CD-ROM GAMES

Connections: A Mind Game – 4 copies

DVD, VIDEO, BOOK, AUDIOBOOK LIST (ORDER ON-LINE)
———
DVDS

Connections 1

Connections 2

Connections 3

———
VIDEOTAPES

Connections

Connections 2

Connections 3

After The Warming

———
BOOKS

The Axemaker’s Gift: Technology’s Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture

Circles: Fifty Round-Trips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture

Connections – (out of print)

The Day the Universe Changed

The Knowlegde Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back–And Other Journeys Through Knowledge

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible and Other Journeys Through Knowledge – (paperback)

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made theCarburetor Possible and Other Journeys Through Knowledge – (hardcover)

Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World

———
AUDIOTAPES

The Axemaker’s Gift: A Double -Edged History of Human Culture

Connections

The Day the Universe Changed

The Pinball Effect: Journeys Through Knowledge – The Extraordinary Patterns of Change That Link Past, Present, and Future

———
DIGITAL AUDIO CLIPS

audible.com

VISIT PALMER’S JAMES BURKE FAN COMPANION WEBSITE
www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke

SEND COMMENTS AND NEWS ITEMS TO:
info@palmersguide.com

PRODUCED BY PALMER ONLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

TAKE CARE UNTIL THE NEXT ISSUE – TOM P.

This newsletter and previous ones are available on-line as web pages at:
www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_archive.html

Welcome to the third installment of the newsletter. I hope you are finding these of interest and value. I am certainly having a wonderful time learning more about Mr. Burke through the process of doing research on him and his materials.

First, I would like to thank all of you out there who have taken an interest in Mr. Burke’s Knowledge Web project and have volunteered to help him make it a reality. I anxiously await the results of everyone’s efforts.

Secondly, I have received several fascinating tales from subscribers who have shared their personal moments of enlightenment after being exposed to “Connections” or “The Day The Universe Changed”. Thanks much for those.

DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this newsletter comes from a wide variety of sources and is selected for publication solely by the newsletter’s editor/creator Tom Palmer. Please be advised that James Burke does NOT necessarily endorse or associate himself with the information or organizations mentioned in the James Burke Connection website and periodic e-mail news updates. Likewise, the information contained in this publication does NOT necessarily represent the views and opinions of Mr. Burke.

JBC WEBSITE NEWS
———
Now, as for new items at the James Burke Connection website, there are plenty. At least my aching fingers tell me a lot has been done. During the month of February, I have started to build my Burke Resource Center for fans, teachers and researchers.

www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_resources.html

In this area you will find the chapter and episode titles to Mr. Burke’s books and videos, a growing list of books mentioned in Burke bibliographies, links to popular search engines so you can do your own Burke research, and links to libraries where James Burke books and videos might be found. In addition there are also links to science museums and history of science webpages.

Over time, I plan to add several more lists containing all of the people and important historic items featured in the indexes of Mr. Burke’s books. This may take a while. Please be patient.

Also new to the James Burke Connection site is an offshoot area featuring books and materials by other well-known presenters and authorities that may be of interest to you. At the moment, the only individuals featured in the “Great Explainers” library are Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku and Jacques Cousteau. However, as with most projects, this section will expand over time.

www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/explainers

One last detail. Whenever you do a search for “James Burke” on the web or at the library, it’s pretty hard to avoid popular mystery writer “James Lee Burke”. So, I’ve put a link on the site for those surfers who are looking for him, but have mistakenly found their way to my site about our favorite techno-historian.

www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/james_lee_burke

NEW WAYS TO COMMUNICATE
———
In doing research on Mr. Burke I came across a couple of important web destinations: a newsgroup and a Yahoo bulletin board.

alt.fan.james-burke

groups.yahoo.com/group/connectionswithjamesburke

Since these areas have been set up for the expressed purpose of discussing Mr. Burke (which you all seem to like to do), please let me encourage you to take full advantage of these channels to “connect” with one another. I have posted a number of messages there for you to read and think about. I’ll be watching to see what you have to say!

WEBMASTER NEWS
———
For those of you (including Mr. Burke) who might have an interest in news source links, I have created a new personal website listing a moderate number of international news sources. I think you might find these interesting, if not useful.

www.palmersguide.com/news

Also, for those of you who might be (or know) aspiring visual communicaters (graphic designers & advertising art directors), you might wish to take a peek at my own contribution to commercial art education.

www.palmersguide.com/student

BURKE NEWS
———
An ongoing reminder –

Mr. Burke continues to look for help from Graduate Students and Academics in researching biographies for the online “Knowledge Web” project.

If you know anyone who would like to volunteer their time to this amazing project, please contact me (Tom Palmer) and I will pass along their request. e-mail at: info@palmersguide.com

———
I finally got a quick look at “Inventing Modern America”, a new book that James Burke has contributed to. I had to do this at the library, since copies of the book appear shrink-wrapped at every bookstore I have encountered it at.

Anyway, the book appears to be very good on the surface. Listed below is it’s table of contents. Mr. Burke has written a general introduction, plus one for each of the book’s five sections.

- – - – - – - -
Medicine and Healthcare

Raymond Damadian: MRI scanner, magnetic resonance imaging (1977)
Thomsa Fogarty: balloon embolectomy catheter (1961)
Wilson Greatbatch: implantable cardiac pacemaker (1958)
Dean Kamen: portable medication technology (1970s)
Mary-Claire King: advances in the treatment of breast cancer (1990)
Robert Langer: biomedical applications of polymers (1980s)
Rosalyn Yalow: radioimmunoassay (1959)
- – - – - – - -
Consumer Products

Leo Baekeland: Bakelite, the first modern plastic (1907)
Harold “Doc” Edgerton: stop-action photography (1931)
Philo T. Farnsworth: electronic television (1927)
Stephanie Kwolek: Kevlar (1964)
Jerome Lemelson: apparatus for driving tape in a cartridge (1972)
Jacob Rabinow: self-regulating clock (1954)
Percy Spencer: microwave oven (1947)
- – - – - – - -
Transportation

Ole Evinrude: outboard boat motor (1907)
Henry Ford: assembly line (1913)
Robert Goddard: liquid-fueled rocket (1926)
Paul MacCready: human-powered airplane (1977)
Garrett Morgan: traffic signal (1923)
Elmer Ambrose Sperry: gyrocompass (1911)
- – - – - – - -
Energy and Environment

George Washington Carver: industrial applications for agricultural products (1910s)
Carl Djerassi: nontoxic pest-control products (1960s)
Sally Fox: naturally colored cotton (1989)
Buckminster Fuller: geodesic dome (1950)
Ashok Gadgil: ultraviolet water purification system (1993)
Stanford Ovshinksy: mass production of photovoltaic cells (1983)
John Todd: ecosystems for combating pollution (1984)
- – - – - – - -
Computing and Telecommunications

Nolan Bushnell: video game (1971)
Douglas Engelbart: computer mouse (1968)
Al Gross: walkie-talkie (1937)
Erna Schneider Hoover: computerized telephone switching system (1965)
Grace Murray Hopper: computer compiler (1952)
Raymond Kurzweil: optical reading machine for the blind (1976)
Carver Mead: very-large-scale integrated circuits (1971)
Steve Wozniak: personal computer (1976)
- – - – - – - -
“Inventing Modern America” is available at this link:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262025086/thejamesburkecon

TV SCHEDULE (UPCOMING)
———
The Connections 2 & 3 series continue to be rebroadcast on Discovery Science through March!

Connections 2 – Discovery Science Channel – Now thru at least Mar. 30, 2002
science.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=47
FYI – series beginning = “Revolutions” (Mar. 15 & 30), series conclusion = “Flexible Response”

Connections 3 – Discovery Science Channel – Now thru at least Mar. 27, 2002
science.discovery.com/schedule/series.jsp?series=388
FYI – series beginning = “Feedback” (Mar. 11 & 12), series conclusion = “In Touch”

Note: I do not know if either Connections series will be played in proper sequence or if the final episodes scheduled will be the final episode for each series. Therefore, if you are planning to videotape these programs, don’t necessarily wait for the beginning episodes to cycle through.

———
science.discovery.com

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS (UPCOMING)
———
If have have to urge to attend Mr. Burke’s lectures in April at U.S. universities, you might start thinking of making travel plans or penciling the dates into your personal reminders.

———
3/7/02: Veritas Conference & Incentive Management Services (Cisco Systems – Networkers Conference – Brisbane, Australia)
www.juicemedia.com.au/cisco/networkers2002/speaker3.htm

4/9/02: College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Carolina @ Greensboro
www.uncg.edu/iss/incredible.html

4/10/02: University of Minnesota (James Ford Bell Trust)

4/11/02: Rice University
www.ruf.rice.edu/~events/pls/james.html
“No special arrangements are necessary to attend the James Burke lecture. The lecture will begin at 8:00 p.m., but seating opens at 7:00 p.m. I would recommend getting to the lecture a little early in order to get a good seat.”

5/18/02: Virginia Commonwealth University

———
For information on scheduling James Burke for a future speaking engagement, please contact his lecture agent Royce Carlton.
info@roycecarlton.com
www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/burke.html

SEARCH ENGINE FINDS (CURRENT)
———
Every time I do a search for James Burke on the web, I produce dramatically different results, depending on the keywords I select. This month I used “James Burke Axemaker”, “James Burke theme” and “James Burke music” as my search parameters. — What follows are the results, a number of which are lists of recommended books that include James Burke titles. So if you like books that generally have to do with “Burke” topics, dive in to the links below. As you can see, I have sorted the pages into various categories. (Please forgive me if there are any repeats from previous newsletters.) Happy Surfing!
———
found with Google – Feb. 24, 2002:
www.google.com

and a couple from Abacho – Feb. 09, 2002:
www.abacho.co.uk/

———
GENERAL BURKE ITEMS

Musical Theme to The Day The Universe Changed
www.earthstation1.com/TV_Themes_C-D.html

Technology – Interview with Educom Review
www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5148/burke_james_technology.html

Government For A World Long Gone – Interview with Government Technology
www.govtech.net/magazine/visions/feb98vision/burke.phtml

e-mail message thread – Purdue
www.soe.purdue.edu/restru/0522.html

small bite about an Internet World article – 1996
sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/Cites/961110.html
sunsite.berkeley.edu/CurrentCites/1996/cc96.7.11.html

message thread at Slashdot
slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=6476&cid=945607
slashdot.org/articles/00/07/10/1729215.shtml

———
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & PRESS RELEASES

Univ. of N. Carolina — Greensboro
www.uncg.edu/iss/incredible-02.html

Ball State University – Sept. 16, 2000
www.google.com/search?q=cache:p9ltediNP_IC:www.bsu.edu/news/ . . . . . .

Franklin & Marshall College – Mar. 20, 1995
www.fandm.edu/Departments/CollegeRelations/PressReleases/ . . . . . .

Marshall University – Oct. 12, 1998
www.marshall.edu/parthenon/archives/19981006/NEWS1.HTML
www.marshall.edu/parthenon/archives/19981006/NEWS5.HTML

Burke bio, speech (The Legacy of Science) and Q&A session – Rutgers
info.rutgers.edu/Library/Reference/ . . . . . .

Truman State University – Oct. 2, 2001
www.truman.edu/vscholar/burke.html

Cameron University – Nov. 1, 1996
www.cameron.edu/festival/speakers/burke.html

Portland Center/ISEPP – Oct. 5, 2001
www.pcpa.com/events/shows/oct5.html

GTC – Feb. 15, 1995
www.govtech.net/publications/gt/1995/jan/burke.phtml

PalmSource Conference 2000
www.palm.com/about/pr/2000/103100.html
www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml . . . . . .

Educom 98 – Oct. 14, 1998
www.educause.edu/conference/e98/speakers.html

Cameron University – Festival IV – Sep. 14, 1999
www.cameron.edu/festival4/speakers.html

———
INTERESTING ESSAYS THAT MENTION JAMES BURKE

Hodges’ Health Career Model and the Multicontextual Nature of Health
www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/contexts.htm

Galilero: The Creation of a Heretic
www.bootheel.net/~mbranum/galileo.html

Burt Humburg – On the Color Changes in the “Great Work”
www.levity.com/alchemy/humburg.html

New England Journal of Skepticism – Razor in the Toolbox
www.theness.com/newsletter.html

History and the Theory of Media
cci.wmin.ac.uk/cmp/y1/htm.html

The Terrible Truth About Truth
dharma-haven.org/science/terrible-truth.htm

Water Hyacinth
www.angelfire.com/mac/egmatthews/geotherapy/hyacinth.html

The Silicon Axemakers
www.gulker.com/ra/silicontools.html

Y2K: Benefits, Lessons, and Vulnerabilities
www.cisp.org/imp/july_99/07_99langston-insight.htm

Thank The Ludd
www.qconline.com/myword/ludd.html

Information Technology: Searching For a Definition
www.libsci.sc.edu/dan/2001/sep2399.html

From Movable Type to Data Deluge
www.rand.org/multi/parallels/gehl.html

Lisa Squad – Explain the Subject-object metaphysics
www.moq.org/old_lilasquad/9804/0048.html

Drawing Sea Serpents: Searching For the Big Picture
www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_5/cox/

Altruism, Empathy, the Superorganism, and the Prisoner’s Dillema
www.lucifer.com/virus/virus.97/2974.html

Chaos, Complexity, and the Promise of Information Warfare
www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/07_15.pdf

———
CRITIQUES OF JAMES BURKE & HIS WORK

Engines of our Ingenuity 1617
www.uh.edu/engines/epi1617.htm

TV Cream
tv.cream.org/arkc2.htm

Review of “The Axemaker’s Gift” by Skepticism.net
www.skepticism.net/articles/2000/000018.html

Tight Form and Aesthetic Impact – Hipbone Games
home.earthlink.net/~hipbone/Tight.html

More Connections coming to TLC – Canoe
www.canoe.ca/TelevisionShowsC/connections3.html

———
PERSONAL BOOK LISTS THAT INCLUDE JAMES BURKE BOOKS

Jimka’s Book Collection
www.rdrop.com/~jimka/text/books

Reviews: Books, Journals – Christopher S. Rollyson
www.rollyson.net/public/reviews.html

Ron Nicholson’s Recommended Book List
www.rahul.net/rhn/books.txt

Lobue: Enterprise Evolution – Recommended Reading
www.lobue.com/enterprise_evolution/knowledge_reading.html

Dave Lash & Co. – Terrific Resources for Personal Growth
www.davelash.com/biblio.htm

You Are What You Read – Elias Wakan’s Reading List
www.island.net/~prp/reading.htm

Brain, Mind, Computer References – Nat. Info. Tech. Forum
www.sn.apc.org/nitf/mindcomp/tsld043.htm

———
CLASS NOTES FEATURING BURKE

Media Power & Culture – Kent State
www.jmc.kent.edu/mpc/notes03_universechanged.htm

History of Technology – University of Alaska Southeast
www2.jun.alaska.edu/edtech/tat/history/histtop.html

The Power of Perspective – State Univ. of NY College at Oneonta
www.oneonta.edu/faculty/farberas/arth/ARTH200/Perspective.html

Writing Across Engineering – S.U.C.C.E.E.D.
www.succeednow.org/content/ . . . . . .

Technology & Society – Gonzaga University
www.gonzaga.edu/doctoral/dp/ls707/f016.html

Worlds Without End – (excerpt by Burke??) – UCSD
www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/courses/275/Burke.html
www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/courses/275/hw.html
www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/courses/275/
www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/courses/275/s1.html
www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/goguen/courses/275/readings.html

Generic Antropology Syllabus – CSU, Chico
www.csuchico.edu/~curban/syllabi/SYL_Generic.html

The Bicycle: Vehicle for Societal Change – Babson College
faculty.babson.edu/petty/bsyllabus.htm

Science & Technology: Catalysts for Change in Society – Univ. of New Mexico
www.unm.edu/~abqteach/multi_disc/01-05-01.htm

Effects of Technology through History – Univ. of Minnesota, Morris
cda.mrs.umn.edu/~waibelc/IS1091/IS1091techeffects.html

———
CLASSES THAT USE BURKE AS A TEXTBOOK

History of Philosophy of Technology
www.stark.kent.edu/~lheaphy/Fall%202001/HISTORYPT.htm

Ascent of Humanity – Pennsylvania State University
www.courses.psu.edu/courseweb/courses/ . . . . . .

HS-120 – Montgomery College
www.mc.cc.md.us/Departments/hpolscrv/andersonsyll120.htm

Technology and Social Change – University of Montana
ssrl.soc.umt.edu/richards/Soc465/Tech-syl.htm

Heuristic Decision Making – Univ. of Minnesota – MS Word document
legacy.csom.umn.edu/wwwpages/faculty/PJohnson/ . . . . . .

———
CLASS READING LISTS

Core 100 Supplemental Reading List – College of Saint Benedict
www.csbsju.edu/accounting/Classes/Core100SupplementalReadings.htm

The McKinnon Institute of Prof. Massage & Bodywork
www.mckinnonmassage.com/articles/bibliography/cognitive_sci.html

History of Science and Technology – Georgia Southern University
www2.gasou.edu/library/broch_ref/scitech_bib.html

Reading the History of Western Science – Univ. of Washington
depts.washington.edu/hssexec/library_list.html

Educating in a Technological Society – Bethel College & Seminary
www.bethel.edu/Academics/Faculty/Bush/book_list.html

References For The History of Psychology – Univ. of New Brunswick
www.unb.ca/psychology/likely/headlines/refrnces.htm

Complexity & Human Learning Series – Bailiwick: Univ. of Iowa
bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/complexity-studies/20prnx.html

———
RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS & RESEARCHERS

Education World
www.educationworld.com/

Net-Quest Science Links
www.dharma-haven.org/search/science.html

Geometry, the online learning center – educational subject links
www.j4.com/index.html

Internet History of Science Sourcebook
www.fordham.edu/halsall/science/sciencesbook.html

ReadersRemote – Science Books
science.readersremote.com/

———
GENERAL ITEMS OF INTEREST

NASA JSC Digital Image Collection
images.jsc.nasa.gov/

NASA Photo Gallery
www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/index.html

Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/

Interesting religious page with statistics – techno heavy
gem-werc.org/adgm/adgm54.htm
gem-werc.org/adgm/adgm.htm
gem-werc.org/

———
COOL PRODUCTS

Think Geek – Stuff For Smart Masses
www.thinkgeek.com/

Zome Toys
www.zometool.com/

EBAY LISTINGS (CURRENTLY UP FOR SALE)
———
– As found on eBay Feb. 28, 2002
———
VIDEOS

Connections 2 – 1 copy
Connections 3 – 1 copy

———
BOOKS

The Day The Universe Changed – 2 copies

———
CD-ROM GAMES

Connections: A Mind Game – 2 copies

DVD, VIDEO, BOOK, AUDIOBOOK LIST (ORDER ON-LINE)
———
DVDS

Connections 1

Connections 2

Connections 3

———
VIDEOTAPES

Connections

Connections 2

Connections 3

After The Warming

———
BOOKS

The Axemaker’s Gift: Technology’s Capture and Control of Our Minds and Culture

Circles: Fifty Round-Trips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture

Connections – (out of print)

The Day the Universe Changed

The Knowlegde Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back–And Other Journeys Through Knowledge

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible and Other Journeys Through Knowledge – (paperback)

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made theCarburetor Possible and Other Journeys Through Knowledge – (hardcover)

Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World

———
AUDIOTAPES

The Axemaker’s Gift: A Double -Edged History of Human Culture

Connections

The Day the Universe Changed

The Pinball Effect: Journeys Through Knowledge – The Extraordinary Patterns of Change That Link Past, Present, and Future

———
DIGITAL AUDIO CLIPS

audible.com

VISIT PALMER’S JAMES BURKE FAN COMPANION WEBSITE
www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke

SEND COMMENTS AND NEWS ITEMS TO:
info@palmersguide.com

PRODUCED BY PALMER ONLINE MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

TAKE CARE UNTIL THE NEXT ISSUE – TOM P.

page 1 – page 2 – page 3 – page 4

The following is an e-mail provided by Kage Baker on January 12, 2005, regarding music she has identified in the Connections 1 series:

- – -

Last night I watched the whole Connections 1 set over again, for the first time since I originally saw it in 1979. I’ve heard a great deal of classical music since that time, and can identify some of the excerpts used in the series, though I can’t place them for exact scenes without watching the whole thing over again. Which I will certainly do… but for now I can tell you:

There is a sequence with a mounted knight in full armor galloping full tilt toward Swiss pikemen– that’s definitely a piece called The Entry of the French, by Zoltan Kodaly, from his comic opera Hary Janos.

There is a sequence on the Industrial Revolution showing factories belching coal-soot over an English country village, with an orange filter effect used on the sky. The music here is from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Job: A Masque for Dancing.

I also heard bits from Benjamin Britton’s Four Sea Interludes, from Peter Grimes, as well as more Vaughan Williams, in particular his Sinfonia Antarctica (an eerie-sounding bit with a soprano soloist singing without words, which closes one episode and open the next one). And a lot is used from Sir William Walton’s score for Olivier’s film of Henry V.

Interesting to see the guy who later played Zaphod Beeblebrox in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy doing the St. Crispin’s Day speech!

Hope this adds to your store of information.
Very best,
Kage Baker

return to Resources Menu – next page

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A TO B

1066: The Story of a Year
Butler, Denis – Bland: London – 1966

Account of the Life and Writings of William Paley (An)
Paley, Edmund, ed. – Farnborough, England: Gregg International Publications – 1970

Acetylene
Lewes, Vivian B. – London: Macmillan – 1900

Ada, Countess of Lovelace
Moore, Doris Langley – London: John Murray – 1977

Advertising and the Transformation of American Society
Norris, J. D. – New York: Greenwood Press – 1990

Aeronauts (The): A History of Ballooning
Rolt, L. T. C. – Gloucestershire: Alan Sutton – 1985

A. F. Wallace on Spiritualism, Man and Evolution
Smith, Charles H. – 1992

Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge
Feyerabend, Paul – Verso Editions: London – 1975

Agrarian History of Western Europe (The)
Bath, B. H. Slicher van – Edward Arnold: London – 1963

Agricultural Revolution (The)
Kerridge, Eric – Allen & Unwin: London – 1967

Alessandro Volta and the Electric Battery
Dibner, Bern – Franklin Watts: New York – 1964

Alexander Fleming: The Man and the Myth
Macfarlane, Gwyn – Oxford: Oxford University Press – 1984

Alexander von Humboldt
Kellner, Charlotte – Oxford: Oxford University Press – 1963

Alexandrian Lilbrary (The)
Parsons, E. A. – Cleaver Hume Press: London – 1952

Alfred Wegener
Schwarzbach, Martin – Madison, Wisc.: Science Technology Inc. – 1986

Allan Pinkerton: America’s First Private Eye
Lavine, Sigmund A. – London: Mayflower Paperback – 1970

American Civil War (The)
Cameron, A. D. – Oliver and Boyd – 1985

American Express
Hatch, Alden – Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., Inc. – 1950

American Heritage History of Railroads in America (The)
Jensen, Oliver – New York: Bonanza Books – 1987

American System of Manufacturers (The), 1854-5
Rosenberg, N. – Edinburgh University Press – 1969

Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries
Lucas, A. – Edward Arnold: London – 1926

Andreas Vesalius of Brussels
O’Malley, Charles D. – Berkeley and Los Angeles: California Press – 1964

Angelica
Hartcup, Adeline – Harmondsworth, Middlesex: William Heinemann Ltd. – 1954

Annie Besant
Taylor, Anne – Oxford: Oxford University Press – 1992

Anti-Corn Law League (The)
McCord, Norman – London: Unwin University Books – 1962

Anton Fugger
Polnitz, G. von – Tubingen – 1958-86

Apollo: The Race to the Moon
Murray, C. H. – London: Secker & Warburg – 1989

Arabic Science in the West
Dunlop, D. M. – Pakistan Historical Society: Karachi – 1958

Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism
Wittkower, R. – Warburg Institute – 1949

Ark in the Park (The)
Blunt, Wilfrid – London: Hamish Hamilton -1976

Arkwrights (The)
Fitton, R. S. – Manchester: Manchester University Press – 1994

Art of Memory (The)
Yates, Frances A. – Penguin: Harmondsworth – 1966

Art of War in Italy 1494-1529
Taylor, F. L. – Cambridge University Press – 1921

Art of War in the Middle Ages (The)
Oman, C. W. C. – Cornell University Press – 1885

Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England
Johnson, F. R. – Octagon: New York – 1968

Atlantic Cable (The)
Dibner, Bern – New York: Blaisdell – 1964

Atom Bomb (The)
Killingray, David – London: Harrap – 1983

Audubon: A Biography
Chancellor, John – London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson – 1978

Auguste Comte
Style, Jane M. – London: Kegan Paul, Trench Truebner & Co., Ltd. – 1928

Augustine Synthesis (An)
Przywara, Eric – Sheed and Ward: London – 1945

Augustine to Galileo, Vols I and II
Crombie, A. C. – Penguin: Harmondsworth – 1959

Autobiography of Joseph Scaliger
Robinson, George W. – Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press – 1927

Aviation: The Pioneer Years
Mackworth-Praed, Ben – London: Studio Editions Ltd. – 1990

Baron Anton Fugger
von Poelnitz, G. – Tubingen, Germany: Studien zur Fugger-geschichte – 1958-86

Baroque Europe
Busch, H., and Lohse, B. – Batsford: London – 1962

Beaumarchais
Grendel, Frederic. Trans. Roger Greaves – London: Macdonald and Jane’s – 1977

Before the Industrial Revolution
Cipolla, Carlo – Methuen: London – 1976

Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude
Bruce, R. V. – Gollancz: London – 1973

Beloved Emma, The Life of Lady Emma Hamilton
Fraser, Flora – London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson – 1986

Benedict de Spinoza: An Introduction
Allison, H. E. – New Haven: Yale University Press – 1987

Benjamin Franklin
Clark, Ronald W. – London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson – 1983

Benjamin Huntsman
Barraclough, Kenneth C. – Sheffield, England: Sheffield City Libraries – 1976

Benjamin Silliman: A Life in the Young Republic
Brown, Chandos Michael – Princeton, NJ.: Princeton IJniversity Press – 1989

Birth and Re-Birth of Pictorial Space (The)
White, John – Faber & Faber: London – 1957

Black Death (The)
Ziegler, Philip – Collins: London – 1969

Biographical Memoirs of Charles Macintosh
Macintosh, George – Blackie: Glasgow – 1847

Birth of Europe (The)
Lopez, R. S. – Phoenix House: London – 1967

Bismarck, The Man and the Statesman
Taylor, A. J. P. – London: Hamish Hamilton – 1955

Bonaparte in Egypt
Herold, J. Christopher – London: Hamish Hamilton – 1962

Bonnie Prince Charlie: A Biography
Erickson, Carolly – London: Robson Books – 1989

Bread and Democracy in Germany
Gerschenkron, A. – Fertig: New York – 1943

Brass: History of the Industry
Day, Joan, Bristol – David and Charles: Newton Abbot – 1973

Britain Since 1700
Cootes, R. J. – Longman: London – 1968

Britannia Bridge (The)
Rosenberg, Nathan – Cambridge, Mass.: M1T Press – 1978

British Lighthouses
Bowen, J. P. – British Council/Longman: London – 1947

British Trade and the Opening of China 1800-1842
Greenberg, M. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press – 1951

Bronze Age Migrations in the Aegean
Crossland, R. A. and Birchall, Ann (eds) – Duckworth: London – 1973

Brothers Grimm and Folktale (The)
McGlathery, J., ed. – Champaign: University of Illinois Press – 1988

Bryan Donkin, F. R. S.
Bryan Donkin Company Ltd: London – 1953

Buckskins, Bullets, and Business
Blackstone, Sarah J. – Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press – 1986

Byron
Longford, Elizabeth – London: Hutchinson – 1976

Byzantine Mosaic Decoration
Demus Otto – London: Routledge & Kegan Paul – 1976

Feb. 16, 2009: Indinana University School of Journalism, Buskirk Chumley Theater – Bloomington, IN
7:00 pm speech
Public Lecture: The Future of the Future

2008

June 03, 2008: Lockheed Martin Corporation – Amelia Island, FL
9:00 am speech
Topic: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
May 22, 2008: TheBrain Technologies – online Web Event
8:00 am (PST), 11:00 am (EST) “webinar”
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – register here
Topic: The Knowledge Web
Mar. 10, 2008: Lockheed Martin Corporation – Albuquerque, New Mexico
8:30 pm speech
Topic: Innovation and Change
Jan. 15, 2008: Arriva Company – London
12:00 pm TBA
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow

2007

Sep. 28, 2007: Phillip Morris – Richmond, Virginia
8:45 am speech
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
Sep. 09, 2007: United Technologies – Quebec
9:00 pm speech
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
July 11, 2007: Oracle Corporation – New York City
9:00 am speech
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
Feb. 21, 2007: ARTSwego @ SUNY Oswego – Oswego, New York
Hewitt Union Ballroom (on campus) – 8:00 pm Lecture plus Q&A Session, Book-signing to follow
Topic: Technology, Change & the Arts

2006

12/31/06: Walt Disney Imagineering – Orlando, FL
11/09/06: TechColumbus – Columbus, Ohio
The Fawcett Center – 4:00 pm Lecture followed by Q&A
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
10/29/06: Window & Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA) – Las Vegas, NV
JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa – 10:15 am Speech followed by Q&A
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
10/06/06: Envision Pharma – Boston, MA
Marriott Copley Place Hotel – 8:35 am Lecture followed by Q&A
Topic: Staying Ahead or “Science Technology and Culture”
10/05/06: High Tech Business Council of Rochester – Rochester, New York
Clarion Riverside Hotel (Rochester, NY) – 5:00 pm Speech plus Q&A
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
10/03/06: Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Johnston Hall (on campus) – 8:00 pm Lecture plus Q&A Session
Topic: Staying Ahead: Innovation for the Day After Tomorrow
Seminar for students and faculty next morning – “Communicating Science & Technology”
07/11/06: Workforce Innovations 2006, Anaheim, California
06/13/06: msystems, Frascati, Rome
04/26/06: Top Banana Communication Limited on behalf of Gucci Group-Cernobbio, Italy
03/10/06: Microsoft Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia
02/02/06: Fast Search & Transfer, Miami, Florida
02/01/06: Walt Disney Imagineering, Orlando, Florida
01/24/06: Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah

2005

11/28/05: MPSF, Inc., San Mateo, CA
11/08/05: University of Sheffield & Sheffield University, Sheffield, UK
11/01/05: Alberta Advanced Education; Alberta, Canada
10/28/05: Kean University – Union, NJ
10/10/05: Accenture, Prague, Czech Republic
09/07/05: SAE International, Toronto, Ontario
05/10/05: NDS Limited, Staines, United Kingdom

2004

11/01/04: Dominican University of California
10/29/04: Attachmate Corporation
09/30/04: Freescale Semiconductor
09/10/04: American Society for the Surgery of the Hand
05/25/04: Sterling Commerce Global Customer Conference 2004 – Orlando, FL
05/19/04: Gartner, Inc.
03/08/04: Accelrys, Inc.
01/13/04: Mentor Graphics

2003

11/19/03: Gartner, Inc.
11/13/03: University of Oxford, North America
10/09/03: Business Software Alliance – The Global Tech Summit
10/07/03: Presbyterian College – 2 – 3
06/16/03: Newspaper Association of America – Las Vegas, NV
04/01/03: IPC Conference – Anaheim, CA – 2 – 3
03/19/03: Microsoft Corporation – (Orlando, FL ?)
03/01/03: Salt Lake City Public Library

2002

11/14/02: Visa International EU
11/04/02: Linfield College
11/02/02: West Chester University
10/30/02: Discovery Centre – Halifax, Nova Scotia – i-i-i conference
10/08/02: Booz Allen & Hamilton Associates
05/18/02: Virginia Commonwealth University
04/11/02: Rice University
04/10/02: University of Minnesota
04/09/02: College of Arts & Sciences, University of North Carolina @ Greensboro
03/07/02: Veritas Conference & Incentive Management Services
02/12/02: Mentor Graphics

2001

12/01/01: Nike, Inc.
10/10/01: International eBook Award Foundation
10/05/01: Institute for Science, Engineering & Public Policy
10/04/01: Drury University
10/02/01: Truman State University
10/01/01: SUNY College at Fredonia
09/28/01: Cisco Systems, Inc.

For information on scheduling James Burke for a future speaking engagement, please contact his lecture agent Royce Carlton.

email – info@roycecarlton.com
website – www.roycecarlton.com/speakers/burke.html

“This is another superb example of the genuis of James Burke, whose Connections Series has rightly garnered all sorts of awards…This journey will introduce the student to the famous as well as the obscure. This film is a wonderful intellectual romp,” -The American Film and Video Review

This ten volume series was made in 1978 by turning science into a detective story, James Burke creates a series that will fascinate students and adults alike. This interdisciplinary approach has never before been applied to history or science and it succeeds tremendously. Winner of the Red Ribbon in the American Film Festival, the scope of the series covers 19 countries and 150 locations, requiring over 14 months of filming.

As the Sherlock Holmes of science, Burke tracks through 12,000 years of history for the clues that lead us to eight great life changing inventions-the atom bomb, telecommunications, the computer, the production line, jet aircraft, plastics, rocketry and television. Burke postulates that such changes occur in response to factors he calls “triggers”, some of them seemingly unrelated. These have their own triggering effects, causing change in totally unrelated fields as well. And so the connections begin…

- – - – - – - -

Connections DVD No. 1

Volume 1: The Trigger Effect
Both the beginning and the end of the story are here. The end is our present dependence on complex technological networks illustrated by the NYC power blackouts. Life came almost to a standstill: support systems taken for granted failed. How did we become so helpless? Technology originated with the plow and agriculture. Each invention demands its own follow-up: once started, it is hard to stop. This segment ends in Kuwait, where society has leapt from ancient Egypt to the technology of today in 30 years.

Volume 2: Death in the Morning
How did a test of gold’s purity revolutionize the world 2500 years ago and lead to the atomic bomb? Standardizing precious metal in coins stimulated trade from Greece to Persia, causing the construction of a huge commercial center and library at Alexandria. This wealth of nautical knowledge aided navigators 14 centuries later. Mariners discovered that the compass’s magnetized needle did not point directly north. Investigations into the nature of magnetism led to the discovery of electricity, radar and to the atomic bomb.

Connections DVD No. 2

Volume 3: Distant Voices
Telecommunications exist because the Normans wore stirrups at the Battle of Hastings- a simple advance that caused a revolution in the increasingly expensive science of warfare. Europe turned its attention to making money to wage wars. As mine shafts were dug deeper, they became flooded, stimulating scientists like Galileo to investigate vacuums, air pressure and other natural laws to mine deeper silver. This led to the discovery of electricity and magnetism,Äôs relationship and to the development of radio, and deep space telecommunications that may enable contact with galactic civilizations.

Volume 4: Faith in Numbers
Each development in the organization of systems (political, economic, mechanical, electronic)influences the next, by logic, by genius, by chance, or by utterly unforeseen events. The transition from the Middle ages to the Renaissance was influenced by the rise of commercialism, a sudden change in climate, famine and the Black Death, which set the stage for the invention of the printing press.

Connections DVD No. 3

Volume 5: The Wheel of Fortune
The power to see into the future with computers originally rested with priest-astronomers who knew the proper times to plant and harvest. The constellations influenced life spectacularly, particularly when the ailing Caliph of Baghad was cured by an astrologer using Greek lore. His ancient medical secrets were translated and spread throughout Europe, ushering in an era of scientific inquiry. The need for more precise measuring devices in navigation gave rise to the pendulum clock, the telescope, forged steel and interchangeable machine parts-the basis of modern industrial system.

Volume 6: Thunder in the Skies
A dramatically colder climate gripped Europe during the 13th century profoundly affecting the course of history for the next seven centuries. The changes in energy usage transformed architecture and forced the creation of new power sources. The coming of the Industrial Revolution, spurred on by advances in the steam engine, scarred England indelibly: but a moment in history later, gasoline-powered engines opened the way to the heavens.

Connections DVD No. 4

Volume 7: The Long Chain
Often, materials discovered by accident alter the course of the world. In the 1600s Dutch commercial freighters controlled Atlantic trade routes. Competing British lines induced America to produce pitch to protect hulls of their royal vessels. This arrangement lasted until 1776, after which a Scottish inventor tried to produce pitch from coal tar. By the time he succeeded the navy was using copper instead. Subsequent experiments with coal tar yielded gaslight lamps, waterproofed garments, a brilliant mauve dye that established the German chemical industry and nylon, the first of the miracle plastics.

Volume 8: Eat, Drink and Be Merry
When Napoleon marched huge forces across Europe, he needed an efficient way to store provisions. A Frenchman preserved sterilized food in empty champagne bottles, an idea modified by the British, who tried tin cans. Still, canned foods sometimes spoiled, which led to experiments with refrigeration. Later, it was discovered that gases may be stored at very low temperatures in a thermos flask, a device handy for picnics, for polar explorers and for, storing large quantities of liquid oxygen and hydrogen. When lit by a spark these gases can send rockets into space.

Connections DVD No. 5

Volume 9: Countdown
What happens when you combine a carbon arc light, a billiard ball coating, a spoked wheel and consecutive images? Motion pictures! Complex and sometimes incredible events led to Thomas Edison’s remarkable invention; the beginnings of limelight on a Irish mountain; George Eastman,Äôs production of celluloid from the slightly explosive gun cotton; the “magic lantern” of an Austrian ballistics teacher. Then Eadweard Muybridge settled a bet in 1872 by photographs; does a horse raise all four feet when galloping? (Yes.) Today moving pictures, together with television, are enormously powerful mass media. Have we become trapped by our own technology?

Volume 10: Yesterday, Tomorrow and You
“Why did we do it this way?” Essential moments from the previous programs are reviewed to illustrate the common factors that make for change. Will they go on operating to affect our futures? And if so, can we recognize them? The second half looks at the extent to which we have become increasingly incapable of understanding how change occurs in our complex world and at why we are in such a predicament. Finally, there is a look ahead to the need for radical change in the availability and use of information in the future, if we are to remain in control of our destinies.

- – - – - – - -

Available for delivery to US & Canada.

Producer: BBC and Time Life
Re-release Date: July 2007

- – -
Click on a title below to order:

Connections 1 DVD – digitally re-mastered