James Watt

I was somewhat amazed when I read this book to discover the breadth and depth of this great man. Not sure if the author was over egging the greatness of Watt or telling the world that this man was somewhat greater than history leads us to believe.I enjoy biographies especially when they are about great men of science and engineering from the past. It never ceases to amaze me how these people were able to think about the world in such a logical way without the benefits of the technology available to us today. I wonder who future generations will celebrate fro our age.The book is obviously written at a time when the industrial revolution was at its height so it is fascinating to read it with 20x20 hindsight having more knowledge of the way the world works than the author did when he wrote it.

You do not have to be Railway minded to enjoy this but it helps. Everybody thinks they know about Watt but i was surprised and very interested just how Watt developed the use of steam and the many trials and tribulations experienced in achieving what we know today as the steam engine. An extraordinary dedicated and talented man, i was surprised just how many other people helped / developed the steam engine with all its complexeties into what it is today. It is as good as i expected it because it is a subject most people know about, a name that most people know, yet few have read the real story behind this great man.

I found this very interesting read, more so for its now rather quaint and sentimental writing style which seems quite usual for when it was written (1905). The most fascinating aspect of this book beyond the story of James Watt is the authors view on the current state of technology and comments on the future as American manufacturing might overtook that of Britain. I particularly found some of the author's views endearing in how at the beginning of the last century it was inconceivable that the pace of technology could move as fast as it had done in the previous century.

This is a subject that I have been particularly interested in, and the book provides all the information that I would require

A great book , but this version is missing all of the quotation, has no page numbers and is very small print . Buy a different version! The other version I have just purchased has all of the quotations , so this is just a very sloppy publishing error by Amazon who have printed the version.

A good account of the life of James Watt and the early history of the steam engine

A very good review of the life of James Watt which included details of his steam engine with it's construction, the book also brings out the relationships which he had with family, friends and associates throughout his life which I thought was good, an excellent read, which I will read again.

Bit rambling and takes ages to get to the subject matter of his life that most are interested in,