The Industrial Revolution changed our world in a way that few other periods have done: it changed the landscape with heavy industry, altered a national workforce, linked towns and cities with transport and communication networks and transformed the medical world. In utilising the plentiful supply of fossil fuels it pushed forward locomotion, light, manufacturing and food production to change human lifestyles forever, as urban life took over from rural. Regular wages brought freedom of information, travel and social mobility to many, and the world of 1800 looked vastly different to that of 1700 as the foundations for the modern age were laid. This book celebrates the major inventions and buildings of the period 1700-1860: a period when science and technology began to establish its role in modern life.

Simon Forty was educated at Sedbergh School and London University's School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He has been involved in publishing for over three decades and specializes in military history having contributed to a large number of books. He was also general editor of World War I: A Visual Encyclopedia. Simon lives in Devon with his wife and two children. -- Simon Forty