John H. Lienhard, IV

This is as much memoir as history, and works surprisingly well as both. While not offering a formal definition, Lienhard's take on the spirit of "modern" is largely that of boyish high adventure and daring intersecting with the cutting edge technology of the first half the 20th century. When two world wars and atomic weapons destroyed the adventure of it all, and replaced it with fear, then the alienation often associated with modernity begins for the author, with the question next being show more when will our culture regain its confidence. show less

Interesting and informative. "Things" are not invented in a vacuum!

So many great tidbits of engineering history. A great juxtaposition of engineering and humanity. Each chapter can stand by itself as an essay. So many interesting little stories that I'll have to buy many more books to complete them.

This book explains the incremental steps involved in technologies that changed the world. IT really goes to show that no idea comes from some kind of miraculous inception on its own, and that everything builds upon ideas from others. I like that it mentions the unsung heroes of the past, such as people who worked on the steam engine (and its predecessors) before James Watt, and those who worked on the printing press (as well as typefaces and other required technologies)before Gutenberg.