The Most Powerful Idea in the World: A Story of Steam, Industry, and Invention

This bracing history uses the earth-shaking development of the steam engine to show how the very idea of intellectual property was essential to the entire Industrial Revolution.

Hardly a week passes without some high-profile court case that features intellectual property at its center. But how did the belief that one could own an idea come about? And how did that belief change the way humankind lives and works? William Rosen, author of Justinian's Flea, seeks to answer these questions and ...