C. Hempstead – Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology

Автор: C. Hempstead
Название книги: Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Научно-популярная литература
Страницы: 983
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Comprising 395 essays arranged alphabetically, mostly on individual objects, artefacts, techniques, and products, this is an up-to-date work of reference for all those involved in teaching or researching the history of twentieth-century technology.

All editors of encyclopedias are faced with the
problem of what to include. Even if the title is
agreed and the numbers of volumes and pages have
been decided, the sum of possible entries could be
very large. In the case of the Encyclopedia of 20th-
Century Technology, the editor decided that in
order to construct a logical and consistent set of
entries it was necessary to adopt what could be
described as an analytic framework. During the
20th century a plethora of manufactured articles
have appeared for which the real costs have
continuously fallen. The products in industrialized
societies have become universal, and many of the
good ones are within the reach of a large proportion
of humanity. In keeping with this democratic
trend of the century it was decided that people and
their experiences with technology should be central
to the encyclopedia. Readers are urged to read the
entries in the light of the humanistic core.
An examination of people and their lives led to
six broad, related areas of society from which the
four hundred entries that comprise these volumes
could be derived. The type of analysis carried out is
indicated in the diagrams on the next page. The
first shows the six basic areas; the second diagram
is an outline of the detailed application for the
category FOOD. Five or six levels of analysis
allowed the definition of headers that provided the
individual entries. Of course, entries could be
found in two or more basic areas or could be
related to others: entries in refrigerating in the
domestic situation as found in food preservation
would lead to entries in the technology of refrigeration
per se. Thus the contents were defined.
The encyclopedia contains two types of entries.
The greatest number of entries are of 1000 words,
and as far as possible these standard entries are
devoid of interpretation. Nevertheless, it is recognized
that all history is redolent of the era in which it
is constructed, and this encyclopedia is of its own
particular society, that of Western industrial. The
factual nature of the standard entries is leavened by
longer essays in which historical and interpretative
themes are explored. Among other things, these
essays describe and analyze the relationship
between society and technology, touch on the
modern debates on the nature of the history of
technology of history, and relate what people
expect of the products of modern industrial
civilisation.
The encyclopedia is concerned with 20thcentury
technology but not with 20th-century
inventions. The technologies included are those
that had an impact on the mass of the population
in industrial societies. So many technologies
invented in the 19th century did not begin to
impinge markedly on many lives until the middle of
the 20th century, so they are considered to be of
the 20th century. Similarly, many products in the
constructed world are old conceptions, transformed
by modern materials or production methods.
They have found a place in the encyclopedia.
The inclusion of pre-20th-century products compares
with the exclusion of recently developed
technologies that have yet to have any effect on the
mass of the public. However, the encyclopedia is
not intended to be futuristic. In the 20th century,
scientific engineering came to majority, and many
if not all the products of modern technology can be
seen to be the results of science. However, there are
no entries that discuss science itself. Within the
essays, however, science as science related to each
subject is described.
Even with four hundred entries, the encyclopedia
is not canonical, and gaps will be noted.
However, the standard entries, the interpretative
essays, and the lists of references and further
reading suggestions allow readers to appreciate
the breadth and depth of the technology of the
20th century.
Colin Hempstead