

James Burke’s Connections: A BBC History of Innovation - moondowner
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2010/12/23/james-burke-connections/
The entire Connections series ('sesason' 1, 2 &#38; 3), produced by the BBC, are available for viewing via Youtube (links at the linked page).&#60;p&#62;"True to the program’s subtitle, An Alternative View of  Change, Burke debunks the myth of historical progress as a linear force and instead explores the interplay and interconnectedness of events and motives as the origin of modernity’s gestalt."&#60;p&#62;For more info visit this page also: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/james-burke-connections/&#60;p&#62;Though the series are old, people highly recommend them (I haven't watched them but will do now).
======
jdp23
James Burke does a great job of contrasting holistic and reductionist
thinking. At a Microsoft offsite a few years ago he was a guest speaker, and
talked about the importance of exposing yourself to different kinds of
thinking and different specialization rather than being narrowly focused all
of the time on specific tasks. Afterwards I ran into him by the elevator and
asked whether he saw this as part of the value of Google's 20% time. He said
yes, very much so, although he hadn't wanted to make a big deal of it for the
Microsoft audience.

Of course he also points out that reductionist thinking has values despite
it's limitations. "It did, after all, give us the scientific revolution."
Indeed.

------
bcn
Here's the Youtube channel link: <http://www.youtube.com/user/JamesBurkeWeb>

Big thanks to the OP for sharing, though my productivity is about to nose
dive.

------
pg
I watched this series as a kid. At the time I thought it was the most exciting
thing I'd ever seen.

~~~
mmastrac
My first introduction to this was Connections^2 in the 90's (back when TLC was
"The Learning Channel"). It blew my mind then. They showed the original series
to us in our engineering classes later on, using his book as the text for the
course.

This is a fantastic series for entrepreneurs to both watch and understand.
None of the big ideas are borne from the vacuum - they all stand on the
shoulders of ideas from others before.

~~~
markbao
What happened to TLC? They went from shows like _Connections_ to _Jon and Kate
Plus 8_ , which is now their highest-rated show.

~~~
ghotli
Money.

~~~
haggo
This stuff? , one of my favorite parts of connections on how a few coins can
help things along <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GerLI8ld8EU#t=7m47s>
continues a min more in part 3

------
jdub
This is an extraordinary series. Watch the entire first season, and once you
get to the last episode -- especially if you have an ounce of FLOSS in your
bones -- I dare you not to stand on the couch yelling, "He knew it! He knew
it! In NINETEEN SEVENTY NINE!"

~~~
Create
It was in the air (zeitgeist). Think Unix before the AT&T lawyers (copyleft
and BSD license hacks). And the Apollo launchpad starting scene says it all...
(think STS)

------
motters
This is one of those in-depth series which the BBC no longer seems to make.
Burke pretty much dispels the notion of the lone genius inventor and shows how
many technologies and ideas are linked as a historical process - sometimes in
surprising ways.

~~~
Create
There were recent attempts, thought not the same, true. Examples might
include:

The engineering/technical side:
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Richard_Hammo...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Richard_Hammond%27s_Engineering_Connections)

The natural science/history side:
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Jim_Al-
Khalil...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Jim_Al-
Khalili#Television) [Atom, Science and Islam, Chemistry]

------
julianz
Oh, you win the internets. I loved this series when I was a kid and never got
to see quite enough of it. I went looking for it a couple of years ago without
success. This is great!

------
pirko
If you want to read a fairly new book about the same subject you should check
out "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" by Steven
Johnson. [http://www.shelfari.com/books/15034310/Where-Good-Ideas-
Come...](http://www.shelfari.com/books/15034310/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-From)

------
jamesbritt
Summaries are listed on <http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/james-burke-
connections/> (also previously posted to HN
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1988441>)

------
spot
There was a book version of these that I read and loved. Looking forward to
getting more like this.

~~~
blatherard
I got the companion book as a Christmas present when I was ten or eleven, and
only ever saw the television series much later. It's a really great
combination of science and history, perfect for the young and nerdy, something
that I'll probably give my son once he's old enough (assuming I can find a
copy).

~~~
mmastrac
This one?

<http://www.amazon.com/Connections-James-Burke/dp/0316116726>

Our university offered an engineering class that used this as the textbook.

~~~
blatherard
Yes, I think so. Mine had the same cover as the image in the article linked by
OP, but it sounds about the right length.

------
cowmixtoo
"The Day the Universe Changed" is online too!

Awesome.

~~~
CallMeV
Agreed. I became hooked on these series. James Burke made the future seem so
incredibly optimistic - "Just think of what we can do tomorrow!"

And now we are here, and it is the tomorrow of which he spoke, and yes, just
look at what we _are_ doing!

So what else can _we_ do for _our_ tomorrows?

------
deancollinsy
if you liked that besure toread "The Most Powerful Idea" - about steam
innovation, parallels to software issues are weirdly very similar.

[http://blog.collins.net.pr/2010/08/most-powerful-idea-in-
wor...](http://blog.collins.net.pr/2010/08/most-powerful-idea-in-world-story-
of.html)

