The British Industrial Revolution by Robert C Allen

This book tries to explain in explicit detail why the industrial revolution started in Great Britain and how it happened. In a nutshell Britian had relatively high wages with very cheap energy; coal. This created a demand for labor saving devices. On the supply side Britian had a highly educated population with a large population hub in London to disperse the knowledge. Now the book itself takes nearly 300 pages to make this argument and all the supporting details really strengthen the case and there are thorough deconstructions of other major theories. Overall Allen does an excellent job of making his case. I highly recommend this book if you want to know more on how the industrial revolution started.