How Invention Begins: Echoes of Old Voices in the Rise of New Machines
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.52 (798 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0195341201 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 288 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2013-11-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Can we speak of speed or education as inventions? To do so, he concludes, is certainly no greater a stretch than it is to call radio or the telephone an "invention." Throughout this marvelous volume, Lienhard illuminates these webs of insight or inspiration by weaving a fabric of anecdote, history, and technical detail--all of which come together to provide a full and satisfying portrait of the true nature of invention.. As he does so, it becomes clear that a collective desire, an upwelling of fascination, a spirit of the times--a Zeitgeist--laid its hold upon inventors. Likewise, Lienhard shows that when we trace the astonishingly complex technology of printing books, we come at last to that which we desire from books--the knowledge, the learning, that they provide. He traces, for instance, the way in which thousands of people applied their combined inventive genius to airplanes, railroad engines, and automobiles. The thing they all sought to create was speed itself. In How Invention Begins, Lienhard reconciles the ends of invention with the individual leaps upon which they are built, illuminating the vast web of individual inspirations that li
More than academic Alexander T. Gafford For a while, I was a member of SHOT, the Society for the History of Technology. Although I found a few things of interest, the overwhelming view I gained was of earnest left wing intellecutuals trying to deconstruct everything into nothing. Here is a book that can meet the academic muster but contains more of substance than warmed over social theory.The basic structure of the book is based on the development of the book itself, starting from Gutenberg and moving to the mass produced book of to. "Interesting aspects, but doesn't quite gel (Interesting aspects, but doesn't quite gel (3.75 stars) This is a very attractive book to pick up, because it's richly illustrated with period illustrations (mostly engravings and patent diagrams) of old inventions. And reading it offers many moments of interest, especially in Part I of the book, where John Lienhard (JL) discusses the ambiguous notion of priority of inventorship, i.e., who was the first to invent something. But the whole doesn't quite stick together.The book was written when JL was already an emeritus professor. The choice of topic. .75 stars)" according to A. J. Sutter. This is a very attractive book to pick up, because it's richly illustrated with period illustrations (mostly engravings and patent diagrams) of old inventions. And reading it offers many moments of interest, especially in Part I of the book, where John Lienhard (JL) discusses the ambiguous notion of priority of inventorship, i.e., who was the first to invent something. But the whole doesn't quite stick together.The book was written when JL was already an emeritus professor. The choice of topic. Invention is rebellion against the status quo. Bruce Lowther Very well written summary of the arc of invention that leads to significant advances. Mr. Lienhard discusses many of the contributing refinements that lead to the development of flight, steam engines, printing, education, libraries and other significant advancements. His premise is that no invention is developed in a vacuum. Many actors contribute to the eventual creation of an invention. Those actors have different motivation and endure considerable hardships on their way to participating in
Books by the same author: Inventing Modern The Engines of Our Ingenuity . Lienhard is M.D. Anderson Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering and of History at the University of Houston. He is the author and host of "The Engines of Our Ingenuity," a daily radio essay on invention and creativity heard nationally on Public Radio and internationally on the Armed Forces Network. John H. He is also the author of the book The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Cultur
He posits that the quest for a single canonical inventor of a new technology is illusory, because all inventions are the sum of many contributors. But the author is also fascinated by what is best described as the invention of the spread of knowledge. Lienhard also pays tribute to the development of the public library, museums, correspondence courses and universities as means of education. The second half of the book is an examination of how Gutenburg's printing press began a worldwide explosion of knowledge that traces its roots to the incunabula, books written between 1455 and 1500, and ends with the mass production of books for popular consumption. 120 illus. From Publishers Weekly Lienhard is enthralled with invention, how it happens and how inventi