@antonhowes.bsky.social
Historian of invention. www.ageofinvention.xyz
Interesting question! Nothing obvious springs to mind, especially as so few of the sources I use say anything about how numerals were spoken aloud!
27.07.2025 10:54 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Long but cool read on the centuries-long process of inventing, forgetting, and reinventing coal briquettes
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
My latest post! In researching the history of coal, I stumbled across a puzzle that has baffled people for over four hundred years: why the coal briquette never became widely adopted in England.
Now, finally, there is an answer!
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
My latest post! In researching the history of coal, I stumbled across a puzzle that has baffled people for over four hundred years: why the coal briquette never became widely adopted in England.
Now, finally, there is an answer!
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
Does anyone know how to get in touch with the historian and antiquary Malcolm Thick? I've tried via various institutions he's associated with, but no reply from them.
10.06.2025 18:58 — 👍 0 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0Does anyone know how to get in touch with the historian and antiquary Malcolm Thick? I've tried via various institutions he's associated with, but no reply from them.
10.06.2025 18:58 — 👍 0 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0The sale is still on!
14.05.2025 10:41 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0Drivers of the world, road-price!
11.05.2025 16:57 — 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Woah, would you look at that! My book, ARTS & MINDS: How the Royal Society of Arts changed a Nation, is currently half price from the publishers - for just a few days only!
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Making pale ale cheaply and at scale was a major prize: a healthier, tastier, and more standardised drink, with major savings in terms of straw that could be better used for feeding cattle.
But it was far easier said than done. See my latest post:
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
Making pale ale cheaply and at scale was a major prize: a healthier, tastier, and more standardised drink, with major savings in terms of straw that could be better used for feeding cattle.
But it was far easier said than done. See my latest post:
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
Interesting blog on malt kilning and pale ales.
23.04.2025 05:16 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
My latest post! On the long and winding quest to develop pale ale. Involving nefarious noblemen, a failed plot to raise illegal taxes, and the Dutch alchemist who invented the thermostat.
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
My latest post! On the long and winding quest to develop pale ale. Involving nefarious noblemen, a failed plot to raise illegal taxes, and the Dutch alchemist who invented the thermostat.
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
Had a lot of fun doing this. And just days after recording discovered some evidence I’d missed, confirming that Cornelis Drebbel’s perpetual motion worked the way I suspected, using expanding mercury to rewind its springs!
15.04.2025 07:41 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
A new #EchoesofHistory is out covering the Age of Invention around England and the world in the time of #AssassinsCreedSyndicate.
#HistoryHit @mattlewishistory.bsky.social speaks with @antonhowes.bsky.social in this packed episode.
#AssassinsCreed @ubisoft.com
open.spotify.com/episode/19KO...
Cover of the essay Rediscovering British Progress available at https://britishprogress.org/articles/rediscovering-british-progress
💫 We’re launching the Centre for British Progress
Our founding essay: Rediscovering British Progress is a case for growth that drives shared progress, rooted in Britain's values and industrial heritage.
It all starts with a postcard from 1870 👇
britishprogress.org/articles/red...
Thanks very much - done!
25.03.2025 14:31 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0@bho.bsky.social Hello, when will I be able to purchase a subscription again? I keep getting blocked by the paywall, and then told I am unable to pay to get past it. Could you please either release your paywalled stuff or fix subscriptions? Now that the archived site is down, this is impossible.
25.03.2025 12:55 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Such chutzpah ~ shortly after Caesar’s assassination, Brutus ordered this celebratory coin to be issued, with his own face on the front & reverse showing daggers, liberty cap & notation (= Ides of March). Sold for $4.2m, one of only 3 known gold examples
www.numismaticnews.net/world-coins/...
An enigmatic woman, behind inventor Carl Benz
In honour of international women’s day – was the motor car co-invented by a woman? And have we been robbing her of credit for 140 years?
The story begins with a heist…
Been informed of a new article just published in *History of Science* by Candice Goucher, the historian & archaeologist who excavated Reeder's Pen in Jamaica. I remember some people asking what she thought, to settle the whole controversy. And she's unequivocal:
07.03.2025 19:41 — 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Here's the post in question. I recommend reading the related footnotes, too: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
07.03.2025 19:42 — 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Been informed of a new article just published in *History of Science* by Candice Goucher, the historian & archaeologist who excavated Reeder's Pen in Jamaica. I remember some people asking what she thought, to settle the whole controversy. And she's unequivocal:
07.03.2025 19:41 — 👍 11 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
"London’s voracious appetite for coal did not start in the hearths of its homes. Instead, thanks to some enterprising Germans ..., it was instead first whet by ale and beer."
Of course it was. Absolutely fascinating #longread. www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
This post should be at least one popular historical book and several movies www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
24.02.2025 16:57 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 2 📌 1Very high praise indeed, thank you! Von Bocholt definitely seems like a character worthy of the silver screen
24.02.2025 19:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Why did coal, having been used in Britain for centuries, very suddenly take off in London in 1580-1600?
I dove deep into the archives, unearthing a story *never* told before. It was thanks to German inventors, and through brewing, that coal really won.
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
Why did coal, having been used in Britain for centuries, very suddenly take off in London in 1580-1600?
I dove deep into the archives, unearthing a story *never* told before. It was thanks to German inventors, and through brewing, that coal really won.
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
"The arrival of coal allowed deforestation, freeing up land for farms that had been previously used to grow firewood.
The alternative story is London’s widespread adoption of chimneys and iron-backed hearths, but this doesn’t fit the timeline either."
www.ageofinvention.xyz/p/age-of-inv...
