| Description |
1 online resource (xv, 308 pages, 64 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations (black and white) |
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Gender group: gdr Women |
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Nationality/regional group: nat Americans |
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Occupational/field of activity group: occ Scientists |
| Physical Medium |
polychrome |
| Description |
text file |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Interact -- Connect -- Convey -- Capture -- See -- Share -- Discover -- Think. |
| Summary |
The author, a scientist and science writer, examines eight inventions - clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips - and reveals how they shaped the human experience. This book tells the stories of the woman who sold time, the inventor who inspired Edison, and the hotheaded undertaker whose invention pointed the way to the computer. The author describes, among other things, how our pursuit of precision in timepieces changed how we sleep; how the railroad helped commercialize Christmas; how the necessary brevity of the telegram influenced Hemingway's writing style; and how a young chemist exposed the use of Polaroid's cameras to create passbooks to track Black citizens in apartheid South Africa. These fascinating and inspiring stories offer new perspectives on our relationships with technologies. This book shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but also how those materials shaped culture, chronicling each invention and its consequences - intended and unintended. Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, the author showcases little-known inventors - particularly people of color and women - who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology. The author also shows that innovation is universal - whether it's splicing beats with two turntables and a microphone or splicing genes with two test tubes and CRISPR. |
| Access |
Concurrent user level: 1 user |
| Subject |
Materials -- History -- Popular works.
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Materials. |
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History. |
| Genre/Form |
Popular works.
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| Subject |
Inventions -- History -- Popular works.
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Technology -- Social aspects -- Popular works.
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Technology -- Social aspects. |
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Inventions. |
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SCIENCE -- Chemistry -- Physical & Theoretical. |
| Indexed Term |
PHYSICAL SCIENCES/Materials Science |
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SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & SOCIETY/History of Technology |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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History.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Ramirez, Ainissa, 1969- Alchemy of us. Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, 2020 9780262043809 (DLC) 2019029157 (OCoLC)1110678898 |
| ISBN |
9780262358088 (electronic book) |
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0262358085 (electronic book) |
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9780262358071 (electronic book) |
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0262358077 (electronic book) |
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9780262043809 (hardcover) |
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0262043807 (hardcover) |
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