James Burke

created by JeffMagnus

(person) by JeffMagnus (4.7 y) (print) ? I like it! Sat Nov 13 1999 at 9:58:53

Born Londonberry, Northern Ireland, James Burke holds an M.A. in English from Oxford University. Since 1965, Burke has hosted numerous television documentaries including Connections, Connections 2, Connections 3, The Real Thing, The Day the Universe Changed, and After the Warming. Burke's unique style has also expressed itself in books and on the lecture circuit.

(person) by Ereneta (16.6 hr) (print) ? 2 C!s I like it! Sat Nov 13 1999 at 9:58:53

"You don't know who I am, do You? But you want to know." (holds up safety pin) "Take a look at this. And imagine yourself in the library at Alexandria. Because it's there we get our first clue about how I got to be where I am, with you watching me from where you are."

Burke's "unique style" mainly consists of combining the history of technology with storytelling: he'll take one invention or inventor, and show how an improvement in technology introduces a "trigger effect" which has implications on culture and technology across time and geography- one invention either inspires or creates the need for another, or solves a totally different problem than the one for which it was created. Burke usually connects technology we find indispensable today (the integrated circuit, radio, telephony, print) to its origins in Medieval or Ancient times.

printable version
chaos

Connections	Connections 3	Mark Twain on masturbation	Wagamama
Mitch Hedberg	James Lee Burke	The Da Vinci Code	Margaret Bourke-White
Tales from Topographic Oceans	Devil Dog	injustice	George Washington's 1793 State of the Union Address
First Day Cover	Intelligence Quotient	pre	John Adams's 1798 State of the Union Address
Drink minimum	Electrical problems of great magnitude	Kieselguhr	Is There Life After High School?
Faster, the Acceleration of Just About Everything	Northern Ireland	Capitals of the World	HipBone Games

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