Literature on Industrial Progress and Ecology

by nuugat

Hey, I'm searching for good comprehensive literature on the industrial revolutions, and continuing industrial progress. I'm less interested in a certain revolution or invention, but in a bigger picture. It's important to me, that it at least touches on ecological influences of industrial inventions in a broader perspective. Some interesting topics might be deforestation, pollution etc. I'm asking here because I'm especially interested in the connection to industrial progress. I'm also not interested in reading some fancy politically motivated biased stuff by some hippies. I'd rather read something by an author taken seriously as a historian by the scientific community. It's allright if it's controversial but it shouldn't be by the one guy everyone is laughing about. I read that Pomerantz' Great Divergence covers that topic a bit, but I'd like to read more on it or hear, what you think about that book. I also read one book called "The Song of the Dodo" by David Quammen, which was extremely pleasant, but it's more of a science history book and covers a lot of biology and evolution theory and touches nothing of Industrial Progress. I don't mind getting something with an interesting narrative or something that's pleasant to read, but it shouldn't be inaccurate. I also ordered "The sixth extinction" but still, there might be a lot missing when it comes to technological progress. Thanks !

nuugat

Thanks for the PM I got! For anyone interestet, here is another recommendation by a professor for environmental ethics and one that I particularly like. Joachim Radkau - Nature and Power It's a lot about how Humans "tamed" Nature and he tries to debunk some common myths people have about hunter gatherers. He gives various examples of older and newer cultures and how they dealt with their landscape, so it's a lot about agriculture but also about concepts of nature. He is apparently well educated when it comes to cultural studies and philosophy. I guess he would call his subject "Natural History"...