Just Finished Reading: The Shock of the Old – Technology and Global History since 1900 by David Edgerton
I’m not entirely sure why I bought this book. I do have an interest in both technology and history but this isn’t normally the kind of thing I read – at least not for a while. Maybe it was just one of my impulse buys? Maybe I should just stop thinking about it.
Anyway, David Edgerton has an interesting idea – in that the standard history of technology is wrong headed, being far too concerned with invention and innovation, and by concentrating on these particular aspects to the exclusion of all others actually hides far more that it reveals. Through 20th century historical examples he shows where invention and innovation did not suddenly spring into life and sweep all before it, where innovation was resisted for very good reasons and where old technology – supposedly supplanted by the ‘next big thing’ – not only lingered for years or even decades after it was apparently overtaken by its successor, but actually thrived, rivalled and evolved alongside it. What Edgerton was saying is that, like life, the evolution of technology is a lot less straight forward than a simplistic overview, punctuated with brilliant invention and the spread of new technology, would have you believe.
Chocked full of real examples from all over the globe, this book is a real challenge to the standard picture of the history of technology. It certainly made me look at things in a different way. Edgerton makes a convincing argument that progress is far from linear and that much more than invention and innovation needs to be taken into account when looking at the development of any technology. This was a fascinating read for any technically minded person and will delight anyone with the heart of a Geek (in a glass jar in his basement lab).
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