Robert Sherrick Brumbaugh

What a fun book! The author obviously knows his material, and presents his thesis: The ancient Greeks loved gadgets, we don't hear much about them because they were everywhere, and so common that they were not mentioned much.

He supports this with the usual quotes from the life of Archimedes, Hero's "Pneumatics" & the "Automatic Theatre", Aristophanes, etc. However, there is lots of originality. He even was the first person to build Hero's model of the known universe, which demonstrares the Earth floating in space! Quite an achievement! We also learn about the machine that was used in the Athens of Pericles to choose the jury for a trial, the officers for the city, etc. It's just like a modern lotto or Bingo machine (US readers will no doubt be perplexed here).

Lot's of fun. I don't know if the theory has stood the test of time, but a great read, even if the conclusions are a bit suspect.… (meer)