2 ideas from William Rosen, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.
Repairing a scale model of a Newcomen steam engine in 1765, Watt realized most of its power was wasted re-heating a cylinder that had just been cooled to condense steam. Walking ac…
— William Rosen, The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention
In 532 AD, two rival chariot-racing factions in Constantinople, the Blues and the Greens, united in anger over taxes and turned on Emperor Justinian I. Rioters burned much of the c…
— William Rosen, Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe