A Really important set of ideas, but I wouldn't want to learn them from this book. The author seems to think you can take two entire academic sub-specialties (History of Science, History of Technology) and cram their collective information into one trade paperback.

Societies are cagey and unpredictable about how (hell, if) they assimilate new technologies. Studying those processes takes more intellectual commitment than you get from a book you might find on the "Management" rack by the checkout at Kinkos.

I'd recommend Thomas Misa's Leonardo to the Internet as a good starting point.