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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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Subjects
Technological innovations, Effect of technological innovations on, Body, Human (Philosophy), Social aspects, Social aspects of Technology, Social aspects of Technological innovations, Engineering, Nonfiction, Body, Human, Human beings, Human Body, Technology, Social aspects of the Human body, Human body (Philosophy), New York Times reviewed, Social & cultural aspects of technology, Social sciences - general & miscellaneous, Social & cultural history, General & miscellaneous world historyShowing 7 featured editions. View all 7 editions?
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Our own devices: how technology remakes humanity
2004, Vintage Books
in English
0375707077 9780375707070
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Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity
June 8, 2004, Vintage, Vintage Books
in English
0375707077 9780375707070
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Bu zhi shi fa ming: ke ji gai bian ren xing?
2004, Shi bao wen hua chu ban qi ye gu fen you xian gong si
in Chinese
- Chu ban
9571341800 9789571341804
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Our own devices: the past and future of body technology
2003, Alfred A. Knopf
in English
0375407227 9780375407222
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Our own devices: the past and future of body technology
2003, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
in English
0375407227 9780375407222
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- Created April 29, 2008
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March 7, 2023 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 17, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
August 5, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |