Includes bibliographical references (pages [545]-568) and index
Technology and improvement -- Plows and horses -- Power -- Buildings for God and man -- Transforming matter -- Light and time -- Types of change -- Earth, fire, water, and air -- Improving knowledge -- Improvers and engineers -- Raising fire -- Fabrics of change -- Artisans, philosophes, and entrepreneurs -- Airs and lightning -- Mobility -- Messages -- Engineering emerges -- Stuff, reality, and dreams -- The improvement of violence -- Learning -- Dynamics -- Land and life -- Scale -- The corruption of improvement -- Networks -- Improvement's end