Join us in welcoming Jonn Elledge to talk about his brilliant new book, '31 Inventions That Built Our World'.

Join us in welcoming Jonn Elledge to Waterstones Cardiff to talk about his brilliant new book, 31 Inventions That Built Our World, a fascinating look at into the inventions and innovations that contributed to our modern urbanised world.

For over 10,000 years, we humans have been busy altering our environment and embracing 'progress', evolving seamlessly from hunter gatherers to the modern urban sophisticates we see ourselves as today.But what are the ideas and inventions that enabled humanity to become, by the early 21st century, a majority urban species for the first time? How did the essential infrastructure of modern life - the innovations that we barely even notice, but without which our world would fall apart - actually come to be?With his characteristic wit and boundless curiosity, Jonn Elledge invites us to join him on a fascinating and often surprising tour of the ideas and technologies that made modernity possible. From elevators to electric lighting, parks to pedestrian crossings, he guides us through the history of civilisation itself.

Jonn Elledge is the author of the number-one bestseller, A History of the World in 47 Borders. A New Statesman and New World columnist, he is a regular on the podcasts Oh God, What Now? and the late, lamented Paper Cuts, and a frequent contributor to The i Paper, the Guardian and assorted other publications. He was previously an assistant editor at the New Statesman,where he created and ran its urbanism-focused CityMetric site, spending six happy years writing about cities, maps and borders and hosting the Skylines podcast. He has written three books, as well as over 200 editions of the Newsletter of (Not Quite) Everything. He lives in London, with the best dog in the world.

Refreshments will be provided! Please note that our events space is on the first floor, accessible via stairs or lift. Do contact us if you have any access questions.

Doors open at 18:30. Latecomers will be admitted until 19:15.

Description supplied by the event organiser.