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Technics and Civilization [Paperback]

Lewis Mumford
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)


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Book Description

November 15, 1963 015688254X 978-0156882545
This is a history of the machine and a critical study of its effects on civilization. Mumford has drawn on every aspect of life to explain the machine and to trace its social results. "An extraordinarily wide-ranging, sensitive, and provocative book about a subject upon which philosophers have so far shed but little light" (Journal of Philosophy). Index; illustrations.


Editorial Reviews

Review

“A brilliant historical and critical account of the effect of the artificial environment on man and of man on the environment, a necessary account, one for which we have waited too long in English.”
(The New York Times )

The questions posed in the first paragraph of Technics and Civilization still deserve our attention, nearly three quarters of a century after they were written.”—Journal of Technology and Culture
(Journal of Technology and Culture ) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Lewis Mumford (1895-1979) was the author of numerous important books on American culture, technology, architecture, and urban life, including Technics and Civilization (1934); The Culture of Cities (1938); The City in History (1961); Myth of the Machine I: Technics and Human Development (1967); and Myth of the Machine II: Pentagon of Power (1970).

Product Details

  • Paperback: 495 pages
  • Publisher: Mariner Books (November 15, 1963)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 015688254X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0156882545
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #954,976 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
(12)
3.8 out of 5 stars
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 48 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The First Critique of the Myth of Technology November 23, 2000
Format:Paperback
Lewis Mumford is widely regarded as a critic of architecture, but his true importance in intellectual history is as a critic of technology and the myth of progress that accompanies technology, making it seem as if every technological advance is a step forward in civilization. That the events from 1945 onward dispute this claim would seem evident, but themselves are brushed over in favor of the prevailing paradigm.

Mumford was the first to take a critical look at technology and its accompanying mythos, and even though this book was later surpassed by his masterpiece, The Myth of the Machine, it is still worth reading for its approach to the tenor of its time (written during the Depression).

You can safely ignore the last chapters when Mumford attempts to offer an alternative to the technological society. Like most critics, he is mercifully short on alternatives. (Considering what alternatives were given humanity over the centuries, you can understand why I said that.) Until we truly understand technology and the role it has taken in our lives, we will be no closer to a solution than Mumford was in the Thirties.

For anyone who wishes to study the intellectual history of the West, this is an indispensible volume.

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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Review of the 2010 University of Chicago Press Edition November 8, 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Readers should be aware that the 2010 University of Chicago Press edition of Technics and Civilization omits Mumford's 15 pages of photographs. As an excuse they say that such a reproduction is neither "practical" nor "necessary," instead they provide a set of search terms that may or may not allow one to find each image on the Internet.

I am, to say the least, disappointed by this decision. 1) Given that most of these images are out of copyright and are readily available (if nothing else, one could simply scan them from an earlier edition of the book) what are the practical obstacles to reproduction? 2) The ability to interrupt one's reading to search for and possibly find a particular image on the Internet is hardly a viable substitute for having images embedded in the text.

I suggest that readers find an earlier, complete edition of this work, if possible.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Technics and Civilization, a vital 20th Century work September 26, 1998
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Mumford is widely considered the first modern person to write critically about the intricate relationship between human technology and human civilization. This book is arguably the cornerstone of the rapidly growing field of the history of technology. It is valuable because of its extensive attention to the past and its demonstration of complex links between technology, economics, society and culture. Mumford's musings about the future at the end of the book are its least important part.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars Chicago edition fail
How in the world did Chicago decide that Mumford's images were a) not "practical" or "necessary" to include in this edition b) still important enough that they include the original... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Robert W.
1.0 out of 5 stars Sweeping Generalizations
Mumford takes very few facts and weaves them into a simplistic view of history. He says things that more current historians know are not true -- not just passing along incorrect... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Lorraine Gehring
3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, mediocre edition
A fascinating book that, despite being obviously dated in places (it is almost 80 years old), can still teach us much. Read more
Published 15 months ago by bobdc
4.0 out of 5 stars The machine does not dominate man, but man dominates the machine.
Mumford reaches back over a thousand years in search of an explanation of how Western Civilization developed culturally and materially. Read more
Published on January 12, 2008 by James Hoogerwerf
5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable intellectual and cultural history of technology
Lewis Mumford's, Technics and Civilization, may be one of the most important and influential works concerning technological progress in Western Civilization and its cultural and... Read more
Published on August 8, 2006 by Jeff Hendricks
4.0 out of 5 stars Wordy
This book is a historical interpretation of the effect of technology on society. Mumford traces the Industrial Revolution to its earliest roots, which he argues, go back to the... Read more
Published on May 31, 2005 by Erika Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the time spent reading!
Mumford has got to be one of the most over-looked (by main-stream) social critics of our time. He covers and unravels our confusing society so well, even though this book was... Read more
Published on September 3, 2003 by Warren Fritze
5.0 out of 5 stars Complete
From the beginning of time, technology has affected our lives. Learn how every invention (from the greatest milestone of them all: the clock) through history influences society and... Read more
Published on May 13, 2002 by "the_crimson"
4.0 out of 5 stars On the Good Life, or What Could Have Been
Too bad Mumford wasn't a better thinker. He published everywhere and wrote on everything during a fifty-plus year career; urban planners know him best these days, but he was the... Read more
Published on May 7, 1997
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