David Arnold (2) (1946–)

I think I started this book because I wanted to know about the type culture in India, and although not much about that topic is covered here, there were many many other wonderful things that I came across in this book.

One of my favorite quotes is

Unless one takes the antiquated view that technology is an autonomous feld of human endeavor and warrants study in isolation from the society around it, all technologies must in some way be grounded in the societies in which they are created, or,

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as is principally true in the non-West, in the societies in which they become embedded, within which they undergo adaptation, compromise, and assimilation, through which they acquire new meanings and usages.

And in the same spirit, through these pages I have come to understand the context of technology in India much more. The bibliographical essay in the end was quite surprising, since I have never seen something of this kind before, and I hope to dig into more literature from there soon. show less

Short and succinct survey of fifteenth and sixteenth century exploration and its impact. Arnold discusses where there is disagreement among scholars.

Very competent.