Guided reading

Reading trails

A trail is a suggested sequence of articles with a short explanation of the order. Mark articles as read and your progress is saved in this browser only.

All trails

8 steps

From tools to industrial systems

From chipped stone to the factory: how tools, materials, and power sources combined into production systems.

  1. What is technology
  2. First tools
  3. Agriculture
  4. Metallurgy
  5. The wheel
  6. Ancient engineering
  7. Steam engine
  8. Factories

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7 steps

From writing to instant communication

Seven steps in the shrinking of the distance between sender and receiver, from the clay tablet to the cell phone.

  1. Writing
  2. Paper
  3. Printing press
  4. Telegraph
  5. Telephone
  6. Radio
  7. Mobile phones

0 of 7 read

6 steps

From electricity to computing

The path from batteries and generators to microscopic circuits and programmable machines.

  1. Electricity
  2. Telegraph
  3. Transistor
  4. Integrated circuits
  5. First computers
  6. Personal computer

0 of 6 read

6 steps

From first calculations to digital machines

Numerical records, calculators, vacuum tubes, transistors, and software: the building of digital computing.

  1. Writing
  2. First computers
  3. Transistor
  4. Programming languages
  5. Integrated circuits
  6. Personal computer

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6 steps

From wires to global networks

Wires, waves, and protocols: how signals at a distance became planetary infrastructure.

  1. Telegraph
  2. Telephone
  3. Radio
  4. First networks
  5. The Web
  6. Mobile phones

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5 steps

From mechanical automation to intelligent systems

Regulation, repetition, and programming: the search for machines that act and decide with less human intervention.

  1. Steam engine
  2. Factories
  3. First computers
  4. Robotics
  5. Computational intelligence

0 of 5 read