Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
Written by Richard Shelton Kirby, Sidney Withington, Arthur Burr Darling and Frederick Gridley Kilgour.
With a minimum of technical detail, and in a highly readable style, this book presents a fascinating overview of the development of engineering in Western civilization, from its origins to the twentieth century. The book is organized around the author's division of history into eight primary events:
Not an exhaustive history, Engineering in History focuses on those achievements whose impact on civilization, in the authors' view, has been most significant. In the case of specific inventions, machinery or other man-made creations, the book offers a comprehensive, detailed description, including an overall perspective, an analysis of component parts and their interrelationships, a presentation of essential dimensions, and techniques of construction and assembly. Implied throughout the text is the idea of technology as a creative near-artistic activity that plays a role in what Cassirer has called "the process of man's progressive self-liberation." The book concludes with a well-balanced essay on the impact of engineering on society, in which the authors argue that technology must be subservient to ethical and aesthetic values.
Enhanced by 181 illustrations, Engineering in History is a superb blend of history and applied science that will interest not only engineers and students of technology, but any reader curious about the epochal strides man has made toward understanding, adapting to and learning to utilize his physical environment.
Code No. 005660, 530 pages, ISBN 0486264122, $42.00