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You’re reading Age of Invention, my newsletter on the causes of the British Industrial Revolution and the history of innovation. This edition went out to over 12,200 subscribers. If you’ve just been forwarded this, you can sign up here: Previously, on


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This @antonhowes series on why it took so long to invent the steam engine is worth reading in full. But one TLDR is this: "Because people so rarely try to improve things, low-hanging fruit can be left on the tree for decades or even centuries."