1000 Years of Inspiration. Amazing Stories of Simple Things

An encyclopaedia of discoveries and inventions that have changed the life of mankind over the past ten centuries. Professor Sergei Ivanov, historian (Byzantine studies), investigated the origins of subjects and phenomena which are very common, but also very fascinating if we look at them closely. Stories about the origins of the musical staff, the syringe, the condom or telephone, talk about sudden inspiration, but also about dramatic twists in the inventors’ fates. The book is based on a hundred columns which the author had written in the course of many years for several Russian magazines.

Moscow: Vokrug sveta, 2010