Looking for a Tour De Force covering tools, mechanisms, processes, etc. that have either greatly impacted us <i></i>OR<i></i> that simply are great examples of clever ingenuity.<p>The more to-the-point, the better. Preferably focusing less on the historical developments and more on the "one time someone figured out they could do X with Y and it is clever because Z"<p>Some large common examples: the loom, the printing press, internal combustion engine, the transistor, clocks anchor escapement, materials, ...<p>Encyclopedias, podcasts, videos, ... even museums could be good pointers. I realize the question may be too broad but the point is to increase exposure to technologies.
There are a couple of TV series I know of that do this sort of thing. Check out <i>Connections</i> with James Burke, <i>Modern Marvels</i>, and <i>Genius of the Ancient World</i>, for starters. There's another TV series on Netflix that talks about stuff like the development of the bicycle, and the like, but the name escapes me. :(<p>If you're in the Bay Area, the Exploratorium and the Computer History Museum might be something you'd enjoy along these lines.