Age of Invention: Why Scotland Succeeded
It was capital, not education
HistoryEconomics
Age of Invention.
Anton Howes on the history of innovation and the origins of the industrial revolution.
Recent essays
21 of 21Age of Invention: Tudor Trade War
The true effects of Henry VII's "industrial policy"
Age of Invention: Joel Mokyr's Nobel
A triumph for history and the importance of ideas
Age of Invention: The Century-Long Depression
There’s an old proverb about England, current in the sixteenth century, that it was a hell for horses, a paradise for women, and a purgatory or prison for servants.
Age of Invention: All Fired Up
The mystifying, centuries-long failure of the coal briquette
Age of Invention: Just Kiln Time
The Quest for Pale Ale, Part I
Age of Invention: How Coal Really Won
The Coal Conquest, Part II
Age of Invention: The Coal Conquest
There was no shortage of trees
Age of Invention: The Dutch Salten Age
Part III of the Salt Series
Age of Invention: The Second Soul, Part II
The Lands that Salt Forgot
Age of Invention: The Second Soul, Part I
Here’s a riddle. There was a product in the seventeenth century that was universally considered a necessity as important as grain and fuel. Controlling the source of this product was one of the first priorities for many a military campaign, and sometimes even…
Age of Invention: Unsung Materials
One of my big goals for this year, as part of finally finishing my book on the causes of the Industrial Revolution, has been to get a handle on a bunch of industries of the period — ones that experienced dramatic changes especially in the period 1550-1650, but…
Age of Invention: More the Merrier
Today I’m making good on a promise.
Age of Invention: The Interactive History of the Steam Engine
I’m excited to announce something I’ve been quietly working on for a few months now behind the scenes: the first instalment of the interactive, animated, explorable history of the steam engine.
Age of Invention: How to be a Public Historian
Writing for a public audience is a double-edged sword.
Age of Invention: Outdoing the Ancients
When was the technology of the Ancient World superseded? The views from 1599 and 1715.
Age of Invention: Lessons from the Rise of Coal
The surprising rise of muscle power, the salty source of Scottish Lowlands wealth, the Dutch Republic's energy abundance, and why doesn't anybody ever talk about lime?
Age of Invention: How to Steal Technology
The extraordinary life of John Holker: industrialist, rebel, prisoner, fugitive, soldier, undercover agent, spy-catcher, industrial spymaster, innovation inspector, and nobleman.
Age of Invention: Open History
I was quite overwhelmed by the response to my last piece, on whether history has a reproducibility crisis — all the more overwhelmed because I posted it just before moving house. But I’ve been sent so many interesting things as a result of it, that I’d like to…
Age of Invention: Does History have a Replication Crisis?
Back in 2011, the field of psychology went into crisis. Some of the most famous and widely-cited experimental results could not be replicated by others. These were findings published in the field’s most prestigious academic journals, and going back for decades…
Age of Invention: Cash Cows
He was born, farmed, and died at Dishley, much like his father before him. But Robert Bakewell, unlike most people, caught the improving mentality, or attitude — the one thing all inventors, both then and now, have in common — which had him viewing everything…