George Stephenson did not invent the steam engine, that was due to Newcomen and later to James Watt. He did not invent the steam locomotive, that was due to a number of people including Cugnot, Trevithick and others. He did not invent the Railway. Railways or tramways had been in use for two hundred years before Stephenson.The reason why Stephenson was known as ‘The father of the steam locomotive’ was that he took a primitive, unreliable and wholly uneconomic device and turning it into an efficient...

Samuel Smiles was a Scottish author and government reformer, but he concluded that more progress would come from new attitudes than from new laws. He wrote popular articles and books on his theories; ways people could help themselves overcome their problems. His book "Self-Help" brought him to celebrity status: almost overnight, he became a leading pundit and much-consulted guru. "Happy Homes" focuses on ways and reasons to be thrifty, how to find happiness in life, the opposite sex and work. What's particularly striking about this book is its clear-headed 19th Century advice for "improvement" and cultural stability, etc...