The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture - Hardcover

Lienhard, John H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195135830 ISBN 13: 9780195135831

Publisher: OUP USA, 2000

Synopsis

This book explores the very nature of creativity in ngineering and technology, and how it relates to creativity in art or science. Lienhard has for 10 years done a twice weekly radio show, consisting of three minute essays on technology. He uses the substance of selected segments of his radio programme to create a continuos narrative presenting his insights into technological creativity.

About this title

Review

Technology is not just a byword to refer to the sum of designs and applications that enable us to do things such as open cans--or make cans in the first place. It is, writes engineer John Lienhard in this imaginative survey, an instrument by which we become more human, a means of interacting with and learning from the world. Technology mirrors humans, and humans mirror technology, and the question that remains is "whether we are to be lifted up or dragged down in the process".

Although he is quick to acknowledge the harmful applications of technology over the years, especially in producing ever more novel and efficient ways of killing each other, Lienhard is inclined to point toward the beneficial uses of machines and tools and the innate beauty of a thing well made. (Not for nothing, he notes, did Henry David Thoreau proudly carry a calling card that identified him as a civil engineer.) As he ranges throughout history, Lienhard offers wonderful case studies of well-intentioned attempts to make the best uses of technology--Christopher Wren's construction of St Paul's Cathedral in London, the colonial American oddball John Fitch's invention of the first paddlewheel steamer, Mark Twain's financing of a revolutionary and doomed typesetting machine--and to change the world in the bargain. Lienhard's pages are populated with characters who have been largely forgotten in the standard history books, but whose work added greatly to the quality of life of succeeding generations. His book deserves a place on the shelf alongside Kenneth Clark's Civilisation and Jacob Bronowski's Ascent of Man as a spirited celebration of the practical imagination. --Gregory McNamee

Review

John Lienhard brings a relentless optimism to his exposition of 'the complex mirroring processes that define technology-driven evolution'. (American Scientist)

An extremely interesting and readable book. Examples drawn from agriculture, sanitary engineering, military engineering, steam power, space travel, manufacturing, transportation, communications, mathematics, and numerous other areas of science, engineering, and technology enable Lienhard to illustrate exactly the points he wishes to make. Unusual and refreshing. (Technology and Culture)

A fitting introduction to the human obsession with invention. (Publishers Weekly)

A wonderful book for both those not yet initiated in the field of science and technology and those who aspire to make contributions through their scientific discoveries and technological innovations. (Nam P. Suh, author of The Principles of Design and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT)

John Lienhard has a great ear for concise narrative, and The Engines of Our Ingenuity is a wonderful collection of compelling stories about engineers and engineering accomplishments."-Henry Petroski, A.S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History, Duke University and author of Engineers of Dreams

Never mind kings or prophets or explorers. What matters more to our immediate world are the efforts of people, both known and nameless, who have given us the devices with which we're surrounded. John Lienhard celebrates their achievements, exploring of the mysterious alchemy of technology, science, and creativity that underly invention. Graceful writing, insightful analyses, good stories-a book for technophobes and technophiles alike."- Steven Vogel, James B. Duke Professor of Zoology, Duke University, and author ofCats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195135830
• ISBN 13: 9780195135831
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 270