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Our Own Devices; The Past and Future of Body Technology
by Tenner, Edward
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 0375407227
- ISBN 13
- 9780375407222
- Seller
-
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Synopsis
From the author of Why Things Bite Back-- which introduced us to the revenge antics of technology--Our Own Devices is a wonderfully revealing look at the inventions of everyday things that protect us, position us, or enhance our performance. In helping and hurting us, these body technologies have produced consequences that their makers never intended:- In postwar Japan traditional sandals gave way to Western-style shoes because they were considered marks of a higher standard of living, but they seriously increased the rate of fungal foot ailments.- Reclining chairs, originally promoted for healthful brief relaxation, became symbols of the sedentary life and obesity.- A keyboard that made the piano easier to learn failed in the marketplace mainly because professional pianists believed difficult passages needed to stay difficult.- Helmets, reintroduced during the carnage of World War I, saved the lives of countless civilian miners, construction workers, and, more recently, bicyclists.Once we step on the treadmill of progress, it's hard to step off. Yet Edward Tenner shows that human ingenuity can be applied in self-preservation as well, and he sheds light on the ways in which the users of commonplace technology surprise designers and engineers, as when early typists developed the touch method still employed on today's keyboards. And he offers concrete advice for reaping benefits from the devices that we no longer seem able to live without. Although dependent on these objects, we can also use them to liberate ourselves. This delightful and instructive history of invention shows why National Public Radio dubbed Tenner "the philosopher of everyday technology."From the Hardcover edition.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
(CA)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 156799
- Title
- Our Own Devices; The Past and Future of Body Technology
- Author
- Tenner, Edward
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- ISBN 10
- 0375407227
- ISBN 13
- 9780375407222
- Publisher
- Alfred A Knopf
- Place of Publication
- New York
- This edition first published
- June 3, 2003
- Keywords
- Applied Science, Technology
- Bookseller catalogs
- Science And Technology;
Terms of Sale
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
Prices net to all in USD. We use Brodart dust jacket protectors. Our records are updated daily. We pack well and ship promptly. . Return your book for a full refund if not as described. More questions? Call us!
About the Seller
Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
About Burton Lysecki Books, ABAC/ILAB
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