The ancient engineers

by L. Sprague De Camp

Paper Book, 1963

Status

Available

Call number

TA16 .D4 1974

Publication

New York, Ballantine Books [1974, c1963]

Description

The Pyramids of Giza, the Parthenon of Greece, the Great Wall of China, the Colosseum of Rome . . . Today, we stand in awe before these wonders of the ancient world. They hold our history and the deepest secrets of our past in their hidden recesses. In THE ANCIENT ENGINEERS, L. Sprague de Camp delves into the heart of the mystery. He introduces us to the master builders who had the vision, the power, and the passion to reach for the clouds and touch the heavens. We share in some of the greatest technological triumphs of all time -- triumphs of the human mind, imagination, and spirit.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Redbud
Very interesting book, but would be much nicer with quality illustrations.
LibraryThing member kencf0618
Good popular account of how anything and everything from irrigation systems to pyramids got built in the eons before the the steam engine. You can acccomplish a great deal with organized muscles and leverage!
LibraryThing member ulfhjorr
A good, fun read about the hows and whys of ancient technology.
LibraryThing member celephicus
Excellent introduction to ancient engineering. After reading this, you will be able to tackle the real primary sources (Hero of Alexandria, Vitruvius, Philon of Byzantium (if you speak French). I am not really interested in the Egyptians, but there is good coverage of the Greeks & Romans.

One
Show More
stunning mistake is the complete elision of the Arab mechanics. Although al-Jaziri's "Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices" or the works of the Banu Musa were not tranlated into English yet, surely he must have heard of them? Anyway, still an excellent introduction. Just be sure to read a bit further.

Two excellent trivia items:

1. This book was the favourite of the Unabomber.
2. De Camp was a friend of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, and completed many Conan stories left uncompleted after Howard's suicide, and acted as advisor on the Conan movies.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jahshep
Interesting read. Written with a tad of spunk. I was interested in the beginning sections, which covered the Egyptian & Mesopotamian technologies. De Camp waxes skeptical of many Biblical accounts; especially the intentions/point of view of the written accounts. Good read.
LibraryThing member DinadansFriend
A necessary Corrective for those who think that our ancestors were not very bright. This is the first book that reset my mind to truly understand that technology has been accumulating for the last 5000 years, and we are the beneficiaries. The prose is clear and very accessible for those of us not
Show More
engineering-minded.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
5609. The Ancient Engineers, by L. Sprague De Camp (read 21 Jan 2019) This book was first published in 1963 and hence its bibliography includes nothing after that date. It undertakes to tell of the work of engineers and like-minded folk from the earliest times up to the time of Leonardo da Vinci,
Show More
whom the author calls not the first of modern engineers but the last of ancient engineers. The book covers a lot of territory and in the early part I found it very dull and uninteresting, but as his account delved into more recent times it better held my interest. The author is an agnostic and loses no chance to snipe at the Catholic Church, which, admittedly at times did not show itself a friend of new things, as Pope St. John Paul II illustrated in his saying the Church was wrong to dis Galileo. The book, being a 1963 book, does not get into the amazing things which have happened in technology since then, the most amazing to me being the computer and how it has revolutionized transmittal of information and brought such great things as LibraryThing to us. Some one more technologically aware than am I would no doubt appreciate this book more than I did.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
This was originally written in 1962, and is therefore is a little dated. Sprague de Camp has written a book all about the different civilisations and the technologies that that invented or acquired from other neighbouring civilisations.

The book is split into sections on each of the civilisations,
Show More
so from Egypt to middle ages Europe. The technologies covered are boat building, wind and water power, construction, printing and warfare. Some of it is fascinating, but other parts of it are the authors opinion. He spent far too long on the historical context, necessary to a certain extent, but more could have been written on the innovations.
Show Less

Language

Original publication date

1960

Physical description

450 p.; 18 cm

ISBN

0345237838 / 9780345237835

Barcode

34662000588852
Page: 0.3655 seconds