The engines of our ingenuity an engineer looks at technology and culture - Lienhard, John H. (Oxford University Press, 2003)
"First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 2003"--Title page verso
Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-253) and index
Mirrored by our machines -- God, the master craftsman -- Looking inside the inventive mind -- Common place -- Science marries into the family -- Industrial revolution -- Inventing America -- Taking flight -- Attitudes and technological change -- War and other ways to kill people -- Major landmarks -- Systems, design, and production -- Heroic materialism -- Who got there first -- Ever-present dangers -- Technology and literature -- Being there
Millions of people have listened to John H. Lienhard's radio program "The Engines of Our Ingenuity." In this fascinating book, Lienhard gathers his reflections on the nature of technology, culture, and human inventiveness. The book brims with insightful observations. Lienhard writes that the history of technology is a history of us--we are the machines we create. Thus farming dramatically changed the rhythms of human life and redirected history. War seldom fuels invention--radar, jets, and the digital computer all emerged before World War II began. And the medieval Church was a drivi