Celebrating Great Storytellers - James Burke
James Burke is a master storyteller. His documentary series, Connections, as the name would suggest, is fabulous in its use of threaded narrative to transport us back into time and then propel us forward again to the present. When you take a Connections journey with Burke, you risk being lured into the love of history through the seduction of science.
To many, the shows may now seem old. They aired originally on BBC back in 1978, with two sequels 1995 and 1997. But great story is timeless. PBS celebrated the 25th anniversary in 2004 by interviewing Burke and airing highlights of the original series. And even now, you can find episodes online. A full list of Connections episodes can easily be found on Wikipedia and many full length episodes are now available to watch for free online including on YouTube.
It wasn't until recently that I began to appreciate how profoundly James Burke had influenced my love for storytelling. Vivid memories of specific episodes would pop into my mind during ideation sessions at work, often inspiring new lines of thought for my creative projects. So, I figured I should revisit Connections and did a little poking around. I came across an avid fan of Burke's. His name is Bill Otto. Bill wrote an excellent summary of episodes and published them on what is now a defunct and abandoned personal website. He also wrote many of the summaries found on Wikipedia. Others have resurrected his material to help ensure it doesn't slip away into the Internet ether. I've included a sample at the end of this article.
One of my favourite episodes, The Trigger Effect, connects the invention of the plough to the birth the civilization and our supposed mastery and control over nature through technology. Given our current state 'mastery', it would be great to get Mr. Burke to revisit that story line now and provide us all with an update. From that episode...
"The Egyptians built an empire and ran it with a handful of technology... the wheel, irrigation canals, the loom, the calendar, pen & ink, some cutting tools, some simple metallurgy, and the plough, the invention that triggered it all off. And yet look how complex and sophisticated their civilisation was. And how soon it happened, after that first man-made harvest. The Egyptian plough and those of the few other civilisations sprang up around the world at the same time... Gave us control over nature... And at the same time, tied us for good, to the things that we invent so that tomorrow will be better than today. The Egyptians knew that. That's why they had gods. To make sure that their systems didn't fail."
Thanks for some great stories James.
Traces the connection between standardization of precious metals used in coins, the great commercial center and library built by Alexander the Great, development of the compass, and creation of the atomic bomb.
1. touchstone tells you that you can trust gold
2. accept metal and hence coins
3. trade stimulated
4. Alexander the Great and trade center
5. library of Alexandria
6. sailors coming in and out of Alexandria
7. navigation, maps, stars
8. square sails
9. 700 AD - pirates
10. latine sail - more trade
11. stern post rudder
12. 1453 Turks take over Constantinople (heavy cost to get goods through territory)
13. porta-land charts
14. magnetic compass
15. why doesn't compass point true north
16. magnetism/metals
17. sparks, static electricity
18. vacuum
19. weather
20. high altitude balloons
21. Scottish highland weather study
22. Ben Nevis
23. a "glory"
24. cloud chamber
25. lightning
26. radio/atmospheric interaction
27. radar
28. nuclear reactors/bombs
To many, the shows may now seem old. They aired originally on BBC back in 1978, with two sequels 1995 and 1997. But great story is timeless. PBS celebrated the 25th anniversary in 2004 by interviewing Burke and airing highlights of the original series. And even now, you can find episodes online. A full list of Connections episodes can easily be found on Wikipedia and many full length episodes are now available to watch for free online including on YouTube.
It wasn't until recently that I began to appreciate how profoundly James Burke had influenced my love for storytelling. Vivid memories of specific episodes would pop into my mind during ideation sessions at work, often inspiring new lines of thought for my creative projects. So, I figured I should revisit Connections and did a little poking around. I came across an avid fan of Burke's. His name is Bill Otto. Bill wrote an excellent summary of episodes and published them on what is now a defunct and abandoned personal website. He also wrote many of the summaries found on Wikipedia. Others have resurrected his material to help ensure it doesn't slip away into the Internet ether. I've included a sample at the end of this article.
One of my favourite episodes, The Trigger Effect, connects the invention of the plough to the birth the civilization and our supposed mastery and control over nature through technology. Given our current state 'mastery', it would be great to get Mr. Burke to revisit that story line now and provide us all with an update. From that episode...
"The Egyptians built an empire and ran it with a handful of technology... the wheel, irrigation canals, the loom, the calendar, pen & ink, some cutting tools, some simple metallurgy, and the plough, the invention that triggered it all off. And yet look how complex and sophisticated their civilisation was. And how soon it happened, after that first man-made harvest. The Egyptian plough and those of the few other civilisations sprang up around the world at the same time... Gave us control over nature... And at the same time, tied us for good, to the things that we invent so that tomorrow will be better than today. The Egyptians knew that. That's why they had gods. To make sure that their systems didn't fail."
Thanks for some great stories James.
Related Links:
- James Burke (science historian): http://bit.ly/13ORLvb
- Connections on Wikipedia: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connections_(TV_series)
- Bill Otto's original fan page: http://home.comcast.net/~billotto/Connections.html
- Bill Otto's 'rescued' content: http://bit.ly/11F77vt
- James Burke's head shot: http://www.uncg.edu/iss/incredible.html
- Ancient Egypt and the plough: http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/egypt/farming.htm
A sample of Bill Otto's episode summaries (a devout Connections fan):
Connections - Episode 2 - "Death in the Morning" Connect the year 2500 years ago, when the touch stone became a way of determining the purity of gold with the standardization of metals; Alexander the Great's nautical library, and the discovery of the magnet and subsequently, the compass. This series of discoveries and inventions gave rise to worldwide commerce. Ships could sail at night and on cloudy days. Magnetism led to the discovery of electricity, radar and the awesome release of atomic energy.Traces the connection between standardization of precious metals used in coins, the great commercial center and library built by Alexander the Great, development of the compass, and creation of the atomic bomb.
1. touchstone tells you that you can trust gold
2. accept metal and hence coins
3. trade stimulated
4. Alexander the Great and trade center
5. library of Alexandria
6. sailors coming in and out of Alexandria
7. navigation, maps, stars
8. square sails
9. 700 AD - pirates
10. latine sail - more trade
11. stern post rudder
12. 1453 Turks take over Constantinople (heavy cost to get goods through territory)
13. porta-land charts
14. magnetic compass
15. why doesn't compass point true north
16. magnetism/metals
17. sparks, static electricity
18. vacuum
19. weather
20. high altitude balloons
21. Scottish highland weather study
22. Ben Nevis
23. a "glory"
24. cloud chamber
25. lightning
26. radio/atmospheric interaction
27. radar
28. nuclear reactors/bombs
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