Ken Alder: 3 books
The Lie Detectors
The History of an American Obsession
Language: English
Release Date: March 6, 2007
The story of the lie detector takes us straight into the dark recesses of the American soul. It also leads us on a noir journey through some of the most storied episodes in American history. That is because the device we take for granted as an indicator of guilt or innocence actually tells us more...
The Measure of All Things
The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World
Language: English
Release Date: July 29, 2014
In June 1792, amidst the chaos of the French Revolution, two intrepid astronomers set out in opposite directions on an extraordinary journey. Starting in Paris, Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Delambre would make his way north to Dunkirk, while Pierre-François-André Méchain voyaged south to Barcelona. Their...
Engineering the Revolution
Arms and Enlightenment in France, 1763-1815
Language: English
Release Date: April 15, 2010
Engineering the Revolution documents the forging of a new relationship between technology and politics in Revolutionary France, and the inauguration of a distinctively modern form of the “technological life.” Here, Ken Alder rewrites the history of the eighteenth century as the total history...