CONNECTIONS From Ancient Egyptians to the New York blackout, from elephant tusks to Hollywood movies - a brilliant storyteller unravels the greatest mystery of all: how we got to be where we are. When the first New York City blackout hit,elevators stopped, traffic grid-locked, electrical systems failed and people literally didn't know what to do with themselves. How did we become so helpless? James Burke sees the answer as a sequence of events, accidents, circumstances and coincidences that neatly fit into place and stretch all the way back to the first ancient Egyptian farmer who scratched a furrow in the soil of the Nile Delta. The moment man picked up a stone to use as a tool, he altered irrevocably the balance between himself and his environment. From this point on, all inventions added to an increasingly vast network, each part of which was linked to all other parts. A master storyteller, James Burke tells how you and all that you are today are directly connected to all that has gone on before. And he makes it sound like the most engrossing detective adventure you've ever heard. This is the audio tape equivalent of a pageturner. Don't be surprised if you find yourself sitting in your parked car, the engine running because you don't want to turn the tape off until the side is over. 2 cassettes, approximate time: 3 hours Text copyright 1978 by James Burke, Recording copyright 1990 by Public Interest Affiliates, Inc. Audio Renaissance Tapes, Inc. 5858 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 205 Los Angeles, CA 90036 Distributed by: St. Martins Press, New York ISBN 1-55927-066-7 - - - Click on a title below to order: Connections