Victoriana Science and Technology
Compiled by Richard Seltzer B&R Samizdat Express - May 20, 2003
ISBN: 0-931968-31-
Genre: Science - Victorian History
Reviewed by Rochelle Caviness - July 18, 2003
The Victorian Era witnessed massive technological and scientific advances. These advances ran the gamut from Charles Darwin's theories on evolution to the development of electrical
engineering as a science. The Victorian Era also marked the development of the telegraph system, including the laying of submarine telegraph lines across the Atlantic. This period also saw advances in naval technology and engineering - including a new innovation - the standardization of ship fitting that allowed for quick repairs if a ship was damaged. Advances were also made in fields of medicine, agriculture, sociology, psychology, forensics, sanitation, the natural sciences,and physics. Basically advances were made in every realm of scientific endeavor during the reign of Queen Victoria. These advances help to lay the foundations of modern scientific inquiry, and many of the technological advances of the era are still in use today.
To get a feel for the full extent of the advances made during this period all you need to do is to glance at some of the titles contained on the CD collection, Victoriana Science and Technology that has been compiled by Richard Seltzer. There are over 200 hundreds books (all in plain text) related to the scientific and technological advances made during the Victorian period. I've picked ten titles at random just to give you a taste of what this collection has to offer:
The Descent of Man, by Charles Darwin
The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals, by William Hornaday
The Student's Elements of Geology, by Charles Lyell
Hygienic Physiology, by Joel Steele
Five of Maxwell's Papers, by James Clerk Maxwell
Life of Thomas Telford: Civil Engineer, by Samuel Smiles
The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters, by Logan Marshall
Pagan Tribes of Borneo, by Charles Hose and William McDougall
Increasing Human Efficiency in Business, by Walter Dill Scott
Criminal Psychology: A Manual for Judges, Practitioners and Students by Hans Gross, translated by Horace Kallen
The books in this collection are organized into major thematic sections, including Natural Science and Technology, Technology, and Social Science. Each major section is further divided into smaller categories that enables anyone to quickly scan through the table of contents to find books related to any subject that he happens to be looking for.
A complete index of all the books contained in this collection may be found online at the B&R Samizdat Express online store. Here you will also find information on how to order this marvelous CD collection.
All the books in this collection are contained on one CD, and it is a must have for anyone interested in the History of Science or Victoriana. It will also serve as an ideal reference source for students. This collection also offers you opportunity to obtain a comprehensive library on a pivotal period in human history, for less than the price of many books.
This collection will also be of particular interest to anyone who is visually impaired with an interest in science. Very few science books are published in large print or audio editions. All the books in this collection are accessible via most screen reading programs. In addition, anyone with a rudimentary familiarity with a computer will find it easy to enlarge the size of text, change the font, or the alter the colors in which the texts are displayed, in order to make them easier for you to read.
To read the books in this collection, you will need a PC with Windows, plus a web browser or a word processing program such as Word or WordPerfect. All the texts on this CD are in plain text, and they can be read by any screen reading program. In addition, this CD includes a copy of ReadPlease, a windows-based screen reading program. Their homepage is located at: www.readplease.com/ Two versions of the ReadPlease program come with the CD, a free version and ReadPlease Plus, a commercial shareware version. To use the program, you simply highlight the text you want read to you, and the computer will read it aloud. In the free version you can only highlight 16,000 bytes of text at one time, whereas with the commercial version you can set the program to read an unlimited amount of text at one time.
Related Reviews:
Victoriana: Advice, Etiquette, and Textbooks, compiled by Richard Seltzer.
Twenty-three books on one CD that explore the social and educational mores of the Victorian era, covering everything from the rules of dueling to how to write a proper letter. (Compact Disc)
Florence Nightingale: Avenging Angel, by Hugh Small.
In this revolutionary biography of Florence Nightingale, Small presents the reader with an unblemished view of exactly who Florence Nightingale was, what motivated her, and the effect of her activities in making nursing a mainstream and acceptable occupation for middle and upper class women, for helping to institute academic nursing training, and the impact that she had on public health. He highlights some her most important works and explores many of the myths that surrounded her life, all the while providing an engaging and extremely readable biography of a remarkable woman. (Large Print)
