City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

12 books that changed the world, written & presented by Melvyn Bragg

eng

12 books that changed the world

written & presented by Melvyn Bragg

The power of the written word is explored in a new four part series, as Melvyn Bragg delves into 12 British works that he believes have changed the world : 1. Newton's Principia Mathematica, Married Love by Marie Stopes and The First Rule Book of the Football Association of 1863 ----- 2. Darwin's The Origin of Species, Mary Wollstonecraft's feminist teaty A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and William Wilberforce's abolitionist speech to the House of Commons ------ 3. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations is seen as one of the founding texts of the modern world. The King James Bible was the work of 50 scholars and largely remains the standard text of the Bible across the English-speaking world. As the first limit on a monarch's power by written grant, the Magna Carta is the cornerstone of the British constitutional and legal system ----- 4. Michael Faraday's Experimental Research in Electricity illuminated the connection between magnetism and electrical current and made possible the harnessing of its power. Richard Arkwright took out a patent on his spinning machine, which spearheaded the textile industry and the Industrial Revolution. Shakespeare's First Folio was published in 1623 and without it some of the most important works of English literature would have been lost

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