"Once regarded by historians as a period of intellectual stagnation, the Middle Ages were actually a time of extraordinary cultural and technological innovation. This romp through the inventions of the period tells the story of the first appearance of dozens of items and ideas of lasting significance." "Ranging from the invention of eyeglasses (by a now-forgotten layperson who sought to keep his methods secret, the better to profit from them) to the creation of the fork (at first regarded as an instrument of diabolical perversion but embraced when it helped people handle another invention of the age, pasta), this volume is a fitting tribute to an era from which we still benefit today."--Jacket.