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Title: Our Own Devices : The Past and Future of Body Technology by EDWARD TENNER ISBN: 0-375-40722-7 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Informatively covers inventions of everyday things
Comment: Edward Tenne's Our Own Devicesr is superbly presented survey which is hard to easily categorize but nonetheless very highly recommended reading. Our Own Devices informatively covers inventions of everyday things that protect us, enhance performance, and help position us. From ergomatic chairs and recliners which moved from health resources to symbols of obesity to a keyboard which failed because professional pianists believed difficult passages needed to stay challenging, Our Own Devices draws some interesting parallels between advancements, achievement, and self-preservation.
Rating: 5
Summary: Risk Increased Myopia - Read This Book!
Comment: Why Things Bite Back ranks near the top of my list of favorite nonfiction reads of the last decade, so I was thrilled when Our Own Devices came out. Edward Tenner did not disappoint! Our Own Devices concerns how the human body and technology have coevolved. There is a strong emphasis on how technique has changed [walking, writing, etc.] over time as the technology has changed. Some of his examples are what you'd expect from a book like this [e.g. the typewriter/computer keyboard], but others are a surprise [e.g. the zori, bottle-feeding]. Of course, I most closely related to the chapter on eyeglasses because I'm extremely myopic AND I read a lot. As with Why Things Bite back, Our Own Devices will make you think about our very complex relationship with technology. The book should interest folks who like to read about technology, history, and physiology. I highly recommend Our Own Devices.
Rating: 4
Summary: A fascinating book that is both timely and significant
Comment: The Blackout of 2003 has already left us awash in observations of our dependence on technology. Some 50 million people (including this writer) found themselves suddenly forced to adjust, however temporary, to life without the conveniences provided by electricity. There is no question that, had the outage lasted longer than a few hours, as was the case in most areas, the effects would have been even more profound, if not catastrophic. But electronic technology is the new kid in town, a relatively recent arrival on the human scene, and as such gets far more attention than the more mundane technologies that have become so integrated into the human condition as to be nearly invisible. These "everyday" technologies are the subject of Edward Tenner's fascinating new book, OUR OWN DEVICES.
Tenner's exhaustively researched histories of the evolution of the baby bottle and baby formulas, eyeglasses, footwear, chairs, helmets and keyboards (of the musical and typewriter varieties) describe technologies that have affected the human body as much as, if not more than, they affected civilization. Tenner's focus on these body technologies is a welcome and appealing shift from the persistent focus on today's cutting-edge electronic technology.
There is no question that advances in computer technology over the last dozen years in particular have had a profound effect on society, culture, and business. But with the notable exception of certain medical advances, technology at that level is only just beginning to affect the human body at the same level as the devices Tenner describes. Within the context of human evolution, the technologies illustrated in OUR OWN DEVICES, though taken for granted for decades (or longer), are no less revolutionary than the body enhancements described in William Gibson's NEUROMANCER and other cyberpunk novels.
While eyeglasses may not seem as sexy or as exciting as the implants and body enhancements one finds in cyberpunk, they make it possible for me, a profoundly nearsighted, trifocal-wearing reader, to function in the world, let alone read anything I want, whether it's cyberpunk speculation of the future or a detailed history of the eyeglasses that today similarly empower millions. As a card-carrying techno-geek, I love new gadgets, but as body enhancements go, I can't think of anything more necessary and therefore more interesting than my glasses. Edward Tenner's highly informative book is important because he puts that issue into very sharp focus.
While life without electricity is as attractive a proposition as a do-it-yourself root canal, life without the familiar technologies described in OUR OWN DEVICES would truly reduce mankind to a state uncomfortably close to that of our knuckle-dragging ancestors. Chance --- and the apparent inadequacies of our electrical infrastructure --- has made Tenner's book a timely and significant one. Read it now, while the lights are still on.
--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart
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Title: Why Things Bite Back : Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences by Edward Tenner ISBN: 0679747567 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 02 September, 1997 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design by HENRY PETROSKI ISBN: 1400040507 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Logic of Failure by Dietrich Dorner, Rita Kimber, Robert Kimber ISBN: 0201479486 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 15 January, 1996 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman ISBN: 0465051359 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 23 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Why Things Break : Understanding the World by the Way It Comes Apart by MARK EBERHART ISBN: 1400047609 Publisher: Harmony Books Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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