Connections 3: Journey on the Web--Feedback

It's history, it's science, it's art and it's fun! Author James Burke here presents the third of his splendid Connections series which show how seemingly unrelated events can have enormous (or at least interesting) impacts on humanity. For instance, in Feedback, the opening volume of the new series, viewers will learn that there is a connection between feedback and wallpaper and the invention of cornflakes (!). How about the "connection between Matthew Maury, founder of the U.S. Naval Academy, and poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge? (Samuel Morse, whose telegraph was used by Maury to gather oceanographic data, had previously studied art in Europe, where he met painter Washington Alston, who befriended Coleridge, whose work is probably vaguely familiar to Kevin Bacon.) Well, Burke and his crack team of researchers do a far better job of explaining and illustrating all this. The pace is quick, the script is witty, and the locations are gorgeous. Plus it's a good way for teachers to demonstrate higher-order thinking skills. Of course, general viewers will also be thoroughly entertained and heck, probably even learn something. While scholars might sniff at the occasional overstatement (the Seventh Day Adventist Church appears to get credit for founding the vegetarian movement in the U.S., rather than Dr. Sylvester Graham), this is still much more educational than anything on network prime time. The two other titles in the series are: What's in a Name? and Drop the Apple. Highly recommended. [Note: WGBH Boston Video (800-225-0540) is selling the same series at the home video price of $49.95.] Aud: I, J, H, C, P. (R. Reagan)