About this Event
For over 10,000 years, the human race has been busy altering our environment and embracing 'progress', evolving seamlessly from hunter gatherers to the modern urban sophisticates we see ourselves as today.
But what are the ideas and inventions that enabled humanity to become, by the early 21st century, a majority urban species for the first time? How did the essential infrastructure of modern life - the innovations that we barely even notice, but without which our world would fall apart - happen?
With his characteristic wit and boundless curiosity, Jonn Elledge invites us to join him on a fascinating and often surprising tour of the ideas and technologies that made modernity possible. From elevators to electric lighting, street numbering to sewers, he guides us through the history of civilisation itself.
Jonn Elledge is the author of the number-one bestseller, A History of the World in 47 Borders. A New Statesman and New World columnist, he is a regular on the podcasts 'Oh God, What Now?; and the late, lamented 'Paper Cuts', and a frequent contributor to The i Paper, the Guardian and assorted other publications. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman, where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, spending six happy years writing about cities, maps and borders and hosting the 'Skylines' podcast. He has written three books, as well as over 200 editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. He lives in London, with the best dog in the world.
Your ticket includes a complimentary glass of wine.
*Please note that the Auditorium at Foyles is fully accessible from the Ground floor lifts.
Tickets: £10 General Admission, £8 Foyalty Member / £25 Book and Ticket (including a copy of 31 Inventions that Built Our World RRP £20.99)
Venue: The Auditorium (Level 6) at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road*
Event venue & nearby stays
Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road, London, United Kingdom
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