History of engineering and technology Books
The University of Chicago Press The Enigma of the Aerofoil Rival Theories in
Book SynopsisIn the early years of aviation, there was an intense dispute between British and German experts over the question of why and how an aircraft wing provides lift. This title reveals the impact that the divergent mathematical traditions of Cambridge and Gottingen had on this debate.Trade Review"A masterpiece of writing and research. David Bloor brings his varied background to the table, writing the only book that describes a wonderful mixture of the scientific, historical, philosophical, and sociological forces that help to explain the 'enigma' of the aerofoil." (John D. Anderson Jr., National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)"
£38.00
The University of Chicago Press The Recombinant University
Book SynopsisThe advent of recombinant DNA technology in the 1970s was a key moment in the history of both biotechnology and the commercialization of academic research. This book brings to life the hybrid origin story of biotechnology and ways the academic culture of science has changed in tandem with the early commercialization of recombinant DNA technology.Trade Review"Yi's masterwork is a welcome deep-sequencing of how the double helix, DNA, gave rise to the triple helix-university-industry-government relations at the dawn of modern biotechnology. Yi's story traces how a science department changed the world, for better or for worse, or a bit of both." (Robert Cook-Deegan, Duke University)
£33.25
The University of Chicago Press Curiosity How Science Became Interested in
Book Synopsis
£19.00
The University of Chicago Press Everyday Technology
Book SynopsisShowcases how small machines and consumer goods that originated in Europe and North America became objects of everyday use in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author examines how such technologies became integral to fresh ways of thinking about class, race, and gender, as well as about the politics of colonial rule.Trade Review"Everyday Technology organizes an enormous amount of unfamiliar detail on a hitherto largely neglected subject, reinforced with copious statistics and illustrated with some appealing historical and contemporary images." (Nature) "In this fascinating study, Arnold casts his eye over a range of much smaller and humbler machines which, nonetheless, have transformed the 'everyday' lives of the people using them." (Times Literary Supplement)
£17.00
The University of Chicago Press The Crafting of the 10000 Things Knowledge and
Book SynopsisThe last decades of the Ming dynasty saw a significant increase in publications that examined advances in knowledge and technology. Among the numerous guides and reference books that appeared during this period was a series of texts by Song Yingxing. The author probes this text to focus on the development of scientific thinking in China.Trade Review"The Crafting of the 10,000 Things is a great achievement, which will repay careful reading on the part of historians of Western Europe and other parts of the world, as well as of China." (Metascience)
£26.00
The University of Chicago Press Painting with Fire
Book Synopsis
£41.80
The University of Chicago Press The TVs of Tomorrow How RCAs FlatScreen Dreams
Book SynopsisIn 1968 a team of scientists and engineers from RCA announced the creation of a new form of electronic display that relied upon an obscure set of materials known as liquid crystals. At a time when televisions utilized bulky cathode ray tubes to produce an image, these researchers demonstrated how liquid crystals could electronically control the passage of light. One day, they predicted, liquid crystal displays would find a home in clocks, calculatorsand maybe even a television that could hang on the wall. Half a century later, RCA's dreams have become a reality, and liquid crystals are the basis of a multibillion-dollar global industry. Yet the company responsible for producing the first LCDs was unable to capitalize upon its invention. In The TVs of Tomorrow, Benjamin Gross explains this contradiction by examining the history of flat-panel display research at RCA from the perspective of the chemists, physicists, electrical engineers, and technicians at the company's central labora
£33.25
The University of Chicago Press Aesthetics Industry and Science Hermann von
Book SynopsisAn account of the rise of physical sciences in Berlin in the nineteenth century, and the role played by the larger cultural flowering occurring at the time—the ways that ideas cross-fertilized.
£37.05
The University of Chicago Press Cigarettes Inc.
Book Synopsis
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press The History of Cartography Volume 6
Book SynopsisThe twentieth century is a pivotal period in map history. Geographic information systems radically altered cartographic institutions and reduced the skill required to create maps. This volume features expert contributors who provide both original research, and interpretations of larger trends in cartography.Trade Review"Certain to be the standard reference for all subsequent scholarship." (New York Times)
£456.00
The University of Chicago Press Technology
Book Synopsis
£31.00
The University of Chicago Press Thrifty Science
Book SynopsisShows how early modern science involved many repurposing practices that would be considered green today
£37.05
The University of Chicago Press Steam City Railroads Urban Space and Corporate
Book SynopsisAnyone interested in the rise of American corporate capitalism should look to the streets of Baltimore. There, in 1827, citizens launched a bold new venture: a rail-road that would link their city with the fertile Ohio River Valley. They dubbed this company the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), and they conceived of it as a public undertakingan urban improvement, albeit one that would stretch hundreds of miles beyond the city limits. Steam City tells the story of corporate capitalism starting from the street and moving outward, looking at how the rise of the railroad altered the fabric of everyday life in the United States. The B&O's founders believed that their new line would remap American economic geography, but no one imagined that the railroad would also dramatically reshape the spaces of its terminal city. As railroad executives wrangled with city officials over their use of urban space, they formulated new ideas about the boundaries between public good and private profit. UltimTrade Review"Recommended. . . Schley's illuminating central argument here is that corporate power rests in a physical landscape that facilitates its goals." * Choice *"Schley has succeeded in presenting a detailed study highlighting the relationship of the urban to national economy. Based on impressive research, Steam City should command an audience beyond Baltimore notably serving as a cautionary tale about the costs and benefits of public/private partnerships." * The Metropole *"Steam City is deeply researched, intellectually ambitious, and lucidly presented. Historians of capitalism and of the city, as well as cultural and historical geographers, will take note. Make no mistake: this is an outstanding and important book." -- Tamara Plakins Thornton, University at Buffalo"Have enormous private corporations ever been accountable to the governments that support them with tax dollars? Tackling this once-again urgent question, Schley traces the lamentable uncoupling of public money and public regulation over the course of the nineteenth century. Steam City is a lucid and learned account of railroad corporations and municipal governance, but the relationship of American democracy and capitalism is truly what’s at stake in this important book." -- Seth Rockman, Brown University"Explores the interconnectedness of the nineteenth century corporation and the growth of the nineteenth century city, providing a street-level perspective on the development of American capitalism through an examination of the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad and the city of Baltimore." * Journal of Economic Literature *“Schley adopts a fresh and innovative approach. . . Steam City reflects his assertion 'that corporate power, as we understand it today, rests on a spatial order that took shape in city streets during the first half century of the railroad age.'” * Technology and Culture *"David Schley has succeeded in presenting a detailed study highlighting the relationship of the urban to national economy. Based on impressive research, Steam City should command an audience beyond Baltimore notably serving as a cautionary tale about the costs and benefits of public/private partnerships." * The Metropole *Table of ContentsList of Maps, Figures, and Tables Introduction Chapter 1: The Urban Origins of the American Railroad Chapter 2: Tracks in the Streets Chapter 3: The Rise and Fall of the B&O Note Chapter 4: Straight Lines and Crooked Rates Chapter 5: The Smoking, Puffing Locomotive Chapter 6: Privatizing the B&O Chapter 7: The Railroad Unbound and the City Contained Chapter 8: The Great Strike Conclusion Appendix: The Board of Directors during the Stockholder Revolt Acknowledgments Abbreviations in the Notes Notes Index
£45.60
The University of Chicago Press Genesis Redux
Book SynopsisSince antiquity, philosophers and engineers have tried to take life's measure by reproducing it. This title collects seventeen essays from distinguished scholars in several fields. It is intended for historians and philosophers of science and technology, scientists and engineers working in artificial life and intelligence, and others.
£30.40
The University of Chicago Press The Crafting of the 10000 Things
Book SynopsisThe last decades of the Ming dynasty, though plagued by chaos and destruction, saw major advances in knowledge and technology. This title sheds light on the development of scientific thinking in China, the purpose of technical writing, and its role in and effects on Chinese history.
£76.00
The University of Chicago Press American Railroads
Book SynopsisAn account of the rise, decline and rebirth of railroads in the USA, tracing their history from their beginnings to the modern revitalized industry of the 1990s. This survey describes the growth of the railroads' monopoly, their part in the Civil War and the two World Wars, and their later decline.
£24.00
The University of Chicago Press The Apple II Age
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Nooney’s book tracks the pivotal years of the shift toward personal computing, epitomized by the Apple II and sped along by consumer software. . . . [It] tells the story of how computers became irrevocably personal, but what’s most striking, revisiting the history of the Apple II, is how much less personalizable our machines have become.” * New Yorker *"Nooney makes the heartfelt case that the Apple II’s most compelling story 'isn’t found in the feat of its engineering,' or in the personalities of Wozniak and Jobs, 'or the way it set the stage for the company’s multibillion-dollar future.' Instead, it’s about all those brave and curious people, the users, who came 'Not to hack, but to play . . . Not to program, but to print… The story of personal computing in the United States is not about the evolution of hackers — it’s about the rise of everyday users.'" * The New Stack *"The Apple II Age is an enjoyable and educational history book from a writer who has no intention to worship at the feet of the people who built the early computer industry and no desire to repeat apocryphal stories of how computers entered our homes and lives. With original research that questions and clarifies popular, long-held assumptions and lore, Nooney has produced a realistic, factual examination that provides unique insight into the era of the Apple II." * Juiced.GS *“The Apple II Age is a joy to read and an extraordinary achievement in computer history. A rigorous thinker and a bright and witty writer, Nooney offers a compelling account of the initial attempts to make computers inviting to the public. The Apple II Age, like the old microcomputer itself, is bound to intrigue both experts and newcomers to the subject.” * Joanne McNeil, author of 'Lurking: How a Person Became a User' *“Nooney complicates and enriches the men-in-garages Silicon Valley mythology we all know by drawing together a rich cast of software visionaries whose creative and entrepreneurial talents gave life to the machine. A magisterial history and a gift to all curious technophiles.” * Claire L. Evans, author of 'Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet' *“A highly original and insightful book that makes an enormous contribution. Nooney demonstrates how software transformed microcomputing from an arcane hobby into a mass consumer product.” * Kevin Driscoll, author of 'The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media' *“In these pages I found the story of my own coming of age with an Apple II, but it is not a nostalgic or sentimental story about boys and their toys. Instead, the monochrome green glow of the CRT is rendered prismatic through Nooney’s rigorous scholarship, painstaking archival research, and always bracing and authentic prose.” * Matthew Kirschenbaum, author of 'Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing' *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1 Prehistories of the Personal 2 Cultivating the Apple II 3 Business: VisiCalc 4 Games: Mystery House 5 Utilities: Locksmith 6 Home: The Print Shop 7 Education: Snooper Troops Inconclusions Epilogue: On the Consignment Floor Acknowledgments A Note on Archives and Sources Notes Bibliography Index
£19.00
The University of Chicago Press The Pontecorvo Affair A Cold War Defection and
Book SynopsisIn the fall of 1950, newspapers around the world reported that the Italian-born nuclear physicist Bruno Pontecorvo and his family had mysteriously disappeared while returning to Britain from a holiday trip. This title offers an account of Pontecorvo, his activities, and his possible motivations for defecting.Trade Review"This book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of Bruno Pontecorvo's work as a physicist, of his political activities, and of the circumstances surrounding his defection to the Soviet Union in 1950." (John Krige, Georgia Institute of Technology)"
£47.50
The University of Chicago Press Everyday Technology
Book SynopsisAn account of how small machines and consumer goods that originated in Europe and North America became objects of everyday use in India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It examines the assimilation and appropriation of bicycles, rice mills, sewing machines, and typewriters in India.
£76.00
McGill-Queen's University Press TechnoFixers
Book SynopsisAn engaging study of the history and consequences of technological fixes and the belief that they can overcome social and political problems.Trade Review"Sean Johnston has written an innovative study of a movement that has become a dominant feature of the modern world's obsession with technology. This is an important story that will be of interest to historians of technology, economic and cultural historians, and anyone worried about the current state of affairs." Peter J. Bowler, Queen's University Belfast and author of A History of the Future: Prophets of Progress from H.G. Wells to Isaac Asimov"Modern society and its technologies have become mutually dependent, but it is time to temper the torrid love affair. Johnston surveys genetic engineering and concerns about genetically modified foods among the many other examples of failures in his comprehensive look at the problems associated with the unbridled use of the tech fix." Winnipeg Free Press"Johnston summarizes his work as a warning against the rhetoric of technological hubris: we must view with skepticism "evangelists for numerous miraculous technological cures." The point is well made, but the book, inadvertently, makes another sobering one … we realise that there was a time when the President of the United States was advised by such distinguished scientists as I.I. Rabi, a Nobel Laureate in Physics, Jerome Wiesner, who became President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Alvin Weinberg. In 2020, no such person briefed Donald Trump." IEEE Technology and Society Magazine“Techno-Fixers is a compelling study of the origins and consequences of perennial faith in the idea that society can find technological solutions to social and political problems. This book takes on even greater relevance in light of the tech-evangelists of the present who frame technology as a solution to many of humanity’s most pressing challenges. This excellent work will be of great interest to historians, social scientists, the general public, and policymakers.” H-Net
£27.90
McGill-Queen's University Press Beyond the Finish Line
Book SynopsisA fascinating journey through the history of the photo-finish in sports, and a lively biography of a critical technology, this book illuminates the cultural role of the photo-finish in win-at-all-costs culture and warns that in our pursuit for precision we may threaten the human element of sport that galvanizes mere spectators into fans.Trade Review"Beyond the Finish Line is a nuanced analysis of the interplay of technology and sporting competition. The author discusses the historical use of photography and film in breaking down the myth of the dead heat, as well as the complex and increasingly refined technology of timekeeping. In the process, he always keeps in mind the impossibility of removing human intervention from determining winners in close races. In particular, Finn makes the reader aware of the importance of market influences on what kind and what brand of technology would be used at the Olympics. Recommended." Choice“There is important material here on the limits of measurement, drawn out by rich and informative exploration of several specific and highly contested recent instances in track, swimming and skiing exploring how decisions were made, the evidence deployed and judgments invoked by judges, and the limits of increasingly fine time measurements...Finn makes a significant contribution to sports history, as well as to explorations of technology and to philosophical analyses in the field. What is more, he does so in an engaging and accessible manner, taking potentially demanding ideas and material and making its meaning and significance clear enhancing the book’s multi-disciplinary significance.” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport"Beyond the Finish Line analyses our fascination with accurate measurement in the sports world. A major contribution to the discussion, it moves from a history of stop-action cameras to the development of precision timing at the Olympics and our unquestioned belief in its accuracy. It shows the limitless capacity of human endurance in the pursuit of speed and the efforts of machines to keep up." Marta Braun, Toronto Metropolitan University and author of Picturing Time: The Work of Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904)“This highly sourced book is a valuable and important contribution to not just sports history but also the history of technology and, to a degree, business history.” Journal of Sports History
£31.50
McGill-Queen's University Press The Clocks Are Telling Lies
Book SynopsisUntil the nineteenth century all time was local time. The invention of railways and telegraphs, however, created a newly interconnected world where, suddenly, the time differences between cities mattered. This book is an exploration of why we tell time the way we do, demonstrating that organizing a new global time system was no simple task.Trade Review“With the rising interest in doing away with summer time shifts, The Clocks are Telling Us Lies highlights some of the issues with converting back to standard time and provides readers with a better appreciation of how change in times will impact and be received by society. A valuable reference book on a challenging topic.” Randall C. Brooks, vice-president emeritus, Ingenium Canada
£37.05
Columbia University Press Technology and the American Way of War Since 1945
Book SynopsisNo nation in history has placed greater emphasis on the role of technology in planning and waging war than the United States. Drawing on six decades of debate on the subject of US military affairs, this book suggests how the armed forces might exploit the opportunities of the information revolution in the future.Trade ReviewThis is a practitioner's account of military equipment and weapons written with the insight of a historian of technology. -- Alex Roland Technology and Culture Mahnken's study helps to reveal our sometimes hidden preconceptions and core beliefs about technology and war. Proceedings This is a useful book and one that is certain to stimulate discussion of its important subject. -- Kenneth P. Werrell The Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Nuclear Revolution, 1945-1960 2. Flexible Response, 1961-1975 3. Technology and the War in Vietnam, 1963-1975 4. Winning the Cold War, 1976-1990 5. The Gulf War and the Post-Cold War Era, 1991-2001 6. The Global War on Terrorism, 2001-2005 7. Technology and the American Way of War Notes Index
£83.60
Columbia University Press Technology and the American Way of War Since 1945
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is a practitioner's account of military equipment and weapons written with the insight of a historian of technology. -- Alex Roland Technology and Culture Mahnken's study helps to reveal our sometimes hidden preconceptions and core beliefs about technology and war. Proceedings This is a useful book and one that is certain to stimulate discussion of its important subject. -- Kenneth P. Werrell The Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Nuclear Revolution, 1945-1960 2. Flexible Response, 1961-1975 3. Technology and the War in Vietnam, 1963-1975 4. Winning the Cold War, 1976-1990 5. The Gulf War and the Post-Cold War Era, 1991-2001 6. The Global War on Terrorism, 2001-2005 7. Technology and the American Way of War Notes Index
£25.20
Columbia University Press American Pests
Book SynopsisArgues for a more harmonious and rational approach to our relationship with insects, one that does not harm our environment. Beginning with the early techniques of colonial farmers and ending with the modern use of chemical insecticides, this book shows how America's war on insects mirrors its continual struggle with nature and technology.Trade Review[A] colorful chronicle of pest management in the United States... As well written as it is thorough. Publishers Weekly [McWilliams] knows how to address unusual historical topics in rich detail... Poignant... Thorough... Recommended. Library Journal "[An] articulate, well-organized... excellent primer. -- Irene Wanner Seattle Times [McWilliams'] book should resonate in these times of GM temptations and global food shortages. Times Literary Supplement Highly recommended. Choice a solid contribution to U.S. environmental history, one that is refreshingly ambitious in its chronological scope. -- Sarah T. Phillips American Historical Review An engaging and important book. -- David Kinkela Technology and Culture ...a rewarding read... -- Joshua B. Buhs Journal of Southern HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction. "The Dunghill of Men's Passions": The Insect Paradox 1. "The Insect Tribes Still Maintain Their Ground": Insects and Early Americans 2. "There Is No Royal Road to the Destruction of Bugs": The Rise of the Professionals 3. "Let Us Conquer Space": Breaking the Plains and Fighting the Insects 4. "A Great Schemer": Charles V. Riley and the Broken Promises of Early Insecticides 5. "Let Us Spray": Mosquitoes, War, and Chemicals 6. "Vot Iss de Effidence?": Residues, Regulations, and the Politics of Protecting Insecticides 7. "Complaints Are Coming In": A Year in the Life of an Insecticide Nation, 1938 8. "Let's Put Our Heads Together and Start a New Country Up": Silent Springs and Loud Protests Epilogue. "Some Very Learned Men Are the Greatest Fools in the World": In Praise of Localism Notes Bibliography Index
£27.00
Columbia University Press Electrified Voices
Book SynopsisKerim Yasar traces the origins of the modern soundscape, showing how the revolutionary nature of sound technology and the rise of a new auditory culture played an essential role in the formation of Japanese modernity. Electrified Voices is a far-reaching cultural history of the telegraph, telephone, phonograph, radio, and early sound film in Japan.Trade ReviewA delightful and insightful narrative that weaves vivid human examples into a theoretical discussion of the meanings of media and sound. * Pacific Affairs *With Electrified Voices, Kerim Yasar provides a brilliant and stimulating analysis of the role of sound media (telephone, phonograph, radio, and early sound films) in the transition of Japan to modernity. -- ANDRE LANGE * Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television *Electrified Voices is a well-researched book, which looks at the early days of Japan’s telecommunications, recording, radio and film industry. -- David Harris * Radio Enthusiast *This is an ambitious and wide-ranging study of Japan’s modern auditory culture at a time of great changes. The book lends itself well to use in the classroom and will be helpful to historians who wish to provide a different perspective not only on Japanese history but also on the history of technology. * American Historical Review *Insightful and informative, Electrified Voices opens up important new paths for thinking about cultural, social, and political praxes in modern Japan. . . . The voices that Yasar reveals help us, in short, to hear history anew. -- Scott W. Aalgaard, Wesleyan University * Monumenta Nipponica *Electrified Voices represents a valuable and highly accessible contribution to the global history of technology and sound as well as to our understanding of the cultural history of modern Japan, and it deserves a wide readership. -- Margaret Mehl, University of Copenhagen * Journal of Japanese Studies *Electrified Voices is an innovative, pathbreaking study of sound culture, media, and technology in modern Japan. -- Seiji Lippit, University of California, Los AngelesThe sounds coming from Japan in this book are both strange and familiar to ears used to reading about acoustic modernity in the North Atlantic world. Kerim Yasar has found new stories and characters for asking classic questions in media history and I, for one, am delighted to be enriched by a media-historical book on Japan that is so innovative in its historical approach and its choice of media. This book sings the body electric in Japan. -- John Durham Peters, Yale UniversityKerim Yasar recounts the fascinating story of how modernity in Japan sounded. Eminently readable, his book traces how Japan’s existing soundscape found itself translated and transformed by such modern audio technologies as the telephone, gramophone, radio, and talkie cinema, and how the process launched new debates about what it means to represent the real. -- Michael K. Bourdaghs, author of Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-PopTable of ContentsList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNote on NamesIntroduction: All That Is Solid Melts Into Sound1. Vocal Cords and Telephone Wires: Orality in Japan, Old and New2. Sound and Sentiment3. The Grain in the Groove: Inscribed Voices, Echoed Temporalities4. Imagining the Wireless Community5. Ghostlier Demarcations, Keener Sounds: Early Japanese Radio Drama6. Sound and MotionCoda-okeNotesBibliographyIndex
£25.20
University of Illinois Press Locomotive to Aeromotive
Book SynopsisThe first in-depth look at an influential engineer and aviation pioneerTrade Review"Exhaustively researched and persuasively argued, Short's biography of Chanute fills a long-lamented void in civil engineering and early flight historiography."--Library Journal "An important biography of an extraordinary man. Highly recommended."--Choice"Simine Short has brought a worthy addition to the corpus of aviation literature continuing to come from the United States."--The Aerospace Professional “With this book, Simine Short has done us all a great service. Locomotive to Aeromotive is a well written, serious work with an attention to detail that will appeal to historians."--Technical Soaring"As the first detailed biography of civil engineer and aeronautic pioneer Octave Chanute, this book fills a gap in the existing literature and is suitable for both the lay reader and the expert."--Anthony M. Springer, editor of Aerospace Design: Aircraft, Spacecraft, and the Art of Modern Flight"We have waited a long time for a solid biography of Octave Chanute. Simine Short has given us a book worth waiting for. She succeeds in situating the details of Chanute’s long life and extraordinary career squarely in the context of his time.”--from the foreword by Tom D. Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution"A fascinating, detailed, and intimate portrait of an engineering giant."--Civil Engineering"An amazing trip back in time – to the time of steam ships and steam locomotives."--Soaring "Simine Short has written the first full biography of Chanute, and has done a remarkable job."--Technology and Culture "An impressive, truly significant addition to the field of engineering and aeronautical history. Simine Short shows how Octave Chanute's personality and method of problem-solving enabled him to make meaningful contributions in diverse fields such as railroad and bridge engineering, stockyard design, and the early phase of aviation."--Robert W. Jackson, licensed glider pilot and author of Rails across the Mississippi: A History of the St. Louis BridgeTable of ContentsIntroduction by Tom D. Crouch: Octave Chanute and "The Course of Human Progress" Prologue Book 1 The Formative Years; Book 2 The University of Experience, Starting an Engineering Career; Book 3 Opening The West; Book 4 At the Top; Book 5 Self Realization; Book 6 Preserving Timber, Business Owner and Consulting Engineer; Book 7 From the Locomotive to the Aeromotive; Book 8 Encouraging Progress in Flying Machines Acknowledgments; Endnotes and References; Index
£28.80
University of Illinois Press Women and Ideas in Engineering
Book SynopsisTrade Review"A significant contribution to the field. While this book includes some well-known women, many of those described are not widely recognized and the book does a good job of demonstrating the variety of roles that women engineers at Illinois have played."--Margaret E. Layne, editor of Women in Engineering: Pioneers and Trailblazers "Mixes stories by/about women in STEM that go beyond the 'great names' whose biographies have multiplied. It is also good to have accounts of women from different decades, from different fields. The first chapter, detailing the history of women in engineering at Illinois, is particularly significant [and] adds to our knowledge about the early entry of women into these fields."--Amy Sue Bix, author of Girls Coming to Tech! A History of American Engineering Education for Women"Women and Ideas in Engineering is a signpost pointing us in the direction of a more enlightened and informed future, one where equal representation in STEM fields is more than just a given, it is a boon to all." --BTN LiveBIG Book Club
£18.99
University of Washington Press Network Sovereignty
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Across desert mountains and seasonal rainstorms, through colonial disconnection and deprivation, moving like water, Duarte weaves her words into a technoscape not unlike tribes weaving their ICTs, with defined purpose, connecting past and future through the lineage, relationship, and community dreaming." * Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Network Thinking 2. Reframing ICTs in Indian Country 3. The Overlap between Technology and Sovereignty 4. Sociotechnical Landscapes 5. Internet for Self-Determination 6. Network Sovereignty 7. Decolonizing the Technological Conclusion
£29.66
MP-WIS Uni of Wisconsin Seaway to the Future American Social Visions and
Book SynopsisUnfolds a cultural history of the Panama Canal project, revealed in the texts and images of the era's policymakers and commentators. This book examines various images of the Panama Canal project and shows how they reflected popular attitudes toward an evolving modern world.Trade ReviewIn the idealized space of the Canal, imperialism seemed benign, scientists banished disease, engineers conquered nature, and the United States imposed a middle-class social order. - David Nye, author of Technology Matters.
£27.96
Yale University Press The Power of Knowledge
Book SynopsisA thought-provoking analysis of how the acquisition and utilization of information has determined the course of history over the past five centuries and shaped the world as we know it today Information is power. For more than five hundred years the success or failure of nations has been determined by a country's ability to acquire knowledge and technical skill and transform them into strength and prosperity. Leading historian Jeremy Black approaches global history from a distinctive perspective, focusing on the relationship between information and society and demonstrating how the understanding and use of information have been the primary factors in the development and character of the modern age.Black suggests that the West's ascension was a direct result of its institutions and social practices for acquiring, employing, and retaining information and the technology that was ultimately produced. His cogent and well-reasoned analysis looks at cartography and the hardware of communicatio
£26.92
WW Norton & Co Inventing Wine
Book SynopsisThe story of how wine, as enjoyed by millions of people today, came to be.Trade Review"Rather than an eternal cultural verity, wine is the product of innovative discontinuities, according to this flavorful history.... [Lukacs’s] absorbing treatise shows just how much the grape’s bounty owes to human ingenuity and imagination." -- Publishers Weekly"Noted American oenophile Lukacs tells the story of wine over eight millenniums and around the globe. Themes of interest to oenophiles, from wine’s longtime disrepute in North America to England’s love affair with Bordeaux, and fascinating details—for instance, the unearthing of 26 casks of wine in King Tut’s tomb—heighten the pleasure of this engrossing narrative. A richly readable and authoritative addition to the literature of wine." -- Kirkus Reviews"In highly readable prose, Lukacs tells the story of winemaking’s worldwide history, recounting such ever-fascinating stories as the discovery of champagne and the creation of phenomenally unctuous and costly wines from what appear to be overripe, rotten grapes." -- Booklist"Just when it seemed that there was nothing new to be said about wine, Paul Lukacs tells an intriguing and original tale that is thoroughly enjoyable reading." -- Mark Kurlansky, author of Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man and Salt: A World History"Inventing Wine makes us grateful as wine lovers that we are living in the second golden age of wine, when the quality and choices far exceed anything possible before." -- Paul Jameson - New York Journal of Books"Paul Lukacs’s Inventing Wine focuses on how the perception of wine has changed over time, through wars, revolution, prosperity and deprivation. ... Inventing Wine is broader and more ambitious in scope than his previous books, looking at how wine and Western civilization grew up together." -- Dave McIntyre - Washington Post
£21.84
WW Norton & Co Darwins Backyard
Book SynopsisHow Darwin found universal evolutionary truths in simple yet ingenious home-spun experiments.Trade Review"If you’ve ever fantasized walking and conversing with the great scientist on the subjects that consumed him, and now wish to add the fullness of reality, read this book." -- Edward O. Wilson"Darwin’s Backyard, is a passionate but balanced celebration of the Victorian scientist’s lifelong obsession with enquiry and how the fields and meadows around his home were a microcosm of the wider world... Costa more than achieves his stated goals of revealing the evolution of Darwin’s insights and the relevance of his methods now." -- Nature"It is a charming book about Darwin’s homespun experiments..." -- Times Literary Supplement"...excellent Darwin's Backyard... James Costa has written an intimate and big-hearted book. In its pages, readers will discover the real Darwin, a complicated man behind a revolutionary theory." -- Science Lives"With Darwin's Backyard, Costa has written an intimate and big-hearted book. In its pages, young readers will discover the complicated man behind the revolutionary theory." -- Science Magazine
£20.89
WW Norton & Co Children of the Sun
Book SynopsisWe don’t often recognize the humble activity of cooking for the revolutionary cultural adaptation that it is. But when the hearth fires started burning in the Paleolithic, humankind broadened the exploitation of food and took one of several great leaps forward.
£19.00
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Innovators College
Book SynopsisThe major engineering pioneers whose works transformed America into the world''s leading modern power, from Robert Fulton and his inventions of the steamboat to Thomas Edison''s construction of the first electrical power network. Introduces each of the major figures and explains how they came up with their ideas and how their works tranformed commerce, industry, and society.Table of ContentsIRON, STEAM, AND EARLY INDUSTRY, 1776-1855. Modern Engineering and the Transformation of America. Watt, Telford, and the British Beginnings. Fulton's Steamboat and the Mississippi. Lowell and the American Industrial Revolution. Francis and the Industrial Power Network. CROSSING THE CONTINENT, 1830-1883. The Stephensons, Thomson, and the Eastern Railroads. Henry Morse, and the Telegraph. St. Louis versus Chicago and the Continental Railroads. Carnegie and the Climax of Steel. Edison and the Network for Light. The Centennial Revolutions, 1876-1883. Notes and References. Index. Problems.
£75.95
John Wiley & Sons Inc Why Didnt I Think of That
Book SynopsisInsightful, detailed, and always quirky, Why Didn't I Think of That chronicles the odd origins of famous products, explores how these inventions changed our lives, and reveals the business side of their production and distribution.Table of ContentsIntroduction ix 1 Grounds For Success 1Melitta, Inc 2 World on a String 5Duncan Yo-Yo 3 Party Time! 10Tupperware 4 Nature’s Purifier 16Ex-Lax 5 Male-Bonding 20Elmer’s All-Purpose Glue 6 $afe $ex 25Trojan Condoms 7 Big Red 31Heinz Ketchup 8 Make No Mistake 36Liquid Paper 9 Tabby Toilet 41Kitty Litter 10 A Peaceful Period 46Tampax 11 The Wright Stuff 51Silly Putty 12 Medical Coverage 56Band-Aid 13 In the Cards 60Hallmark, Inc. 14 Indoor Ski Sensation 65Nordictrack 15 Thou Shalt Not Steal 70The Club 16 The Cutting Edge 74Cuisinart, Inc. 17 Wonder Jelly 78Vaseline 18 Silence Is Golden 83Midas 19 Mini Master Builders 87Lego 20 Let the Games Begin 91Trivial Pursuit 21 In-Jean-ious 95Levi Strauss & Company 22 Get a Grip 99Velcro 23 Wheels of Fortune 104Rollerblades, Inc. 24 Clean Sweep 109The Dirt Devil 25 Billion Dollar Dolly 113Barbie 26 Lovin’ Spoonful 117Jell-O 27 Pen Pal 122Bic 28 The Color of Money 126Clairol 29 Some Like it Hot 131Tabasco Sauce 30 Spring Fever 136Slinky 31 Running Hot and Cold 141Thermos 32 Little Vittles 146Gerber 33 Stock Stuffer 151L’Eggs 34 In the Chips 156Frito Lay 35 Bottoms Up 162Pampers 36 Easy Listening 167Beltone 37 Pads of Glory 172S.O.S. 38 The Yellow Pages 176Post-It-Notes 39 Little Dipper 180Dixie Cups 40 House of Wax 185Crayola 41 The Candy Man 190Tootsie Roll 42 A Stitch in Time 194Singer Sewing Machine 43 Home Cooking 199Boston Market 44 Current Success 203Jacuzzi 45 The Chairmen 207La-Z-Boy 46 Morning Star 211Kellogg’s Corn Flakes 47 Slice of Life 216Swiss Army Knife 48 Hill of Beans 220Starbucks 49 The Bill Chill 225Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream 50 Pocket Book 231Filofax Acknowledgments 235 Bibliography 237 Index 239
£19.54
John Wiley & Sons Inc Edison
Book SynopsisFrom the preeminent Edison scholar . . . The definitive life of the inventor of the modern age The conventional story is so familiar and reassuring that it has come to read more like American myth than history: With only three months of formal education, a curious and hardworking young man beats the odds and becomes one of the greatest inventors in history. Not only does he invent the phonograph and the first successful electric light bulb, but he also establishes the first electrical power distribution company and lays the technological groundwork for today''s movies, telephones, and sound recording industry. Through relentless tinkering, by trial and error, the story goes, Thomas Alva Edison perseveres-and changes the world. In the revelatory Edison: A Life of Invention, author Paul Israel exposes and enriches this one-dimensional view of the solitary Wizard of Menlo Park, expertly situating his subject within a thoroughly realized portrait of a burgeoning country oTable of ContentsChildhood and Education. Itinerant Telegrapher. From Operator to Inventor. A Leading Electromechanician. Competing Interests. From Shop to Laboratory. New Directions. The Invention Factory. The Wizard of Menlo Park. Inventing a System. From Research to Development. Inventing an Industry. Family Matters. A New Laboratory. Inventing Entertainment. Industrial Research. Competition and Consolidation. Innovation and Enthusiasm. A Modern Legend. Fame in the Family. The Business of Innovation. Edison Incorporated. Inventor-Philosopher. Epilogue. Notes. Index.
£36.00
University of California Press Technology and the Search for Progress in Modern
Book SynopsisDrawing on three detailed case studies the sewing machine, a glass bottle blowing factory, and the cyanide process for gold and silver refining, this book explores a central paradox of economic growth in nineteenth-century Mexico.Trade Review"Beatty's book is a groundbreaking study, a tour de force that should be required reading for anyone interested in economic development or the history of technology in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world." American Historical Review
£27.00
University of California Press Meat Planet
Book SynopsisIn 2013, a Dutch scientist unveiled the world's first laboratory-created hamburger. Since then,the idea of producing meat, not from live animals but from carefully cultured tissues, has spread like wildfire through the media. Meanwhile,cultured meat researchers race against population growth and climate change in an effort to make sustainable protein.Meat Planet explores the quest to generate meat in the laba substance sometimes called cultured meatand asks what it means to imagine that this is the future of food. Neither an advocate nor a critic of cultured meat, Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft spentfive years researching the phenomenon. InMeat Planet, hereveals how debates about lab-grown meat reach beyond debates about food, examining the links between appetite, growth, and capitalism. Could satiating the growing appetite for meat actually lead to our undoing? Are we simply using one technology to undo the damage caused by another? Like all problems in our food system, the meat problem is not merely a problem of production. It is intrinsically social and political, and it demands that we examine questions of justice and desirable modes of living in a shared and finite world. Benjamin Wurgaft tells a story that could utterly transform the way we think of animals, the way we relate to farmland, the way we use water, and the way we think about population and our fragile ecosystem's capacity to sustain life. He argues that even if cultured meat does not succeed, it functionsmuch like science fictionas a crucial mirror that we can hold up to our contemporary fleshy dysfunctions. Trade Review “A balm for those weary of the lab meat bluster—people tired of the endless promises, and done waiting for the better days ahead.” * New Food Economy *“Historian Benjamin Wurgaft explores [the] 'small, strange world' [of lab-grown meat] in a thoughtful study mixing science reportage with philosophical meditations." * Nature *Chosen as one of the “Big Indie Books of Fall 2019." * Publishers Weekly *"A thoughtful examination of the technological, ethical, and cultural issues swirling around the development of artificial flesh. It’s a quick-witted, journalistic survey of lab-cultured meat—how it’s made, financed, and branded. Overlaying this complex brew are nuanced ruminations about the future of food and problems with industrialized agriculture, like the spread of zoonotic disease, environmental damage, and antibiotic resistance. . . . Dense but never dry, abstract questions and large ideas are interspersed with lively and fascinating conversations with rabbis about whether artificial meat is kosher and with tissue engineers about the possibilities of replacing organs in humans and leather in fashions. Rarified subcultures of venture capitalism and futurism are also penetrated.” * Foreword *“Wurgaft’s investigation into cellular-grown meat’s various industrial and cultural issues should stand as an essential introduction to the subject.” * Publishers Weekly *"A fascinating, thought provoking book." * New York Journal of Books *“An engrossing read for anyone curious about the future of our planet’s food.” -- Jamie Drummond * Good Food Revolution *“Erudite, eloquent, and funny, Wurgaft makes an excellent guide. He leads the reader through focus groups, art installations, panel discussions, and even the odd laboratory. Wurgaft embarks on fascinating explorations of the powerful hold that notions of the ‘real’ and the ‘natural’ have on the cultured meat movement.” * Public Books *"Jung makes a powerful intervention into the historiography of anti-Asian racism, which is often located within stories of white nativist anger and Asian victimhood of legal and extralegal violence." * Public Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 1 • Cyberspace/Meatspace 2 • Meat 3 • Promise 4 • Fog 5 • Doubt 6 • Hope 7 • Tree 8 • Future 9 • Prometheus 10 • Memento 11 • Copy 12 • Philosophers 13 • Maastricht 14 • Kosher 15 • Whale 16 • Cannibals 17 • Gathering/Parting 18 • Epimetheus Notes Selected Bibliography Index
£21.60
University of California Press Aeroscopics
Book SynopsisIn 1900, Paris had no skyscrapers, no tourist helicopters, no drones. Yet well before aviation made aerial views more accessible, those who sought such vantages had countless options available to them. They could take in the vista from an observation ride, see a painting of the view from Notre-Dame, or overlook a miniature model city. In Aeroscopics, Patrick Ellis offers a history of the view from above, written from below. Richly illustrated and premised upon extensive archival work, this interdisciplinary study reveals the forgotten media available to the public in the Balloon Era and after. Ellis resurrects these neglected spectacles as aeroscopics, opening up new possibilities for the history of aerial vision.Trade Review"Aeroscopics opens new ground for media archeology, not just by adding a list of less-known media to the already very long list of recently rediscovered lost or forgotten media, but also by offering new perspectives on media we thought we knew, such as the panorama or the first aviation flights. It equally makes a great contribution to the broader concept of mechanical subjectivity, while healthily repeating to us the danger of tunnel vision and presentism." * Leonardo *"Aeroscopics is a complex but approachable book that will reward readers interested in a new understanding of visual media, including maps, in the nineteenth century.”" * Imago Mundi *"A lively exploration of the media of aerial vision." * Early Popular Visual Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Spotting the Spot 1. The Panoramic Altitude 2. The Panstereorama 3. Vertigo Effects 4. Observation Rides 5. The Aeroplane Gaze Conclusion: First Flights Notes Index
£64.00
University of California Press Aeroscopics
Book SynopsisIn 1900, Paris had no skyscrapers, no tourist helicopters, no drones. Yet well before aviation made aerial views more accessible, those who sought such vantages had countless options available to them. They could take in the vista from an observation ride, see a painting of the view from Notre-Dame, or overlook a miniature model city. In Aeroscopics, Patrick Ellis offers a history of the view from above, written from below. Richly illustrated and premised upon extensive archival work, this interdisciplinary study reveals the forgotten media available to the public in the Balloon Era and after. Ellis resurrects these neglected spectacles as aeroscopics, opening up new possibilities for the history of aerial vision.Trade Review"Aeroscopics opens new ground for media archeology, not just by adding a list of less-known media to the already very long list of recently rediscovered lost or forgotten media, but also by offering new perspectives on media we thought we knew, such as the panorama or the first aviation flights. It equally makes a great contribution to the broader concept of mechanical subjectivity, while healthily repeating to us the danger of tunnel vision and presentism." * Leonardo *"Aeroscopics is a complex but approachable book that will reward readers interested in a new understanding of visual media, including maps, in the nineteenth century.”" * Imago Mundi *"A lively exploration of the media of aerial vision." * Early Popular Visual Culture *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Spotting the Spot 1. The Panoramic Altitude 2. The Panstereorama 3. Vertigo Effects 4. Observation Rides 5. The Aeroplane Gaze Conclusion: First Flights Notes Index
£27.00
University of California Press Meat Planet Artificial Flesh and the Future of
Book SynopsisIn 2013, a Dutch scientist unveiled the world's first laboratory-created hamburger. Since then,the idea of producing meat, not from live animals but from carefully cultured tissues, has spread like wildfire through the media. Meanwhile,cultured meat researchers race against population growth and climate change in an effort to make sustainable protein.Meat Planet explores the quest to generate meat in the laba substance sometimes called cultured meatand asks what it means to imagine that this is the future of food. Neither an advocate nor a critic of cultured meat, Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft spentfive years researching the phenomenon. InMeat Planet, hereveals how debates about lab-grown meat reach beyond debates about food, examining the links between appetite, growth, and capitalism. Could satiating the growing appetite for meat actually lead to our undoing? Are we simply using one technology to undo the damage caused by another? Like all problems in our food system, the meat problem is not merely a problem of production. It is intrinsically social and political, and it demands that we examine questions of justice and desirable modes of living in a shared and finite world. Benjamin Wurgaft tells a story that could utterly transform the way we think of animals, the way we relate to farmland, the way we use water, and the way we think about population and our fragile ecosystem's capacity to sustain life. He argues that even if cultured meat does not succeed, it functionsmuch like science fictionas a crucial mirror that we can hold up to our contemporary fleshy dysfunctions.
£18.90
University of California Press Data Borders
Book SynopsisData Borders investigates entrenched and emerging borderland technology that ensnares all people in an intimate web of surveillance where data resides and defines citizenship. Detailing the new trend of biologically mapping undocumented people through biotechnologies, Melissa Villa-Nicholas shows how surreptitious monitoring of Latinx immigrants is the focus of and driving force behind Silicon Valley's growing industry within defense technology manufacturing. Villa-Nicholas reveals a murky network that gathers data on marginalized communities for purposes of exploitation and control that implicates law enforcement, Border Patrol, and ICE, but that also pulls in public workers and the general public, often without their knowledge or consent. Enriched by interviews of Latinx immigrants living in the borderlands who describe their daily use of technology and their caution around surveillance, this book argues that in order to move beyond a heavily surveilled state that dehumanizes both imTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations PART ONE. THE DATE BODY MILIEU Un Pincel de Rapunzel Introduction 1. The Physical Borderlands, the Data Borderland 2. Latinx Data Bodies 3. Networked: Meet the New Migra 4. The Good Citizen: Citizen Milieu 5. The Stories We Tell: Storytelling for Data Borders PART TWO. REIMAGINED TECHNO-FUTURES Pero Queríamos Norte 6. First-Person Parables: Imagining Borderlands and Technologies Conclusion: Esperanza, Yet Hope Remains Acknowledgments References Index
£64.00
University of California Press Data Borders
Book SynopsisData Borders investigates entrenched and emerging borderland technology that ensnares all people in an intimate web of surveillance where data resides and defines citizenship. Detailing the new trend of biologically mapping undocumented people through biotechnologies, Melissa Villa-Nicholas shows how surreptitious monitoring of Latinx immigrants is the focus of and driving force behind Silicon Valley's growing industry within defense technology manufacturing. Villa-Nicholas reveals a murky network that gathers data on marginalized communities for purposes of exploitation and control that implicates law enforcement, Border Patrol, and ICE, but that also pulls in public workers and the general public, often without their knowledge or consent. Enriched by interviews of Latinx immigrants living in the borderlands who describe their daily use of technology and their caution around surveillance, this book argues that in order to move beyond a heavily surveilled state that dehumanizes both imTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations PART ONE. THE DATE BODY MILIEU Un Pincel de Rapunzel Introduction 1. The Physical Borderlands, the Data Borderland 2. Latinx Data Bodies 3. Networked: Meet the New Migra 4. The Good Citizen: Citizen Milieu 5. The Stories We Tell: Storytelling for Data Borders PART TWO. REIMAGINED TECHNO-FUTURES Pero Queríamos Norte 6. First-Person Parables: Imagining Borderlands and Technologies Conclusion: Esperanza, Yet Hope Remains Acknowledgments References Index
£22.50
John Wiley and Sons Ltd American Technology
Book SynopsisThis volume offers a collection of ten key essays selected from contemporary historical scholarship with coverage ranging from the the colonial period to the modern day. The essays add up to an exploration of major technological themes in American history.Trade Review"Carroll Pursell continues his groundbreaking venture into the social history of technology. His selection of essays for American Technology will challenge conventional technological enthusiasm and stimulate constructive controversy." Thomas P. Hughes, author of American Genesis and Rescuing Prometheus "This is a wonderful supplementary text for courses in American history that focus on technological, economic, and social change." Ruth Schwartz Cowan, State University of New York at Stony BrookTable of ContentsSeries Editor's Preface. Introduction. 1. Introduction. "So Much Depends Upon a Red Wheelbarrow: Agricultural Tool Ownership in the Eighteenth-Century Mid-Atlantic": Judith A. McGaw. Document: Selections from American Colonial Wealth: Documents and Methods: Alice Hanson Jones. Further Reading. 2. Introduction. Dam-Breaking in the 19th-Century Merrimack Valley: Water, Social Conflict, and the Waltham-Lowell Mills: Theodore L. Steinberg. Documents A: Winnipissiogee Lake Company v. Worster. Document B: Great Falls Manufacturing Company v. Worster. Further Reading. 3. Introduction. Working Environments: An Ecological Approach to Industrial Health and Safety: Arthur F. McEvoy. Document A: Nicholas Farwell vs. The Boston and Worster Rail Road Corporation. Document B: Edison L. Bowers, Is It Safe to Work? A Study of Industrial Accidents. Document C: Edward J. Beshada et al. V. Johns-Manville Products Corporation. Further Reading. 4. Introduction. Socially Camouflaged Technologies: The Case of the Electromechanical Vibrator: Rachel Maines. Documents A: U.S. Patent No. 175,202, dated March 21, 1876, granted to George H. Taylor for an "Improvement in Medical Rubbing Apparatus.". Document B: M[ary] L.H. Arnold Snow, Mechanical Vibration and Its Therapeutic Application. Document C: Moble M. Eberhart, A Brief Guide to Vibratory Technique. Document D: A. Dale Covey, Profitable Office Specialtie. Document E: "Enjoy Life!", as for White Cross Vibrator. Further Reading. 5. Introduction. Local History and National Culture: Notions on Engineering Professionalism in America: Bruce Sinclair. Document A: J.A.L. Waddell, "Some Notes on Vocational Guidance". Document B: J.P.H. Perry, "New York Engineers' Successful Efforts to Relieve Unemployment". Further Reading. 6. Introduction. Out of the Barns and into the Kitchens: Transformations in Farm Women's Work in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Christine Kleinegger. Document A: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Social and Labor Needs of Farm Women, Report No. 1903. Document B: Guy E. Tripp, Electric Development as an Aid to Agriculture. Document C: Newell Leroy Sims, Elements of Rural Sociology. Further Reading. 7. Introduction. Advertising the Atom: Michael Smith. Document A: U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Atomic Power Development and Private Enterprise. Document B: U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Environmental Effects of Producing Electric Power, Hearings. Document C: U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power. Further Reading. 8. Introduction. Race and Technology: African American Women in the Bell System, 1945-1980: Venus Green. Documents A: Cover, The Telephone Review. Document B: Table 8-1. Further Reading. 9. Introduction. The Rise and Fall of the Appropriate Technology Movement in the United States, 1965-1985: Carroll Pursell. Documents A: Harry S. Truman, "Technical Assistance for the Underdeveloped Areas of the World". Document B: State of California, Press Release, "Office of Appropriate Technology: Purpose, Organization, and Activities," June, 1976. Document C: State of California, logo of Office of Appropriate Technology. Document D: U.S. Department of Energy, National Center for Appropriate Technology, "An Introduction and a History". Document E: Allen L. Hammond and William D. Metz, "Solar Energy Research: Making Solar After the Nuclear Model?". Further Reading. 10. Introduction. Hacking Away at the Counterculture: Andrew Ross. Further Reading. Index.
£42.70
Harvard University Press Inventing the Electronic Century With A New
Book SynopsisConsumer electronics and computers redefined life and work in the twentieth century. In Inventing the Electronic Century, Pulitzer Prize–winning business historian Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., traces their origins and worldwide development. This masterful analysis is essential reading for every manager and student of technology.Trade ReviewThought provoking. Chandler develops the history of the consumer electronics and computer industries with the questioning attitude of a teacher: always searching for the lessons behind the story. -- Andrew S. Grove, Chairman of the Board, IntelOffers a rich cast of characters and companies, compelling stories, and deep understanding of economic forces. -- Hal Varian, School of Information Management and Systems, University of California, BerkeleyTable of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition 1. Introduction: Concepts and Approach 2. Consumer Electronics: The United States - The Creation and Destruction of a National Industry 3. Consumer Electronics: Japan's Paths to Global Conquest 4. Mainframes and Minicomputers: The Computer Industry Created in the United States 5. The Microprocessor Revolution: The Computer Industry Recast in the United States 6. The National Competitors: Europe's Computer Industries Die, Japan's Industry Challenges 7. The Consumer Electronics and Computer Industries as the Electronic Century Begins 8. The Significance of the Epic Story Appendices Notes Index
£24.26
Harvard University, Asia Center Science and Technology in PostMao China
Book SynopsisAlong with the political and economic reforms that have characterized the post-Mao era in China there has been a potentially revolutionary change in Chinese science and technology. Here sixteen scholars examine various facets of the current science and technology scene, comparing it with the past and speculating about future trends.Trade ReviewThe essays cover an impressive range of topics… The book offers a very valuable balance-sheet for professional analysts of China’s economic and scientific policies, and its case studies in particular may prove useful background reading for foreign businessmen dealing with corporate strategy and tactics. Since the whole economic reforms involve a fine balancing act between central planning and free market forces, between central control and the delegation and decentralization of power and authority—vital issues in developing countries of the Third and Second World—a book about the way China grapples with these problems should prove interesting also for comparative studies in modernization theory. -- Stefan B. Polter * Asian Affairs *The studies brought together in this solid, meaty volume appear to add up to a fairly comprehensive treatment of China’s present scientific and technological condition… The book is a valuable addition to the literature relating to the relationship between science and the state, in the particular context of a centrally planned economy subjected to the rigorous primacy of political ideology. -- A. J. Robertson * Business History *This careful and realistic overview of China’s past and present technological state presents an even-handed, historical account of the transition from Nationalist to Communist policies toward science and scientists… Well-integrated chapters make this an informative, readable, and fascinating account of China’s love–hate relationship with technology. Anyone who wants to understand the vagaries of Chinese policy toward science and foreign influences should enjoy this book. -- Martha R. O’Kennon * Science Books & Films *Thanks to this original, clear, and vital collection, the place of technical and scientific issues in China today and in the near future can be understood by all. The editors have assembled 14 essays by established, respected specialists. Despite the variety of subjects—ranging from historical precedents, through present-day domestic policy emphases, to technology transfer from abroad—masterful introductory and concluding chapters draw everything into a unified survey that will serve intermediate and advanced students and observers of contemporary Chinese developments. * Choice *
£16.16
Harvard University Press Cycles of Invention and Discovery
Book SynopsisUsing Nobel Prize–winning examples like the transistor, laser, and magnetic resonance imaging, Venky Narayanamurti and Tolu Odumosu explore the daily micro-practices of research and show that distinctions between the search for knowledge and creative problem solving break down when one pays attention to how pathbreaking research actually happens.Trade ReviewThe authors make a substantial contribution to both research policy as practiced by our federal government and the operations of research laboratories in many institutions in our country. This book should be required reading for government officials who fund research and to all who lead large research efforts. -- Thomas E. Everhart, California Institute of TechnologyAnyone interested in technology and innovation will want to learn the three lessons of Cycles of Invention and Discovery. First, the distinction between basic and applied research is false. Second, there is harmony not dissonance in making the transition from new ideas to practical application. Third, the advance of knowledge has entirely blurred the distinction between science and engineering. Only an individual with Venky Narayanamurti’s unique career could explain these matters in such captivating detail. -- John M. Deutch, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyIn this convincingly argued book, Narayanamurti and Odumosu—one of them with decades of experience in research management and the other with a deep understanding of science and technology studies—explain why the false distinction between basic and applied science has led to profoundly wasteful policy decisions. Their insights also lead to excellent, practical suggestions for change. Cycles of Invention and Discovery is a must-read for research managers, science policymakers, and everyone concerned with the future of innovation. -- Ruth Schwartz Cowan, author of A Social History of American TechnologyThis will serve as an important book for members of Congress, government agencies, research facility managers, and academic institutions that may hold influence over funding resources. -- L. A. Hall * Choice *
£32.36
