Caledonia Dreaming

Download or read book Caledonia Dreaming written by John Kv Eunson and published by Headline. This book was released on 2012-03-01 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So what have the Scots ever done for the world then? Well, most people will know about John Logie Baird (inventor of television), Alexander Graham Bell (the telephone) and Alexander Fleming (penicillin). But what about Alexander Cummings from Edinburgh? It would be hard to imagine getting through the day without using his invention - the flushing toilet. Or how about William Cullen from Glasgow? There would be a lot of sour milk (and warm beer) without the first man to demonstrate artificial refrigeration. And then there's Alexander Bain from Caithness? Can anyone really imagine a world without his invention - the fax machine? The list goes on and on; Janet Keillor from Dundee (marmalade), James Clerk Maxwell from Edinburgh (radio waves), John Reith from Stonehaven (the BBC), James Black from Uddingston (beta-blockers) James Bowman Lindsay from Angus (light bulbs), James Goodfellow from Paisley (the ATM), Dugald Clerk from Glasgow (the two-stroke engine), Alexander McRae from the Kyle of Lochalsh (speedos), James Blyth from Kincardineshire (the first electricity producing wind turbine). Caledonia Dreaming tells the often frankly unbelievable stories behind these discoveries and looks at how they, along with the writers, philosophers, philanthropists and bankers of Scotland have left their unique, indelible mark on the modern world.