History of Technology Volume 29

Ian Inkster is Research Professor of International History, Faculty of Humanities, The Nottingham Trent University, UK.

• Ian Inkster, 'Introduction to volume 29'.; Special Issue: Kent Deng and Jerry Liu ed., Chinese Technological History: The Great Divergence.; Deng and Liu, 'Editorial Introduction'.; Patrick K. O'Brien, 'The Needham Question Updated: a Historiographical Survey and Elaboration'.; Jerry C.Y. Liu, 'Cultural Logics for the Regime of Useful Knowledge during the Ming and early Qing China c. 1400-1700'.; Harriet T. Zurndorfer, 'China and Science on the Eve of the 'Great Divergence' 1600-1800: A review of recent revisionist scholarship in Western languages'.; Kent Deng, 'Movers and Shakers of Knowledge in China during the Ming-Qing Period'.; Special Issue: Lissa Roberts and Ian Inkster ed., Mindful Hand.; Lissa Roberts, 'Introduction'.; Alette Fleischer, 'From darkness into light: The transformation of rock crystal into an object of adornment and revelation'.; Chandra Mukerji, 'The Mindful Hands of Peasants: Construction of an Eight-Lock Staircase at Fonseranes, 1678-1679'.; Simon Werrett, 'Enlightenment in Russian Hands: Instruments, Inventions, and Ivan Petrovich Kulibin in Eighteenth-Century St. Petersburg'.; Lissa Roberts, 'The mindful hand goes to Japan. Dutch-Japanese trade in the second half of the eighteenth century'.; Ian Inkster, 'Conclusions'.

"This volume of the series is devoted entirely to two special issues. The first explores the divergence between Chinese and European technology during the early modern period. Restating the conventional question of why Chinese technology failed, five studies show how the progression there was logical, and it was Europe that veered off. They cover cultural logics for the regime of useful knowledge and the movers and shakers of knowledge during the Ming and early Qing around 1400-1700, and provide a historiographical survey and elaboration and a review of recent revisionist scholarship in Western languages. The second issue challenges the assumption--by academics, of course--that practical knowledge was bestowed by the intellectual elite on technicians during the early modern period in Europe. A more accurate representation, six papers argue, is that the two groups mingled, artisans recognizing the value of a knowledge base, and experimenters learning techniques and identifying problems to solve. Topics there include crystals and the recreation of nature in 17th-century garden caves and cabinets, the inventions and identity of Ivan Petrovich Kulibin in 18th-century St. Petersburg, and Dutch-Japanese trade during the second half of the 18th century." -Eithne O'Leyne, BOOK NEWS, Inc.