Customer Reviews

The Engines of Our Ingenuity: An Engineer Looks at Technology and Culture

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3 star:		(3)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

An enjoyable writing style combined with a wealth of interesting facts makes this a book that few would dislike. Every story that glorifies engineers is matched by one showing their shortcomings or failures, providing a book that seems to have a well balanced perspective on the impact of technology on science, not the biased view one might anticipate in a book by an engineer about engineering.

The huge volume of assorted facts borders on random trivia, but it is always organised in a logical fashion, and enthusiastically written, so the end result is hardly tedious, but rather a very compelling read.

I would love to have access to his radio program if it is anywhere near as good as this book.

The first thing I want to say about this book is: about time!!!

John Lienhard is a philosopher who has been using his daily public radio broadcasts to share his wonderful meditations on art, science and humanity. He reads with a inspirational tone, and often his meditations wander into territories unforeseen. I remember one episode where Leinhard starts by talking about a tabloid column about bigfoot on the north pole, then shelley's frankenstein and then some scientific topic. I remember also with fondness Leinhard's paean to the man who invented leaded gasoline and how significant a technological improvement it was considered at the time (and how maligned his invention is in the modern day). Leinhard writes with a keen sense of historical irony and can transition from one discipline into another with ease.

I would compare Leinhard's prose to that of a Francis Bacon, a Carl Sagan or an Edmund Wilson. His writing is at the top of his field, and his mastery of the intracies of engineering, physics or any other scientific field are truly astounding. The 5 minute radio program form forced them to be concise, and frequently I've been impressed by how succinctly he can convey an entire life of a scientist in less than 5 minutes: the tragedies and triumphs.

Perhaps in book form these meditations won't seem as remarkable. (I compare it with Garison Keilor, whose wonderfully witty spoken prose hangs limp on the book page). However, I've read many of his essays at his web site at University of Houston, and there is still the same excitement and vigor in the written prose. My only complaint is that they are not available for download in audio form.

I am not a scientist, but Lienhard makes me want to be. He has helped me to see the connections between art and science, life and science, god and science. I can't tell you how many times I've been driving in a daze and how Mr. Lienhard's 5 minute meditation suddenly fills my life with clarity.

If you love hearing The Engines of Our Ingenuity on Public Radio then you will love this book. Professor Lienhard (Professor of Engineering at the University of Houston) is a master storyteller, weaving together tidbits of information and little know facts to explore civilization's machines and how they came to be. I have been anxiously awaiting this book because Lienhard is limited to only about 3 minutes on the radio. In book form I was not at all disappointed. I could hear his deep voice resonating on each page.

Not a Blow by Blow of the Radio Series, but a fresh writing about John Lienhard's unique perspective on Technology, History, and above all. . . Humanity. Beautifully written in a prose style that bespeaks a depth of understanding of the human condition one would expect from a philosopher. . . not an engineer. . . then again. . . John Lienhard is no ordinary engineer.

John Lienhard has done an excellent job of putting a human face on technology and its history. He makes one think as he assails the "conventional wisdom" that "success breeds success." He also gives new perspective with his notion of when the industrial revolution really took place. This is excellent reading for anyone who is interested in how technology shapes our lives, and how our culture shapes technology.

As a long time listener of the Engines of our Ingenuity, I've gained a greater appreciation for the wealth of knowledge Dr. Lienhard must possess to be able to articulate the history of engineering, its impact on the world, and its relationship with society, art, and everyday life. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about history and technology and how each affects the other. You will hear about new facts, recognize some others, and see new twists on some you thought you knew. All in all, a very good read.

Lienhard has been a istening post of thousands of Houston commuters for years. He is also a spellbinding speaker and accopmlished singer as well.

He responds to emaill correspondence faithfully.

I have been promopting him to do this book for years and am grateful at last.

His program and book is an ideal vechicle to get young people to want to learn more about science and engineering and perhaps venture a career there.

This book is one of my treasures.

It seems that the only time that I have available for reading these days is during my lunch break at work. The book's style of loosely bound "episodes" fit perfectly with my short reading times.

While reading, I had many "Wow, I never knew that!" and "How could they have thought that would work?" moments. With some of the stories, I was just amazed that the events described actually happened in real history. The courage, audacity and tenacity of some of the inventors was awe-inspiring. Stringing a giant cable across the Atlantic ocean - are they mad? And then to keep trying again and again after it kept breaking or stopped working. It's a good thing that there are such bold people in this world. We might still be grappling with the wheel if the world was populated by a bunch of clones of me. I'm just surprised that more of the inventors didn't go insane trying to get their ideas to work, or getting the public to buy into their ideas.

I also very much enjoyed the more autobiographical parts of the book. They brought a more personal and humanizing touch to the sometimes cool subject matter. The story of the author's homemade Japanese balloon-bombs for instance made me laugh out loud. If anything could be improved with the book, I would say that more diagrams and photos might have helped me visualize some of the more abstract and sometimes too technical concepts (for us non-engineers). Plus, I just really wanted to see more of the cool inventions that were described.

I would highly recommend this book. The author's genuine enthusiasm and almost childlike curiosity about how we ever came up with so many cool ideas throughout history really comes through and was quite infectious. It actually made me think that I might be able to come up with some really cool and world-changing idea. I look forward to reading Dr. Lienhard's third book.

I think I can add very little to the reviews already submitted on this work. That said, I do have one additional observation. If you are familiar with Dr. Lienhard's radio program, you have a taste of what is in store in this book. However, freed from the constraints of time that radio necessarily places, Dr. Lienhard is able to draw broader conclusions and connections among his many subject matter. As a result, anyone expecting to read simple transcripts of the radio program is in for something else. Ideas developed separately in different radio essays are allowed to mingle and merge; to cross-pollenate and create a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. It requires greater commitment from the reader, but the experience is more rewarding for it. While the ideas can sometimes be difficult to follow, this book is a marvelous glimpse of the mind at work.

I am well into Dr. Lienhard's book but have listened to his radio broadcasts for years. I recently met Dr. Lienhard at a book signing in which he graciously answered questions from an audience and took time to converse with buyers while autographing their purchases. Dr. Lienhard has the knack of bringing the scholar's intellect to the study of culture and technology without the slightest condescension. We briefly discussed Vermeer's use of the "camera obscura" which led to a brief exchange about the inevitability of "photography" and the ways in which it has, in turn, shaped our lives. A fascinating book from an engineer/philosopher.