Technics and Civilization gives a history of the development of the machine during the last thousand years. It examines the origins of the machine as they are found in the social order that crystallized in the early Middle Ages, and in the scientific and philosophic world-views that grew up in the seventeenth century.

"From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity's creation and evolution--a #1 international bestseller--that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human." One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one--homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us? Most...