The Jasons
by Ann Finkbeiner | 
Origin Story
by David Christian | 
The Day the Universe Changed
by James Burke | 
The Knowledge Web
by James Burke | 
Science
by John Gribbin | 
The Invention of Science
by David Wootton | 
Connections
by James Burke | 
The Clockwork Universe
by Edward Dolnick | 
The House of Wisdom
by Jim Al-Khalili | 
A Really Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson | 
Great Feuds in Science
by Hal Hellman | 
The Scientists
by John Gribbin | 
Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery
by Isaac Asimov | 
On Giants' Shoulders
by Melvyn Bragg | 
Napoleon's Buttons
by Penny Le Couteur | 
The Code Book
by Simon Singh | 
The Botany of Desire
by Michael Pollan | 
A Man on the Moon
by Andrew Chaikin | 
The Sixth Extinction
by Elizabeth Kolbert | 
Cod
by Mark Kurlansky |
The Pinball Effect takes the reader on many different journeys through the web of knowledge. Knowledge, it turns out, has many unforeseen and surprising effects. The book, for instance, owes its existence to German jeweler Johannes Gutenberg's getting the date wrong one day in the fifteenth century. James Burke, author and host of the highly rated documentary series Connections 2, draws upon years of research to examine the intrigues and surprises on the journey through knowledge, a trip with all the twists and turns of a detective story. Ultimately, the larger picture that emerges has far-reaching and important implications for the future, revealing why the fundamental mechanism of change is the way things come together and connect. To add to the excitement, The Pinball Effect has been designed to be read interactively: throughout the book, cross-chapter references mimic computer hypertext "hot links" and allow readers to leap from one chapter to another. The result is a fascinating tour through history's most dramatic innovations.