James Watt is a biography of the Scottish engineer and inventor whose improvements to the steam engine helped power the Industrial Revolution. Its author, Andrew Carnegie, was himself a Scottish-born industrialist and steel magnate, and he brought to the subject both national pride and a businessman’s appreciation of Watt’s practical genius.
Carnegie traces Watt’s life from his early experiments and partnership with Matthew Boulton to the transformation of industry by reliable steam power. Admiring but readable, the book presents Watt as a model of perseverance, ingenuity, and the union of science with enterprise. As a portrait of one inventor written by one of the age’s great industrialists, it offers a distinctive perspective on the machine that made the modern world. Available here as a free EPUB download.