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• W4376543758 abstract "TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 183 An Encyclopaedia ofthe History ofTechnology. Edited by Ian McNeil. New York: Routledge, Chapman & Hall, 1990. Pp. xv+1062; illustra­ tions, bibliography, indexes. $79.95. This one-volume encyclopedia of the history of technology consists, like so many other historical reference works, ofarticles farmed out to various specialists. There are twenty-one articles by nineteen authors in all, introduced by an idiosyncratic essay entitled “Basic Tools, Devices, and Mechanisms” written by the editor. Including subject and name indexes, they make up a hefty volume of more than 1,000 pages. Inevitably in such a work, one of the first challenges is that of organizing a vast subject for succinct presentation. Previous encyclo­ pedic projects in the history of technology have chosen for their basic framework the chronological (Charles Singer, A History of Technology, Oxford, 1954—78) or thematic (Maurice Daumas, Histoire générale des techniques, Paris, 1962—79). Ian McNeil has chosen instead a topical structure, with chapters devoted generally to categories of materials, processes, activities, and things. The individual chapters are not organized uniformly; some proceed chronologically, others divide their subjects by a finer grid of topics, and others (e.g., “Information: Timekeeping, Computing, Telecommunications, and Audiovisual Technologies”) are inventories of inventions and gadgets. While most of the articles end with a brief bibliography under the label of “Further Reading,” several omit such references to the literature of technology or its history altogether, or they leaven the list of scholarly historical works with popular books and magazine articles. Some of the authors fail to draw attention to standard and accessible works such as those by Elizabeth Eisenstein, Martin van Creveld, or Thomas P. Hughes—to name only three—where a knowledgeable reader will expect them to be mentioned. Only a few of the authors are so negligent in their bibliographic duties; nevertheless, the encyclopedia as a whole is much too stingy with references to relevant literature. Despite several excellent chapters, the overall effect of this partic­ ular mix of articles is to depict the history of technology as a catalog of detached moments of invention, innovation, and progress. These moments are separated both from the narrower contexts affecting individual actors and events and from the broader patterns of historical development. Topics such as the historiography and philos­ ophy of technology, institutions, labor, urban development, resource management, and others at the “soft” end of technology are generally not treated, except as incidental background to specific episodes of invention. This criticism takes little away from the book’s value as a handy reference work in which one can quickly and, for the most part, reliably answer specific questions. But it is unfortunate that the project as a whole does not synthesize or contribute to the scholarly literature of the history of technology, particularly the seminal 184 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE research of the past two or three decades (known to readers of this journal) on the relationships among technology and other areas of social, economic, and cultural activity. Henry Lowood Dr. Lowood, bibliographer of the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University Libraries, is editor of the bibliography published annually in Technology and Culture. He is completing projects on the history of Silicon Valley and on the historical relationship between print technology and the development of the natural sciences. Early American Scientific and Technical Literature: An Annotated Bibliog­ raphy ofBooks, PamphUts, and Broadsides. By Margaret W. Batschelet. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1990. Pp. xii+136; indexes. $20.00. A bibliography should aid a distinct and previously underserved scholarly niche. The compiler should be sufficiently familiar with the scholarship and tools of scholarship in a held to be able to define the need and respond to it with a substantially original contribution. Even a carefully designed and well-organized bibliography (such as this one) will not add to the scholar’s tool chest if the compiler lacks that familiarity or does not seek to be original. I believe Early American Scientific and Technical Literature fails on both those accounts. This compact, annotated list of 833 entries covers medical, scien­ tific, and technical works published up to 1799 in the British seaboard colonies and..." @default.
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• W4376543758 date "1992-01-01" @default.
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• W4376543758 title "An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology ed. by Ian McNeil" @default.
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