MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 02921pam a2200349 a 4500
001 6156333
005 20221122001639.0
008 060821t20072007maua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2006050722
015 $aGBA713853$2bnb
020 $a0262062623 (alk. paper)
020 $a9780262062626 (hbk.)
035 $a(OCoLC)OCM71173933
035 $a(NNC)6156333
035 $a6156333
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dBAKER$dUKM$dC#P$dOrLoB-B
043 $aew-----
050 00 $aT15$b.F774 2007
082 00 $a303.48/3$222
100 1 $aFriedel, Robert D.$q(Robert Douglas),$d1950-$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n81106176
245 12 $aA culture of improvement :$btechnology and the Western millennium /$cRobert Friedel.
260 $aCambridge, Mass. :$bMIT Press,$c[2007], ©2007.
300 $ax, 588 pages :$billustrations ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [545]-568) and index.
520 1 $a"In this look at a thousand years of Western experience, Robert Friedel argues that technological change comes largely through the pursuit of improvement - the deep-rooted belief that things could be done in a better way. What Friedel calls the "culture of improvement" is manifested every day in the ways people carry out their tasks in life - from tilling fields and raising children to waging war." "Improvements can be ephemeral or lasting, and one person's improvement may not always be viewed as such by others. Friedel stresses the social processes by which we define what improvements are and decide which improvements will last and which will not. These processes, he emphasizes, have created both winners and losers in history." "Friedel presents a series of narratives of Western technology that begin in the eleventh century and stretch into the twenty-first. Familiar figures from the history of invention are joined by others - the Italian preacher who described the first eyeglasses, the dairywomen displaced from their control over cheesemaking, and the little-known engineer who first suggested a grand tower to Gustav Eiffel. Friedel traces technology from the plow and the printing press to the internal combustion engine, the transistor, and the space shuttle. Friedel also reminds us that faith in improvement can sometimes have horrific consequences: improved weaponry makes warfare ever more deadly and the drive for improving human beings can lead to eugenics and even genocide."--BOOK JACKET.
650 0 $aTechnological innovations$xHistory.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2009103042
650 0 $aTechnology and civilization.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85133180
650 0 $aCivilization, Western.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85026485
650 0 $aIntellectual life.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85067165
852 00 $bglx$hT15$i.F774 2007