The world began to change in an unprecedented manner in the mid-18th century as the introduction of new technology brought substantial wealth to those who were able to benefit from it. The story is told in Thomas Crump’s book A Brief History of How the Industrial Revolution Changed the World. The book starts with the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, then goes on to describe numerous developments from Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine through to the effects of the Industrial Revolution on Africa and Asia.
As I read the book, I was struck both by the central role of inventors and inventions and also by the way progress depended on the confluence of a large number of different factors including improvements in transportation, communication, energy sources, agriculture, mining and manufacturing processes. Although the process of industrialisation produced many winners, it also produced many losers, with millions of people being removed from their land and working long hours in poor conditions for inadequate pay, and with many adverse environmental effects that still need to be addressed.
The subject matter of the book is of great importance, particularly for those countries which are yet to benefit from prosperity, because the appropriate steps for transforming a poor country into a wealthy country are not well understood. The author has done a reasonable job of covering the key elements of the Industrial Revolution and I enjoyed reading the book, although I found the content disorganised and repetitive in parts.