From Scientific American
Anthropology is the study of human activity, and technology is an advanced embodiment of that activity. Adams, former secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, presents a scholarly study of the advance of Western technology, with emphasis on developments in Britain and the U.S. Beyond tracing the history of Western technology and its great rewards, he also points out that technological advance has entailed consequences such as pollution and the destruction of environmental resources and amenities, leading to the need to answer a difficult question: "What is an acceptable role for government monitoring and regulation, which necessarily constrains, and sometimes can distort, the range of techno-economic choices?"
Review
Adams's mature reflection on complex, interlocking issues in the historical development and avatars of inventions, science, engineering, and the state. . . . Paths of Fire is the distillation of a rich life of thought, experience, and action, from the "big shoulders' of Chicago, to the sands of Uruk, to the halls of power and influence along the Mall in Washington, D.C. -- Review
