Title:
Invention and innovation : a brief history of hype and failure
Author:
Publication Date:
2023
Publication Information:
Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2023]
©2023
Physical Description:
219 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
ISBN:
9780262048057
Abstract:
"Smil presents the long history and modern infatuation with invention and innovation. Meticulous as always, these vast realms of human ingenuity are organized into sensible categories: inventions that went from welcome to undesirable, inventions that dominate and missed the mark, inventions we still dream about, and lastly, the exaggerations, myths, and wise expectations for innovations we need most"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents:
Invention and innovation : a long history and modern infatuation -- Inventions that turned from welcome to undesirable. Leaded gasoline ; DDT ; Chlorofluorocarbons -- Inventions that were to dominate -- and do not. Airships ; Nuclear fission ; Supersonic flight -- Inventions that we keep waiting for. Travel in vacuum (hyperloop) ; Nitrogen-fixing cereals ; Nuclear fusion -- Techno-optimism, exaggerations and realistic expectations. Breakthroughs that are not ; Myth of ever-faster innovations ; What we need most.
Language:
English
