BURKE, James 1936-

PERSONAL: Born December 22, 1936, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland; son of John James (a businessman) and Mary (Gallagher) Burke; married F. Madeline Hamilton. Education: Oxford University, B.A. and M.A., both 1961.

ADDRESSES: Agent—Royce Carlton, Inc., 866 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017-1881.

CAREER: British School, Bologna, Italy, lecturer in English and director of studies, 1961-63; English School, Rome, Italy, teacher of English and head of school, 1963-65; Granada Television, Rome, reporter for "World in Action" current affairs program, 1965-66; British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), London, England, 1966—, writer-host for television series, including Tomorrow's World and The Burke Special, writer and host of television documentaries including The Inventing of America, Connections, The Real Thing, and The Day the Universe Changed, chief reporter for Apollo moon missions, and producer. Managing director, Burke Productions. University lecture circuit, visiting scholar, University of Michigan—Dearborn, Dearborn, MI, 1988. Military service: Royal Air Force, 1957-59; became flying officer.

MEMBER: Royal Institution, Savile Club.

AWARDS, HONORS: Royal Television Society, silver medal for creative work on camera, 1973, and gold medal for outstanding program of the year, 1974; USA TV blue ribbon, 1978, 1986.

WRITINGS:

TELEVISION DOCUMENTARIES

The Inventing of America, first aired on BBC, July 4, 1976; aired on National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC), July 3, 1979.

Connections (also see below), first aired on BBC and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), autumn, 1979.

The Real Thing, first aired on BBC, autumn, 1980; aired on PBS, autumn, 1981.

The Day the Universe Changed (also see below), first aired on BBC, spring, 1985, aired on PBS, autumn, 1986.

Also creator of television series Connections 2 and Connections 3.

OTHER

(With Raymond Baxter) Tomorrow's World (based on the BBC series), BBC, 1970.

Connections: An Alternate View of Change, Macmillan (London, England), 1978, published as Connections, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1979, revised edition, 1995.

The Impact of Science on Society, Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Washington, DC), 1985.

The Day the Universe Changed, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986, revised edition, 1995.

(With Robert Ornstein) The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged History of Human Culture, Putnam (New York, NY), 1995.

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible, and Other Journeys through Knowledge, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996.

The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back—and Other Journeys through Knowledge, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1999.

Circles: Fifty Round Trips Through History, Technology, Science, Culture, illustrated by Dusan Petricic, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2000.

Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to periodicals, including Vogue, Harper's, Punch, Radio Times, New York Magazine, T.V. Times, and many others. Creator of CD-ROM Connections: A Mind Game.

SIDELIGHTS: James Burke has fascinated millions of viewers and readers with his television documentaries and books about the process of invention and the results of technological advances. He first gained international attention with his television series Connections. This study of the unexpected links between technological advances was the result of three years' research and took the filmmaking crew to more than twenty-three countries. When first broadcast on PBS in 1978, it attracted the largest audience for a documentary at that time. Connections was so successful that Burke continued his explorations of the subject in two more series, Connections 2 and Connections 3.

Ideas that were merely touched upon in the documentaries are explored in more depth in a companion book, also titled Connections. In it, the author focuses on eight contemporary technological achievements and traces the sequence of events that led to each. The computer, the production line, telecommunications technology, the airplane, the atomic bomb, plastic, television, and the guided rocket are the topics of Burke's discussion. His thesis is that technological progress is rarely the result of the work of a few brilliant individuals; rather, it is more likely to be brought about by the creative adaptations and combinations of many people. A Los Angeles Times reviewer described the book as "marvelously illustrated and written with a lively wit." Washington Post contributor Joseph McLellan professed admiration for Burke's ability to enliven what might have been a dull subject: "There is a deep fascination in the way Burke traces the process and relates technology to everyday life."

Burke viewed the subject of change from a different perspective in The Day the Universe Changed, a ten-part television series and companion book that proved fully as popular as Connections. Covering Western cultural history from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century, the book and series illustrate the origins of modern Western attitudes and institutions through significant shifts in the body of scientific knowledge. When man's concept of the universe changed, everything else—architecture, music, literature, economics, etc.—changed with it, mirroring the new perception. However, Burke points out that each method of understanding the way the universe worked was valid for its own time. In the preface to the book The Day the Universe Changed, Burke asks, "If views at all times are valid, which is the right one?. . . is knowledge merely what we decide it should be? Is the universe what we discover it is, or what we say it is? If knowledge is an artifact, will we go on inventing it, endlessly? And if so, is there no truth to seek?"

Some reviewers of The Day the Universe Changed found fault with it, such as Rudy Rucker, who in hisWashington Post Book World assessment criticized the book's "unwillingness to say anything substantive about the world we live in." Other commentators were more enthusiastic, however. "Burke assails his readers and viewers with facts, history, and beautiful illustrations," declared Paul A. Robinson, Jr., in the Christian Science Monitor. "The illustrations in the text are interesting and thought-provoking. The progress, or at least the changing scene, of mankind is spread across the text with amazing speed." Even Rucker concluded, "Despite its weaknesses—which are perhaps not as great as this review suggests—'The Day the Universe Changed' will certainly set people thinking new thoughts."

To write The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged History of Human Culture, Burke teamed with Robert Ornstein, the author of The Evolution of Consciousness, The Roots of the Self, and more than twenty other books. In this joint effort, the two authors identify the "axemakers" of society as those who improve human lives and redefine the way humanity operates. They posit that early man's use of tools actually influenced the evolutionary course of his brain, favoring a reason-based, sequential frame of reference over emotional responses. The dawn of agriculture and writing also gave rise to a social hierarchy, and the authors strive to prove that other technological advances such as the printing press, modern medicine, and the computer also caused major changes in the societal structure. A Publishers Weekly reviewer deemed it "an ambitious, entertaining, not always convincing" work, and Mary Carroll, writing in Booklist, recommended The Axemaker's Gift as "an eclectic, demanding analysis that will appeal to thoughtful readers."

The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible, and Other Journeys through Knowledge returns to the theme of Connections. The interplay among science, technology, and society is presented "in a dizzying, mind-expanding adventure that explores the crosscurrents of history," stated a Publishers Weekly writer. While finding Burke's mental twists and turns at times "maddening," the reviewer nevertheless commented that The Pinball Effect is a "unique and exciting odyssey" that may change the world view of those who read it. The book is yet another showcase for Burke's special gift of discovering unusual links in the world and illustrating them in a highly entertaining fashion, according to Smithsonian contributor Paul Tractman. Tractman also commented on Burke's reliably uncritical viewpoint, finding it a weak spot in the author's work: "In a book so brilliantly focused on the interconnection of things, one would expect the author to notice that the fruits of knowledge sometimes are contaminated with pesticides. Burke's enthusiasm is what makes his writing so entertaining, but it is also the source of his limitation." The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back—and Other Journeys through Knowledge was yet another collection of Burke's insights, featuring twenty historical storylines with extensive cross-references, showing one event's influence on all the others. A Publishers Weekly writer noted that Burke risks stretching his point of the interconnectedness of all things "to the point of meaninglessness," but added, "because his material is intrinsically interesting and because Burke is a superb raconteur," his guidebook "is entertaining when consumed in small segments."

Many of Burke's columns from Scientific American were collected in the Circles: Fifty Round Trips through History, Technology, Science, Culture. As in most of his body of work, Burke illustrates the lesson that all things are interconnected, and history does not unfold in a neat, sequential pattern. The book is ideal for those "who like to skim the surface of many subjects, or for those who enjoy watching a curious mind meander hither and yon and somehow draw things together into neat little circles," recommended Robert Saunderson in School Library Journal. Saunderson concluded that the witty, reader-friendly style of Circles provides "the ideal fodder for serendipitous readers."

Burke once told CA: "I am interested in trying to explain in a very limited way some aspects of why the world is as it is, and I believe that science has the most profound effect on it. Understanding science—even in the most general way—is a step toward understanding the social systems we live by. Some critics mistake my intentions, which are not to write definitively, but to provide access to the lay reader to subjects that are closed by nature of their very vocabulary."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Burke, James, The Day the Universe Changed, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986, revised edition, 1995.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 1995, Mary Carroll, review of The Axemaker's Gift: A Double-Edged History of Human Culture, p. 20; December 1, 1997, Sue-Ellen Beauregard, review of Connections 3, p. 5; June 1, 1999, Mary Carroll, review of The Knowledge Web: From Electronic Agents to Stonehenge and Back—and Other Journeys through Knowledge, p. 1760; March 1, 2000, Jeff Dick, review of Connections 3, p. 1254; December 1, 2000, Gilbert Taylor, review of Circles: Fifty Round Trips through History, p. 683; September 15, 2003, Gilbert Taylor, review of Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World, p. 196.

Christian Science Monitor, September 5, 1979; June 16, 1987.

EDN, May 9, 1996, Steven H. Leibson, "A Moment in Time with James Burke," p. 11.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2003, review of Twin Tracks, p. 947.

Library Journal, December, 1995, Theresa Connors, review of The Axemaker's Gift, p. 182; November 15, 1996, Germaine C. Linkins, review of The Pinball Effect: How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible and Other Journeys through Knowledge, p. 107; June 15, 1999, Wade Lee, review of The Knowledge Web, p. 103; November 1, 2000, Wade Lee, review of Circles, p. 128.

Los Angeles Times, November 2, 1979.

Maclean's, May 12, 1997, "Burke's Law: Progress is Quirky," p. 58.

New Scientist, August 24, 1996, Richard Barbrook, review of The Pinball Effect, p. 40.

New York Times, October 16, 1986, John Corry, review of The Day the Universe Changed, p. C30; December 25, 1986, John Corry, review of The Day the Universe Changed, p. 62.

New York Times Book Review, December 30, 1979; September 15, 1996, Ed Regis, review of The Pinball Effect, p. 9.

Publishers Weekly, August 7, 1995, review of The Axemaker's Gift, p. 451; June 10, 1996, review of The Pinball Effect, p. 79; May 24, 1999, review of The Knowledge Web, p. 54; November 20, 2000, review of Circles, p. 59; June 30, 2003, review of Twin Tracks, p. 65.

Reason, April, 1997, Brian Doherty, review of The Pinball Effect, p. 57.

School Library Journal, July, 2001, Robert Saunderson, review of Circles:, p. 136.

Science News, September 13, 2003, review of Twin Tracks, p. 175.

Smithsonian, August, 1997, Paul Tractman, review of The Pinball Effect, p. 119.

Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), May 2, 1997, p. 31.

Washington Post, September 20, 1979.

Washington Post Book World, October 4, 1986.*