Technics and Civilization [Paperback]

Lewis Mumford (Author), Langdon Winner (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2010

Technics and Civilization first presented its compelling history of the machine and critical study of its effects on civilization in 1934—before television, the personal computer, and the Internet even appeared on our periphery.

Drawing upon art, science, philosophy, and the history of culture, Lewis Mumford explained the origin of the machine age and traced its social results, asserting that the development of modern technology had its roots in the Middle Ages rather than the Industrial Revolution. Mumford sagely argued that it was the moral, economic, and political choices we made, not the machines that we used, that determined our then industrially driven economy. Equal parts powerful history and polemic criticism, Technics and Civilization was the first comprehensive attempt in English to portray the development of the machine age over the last thousand years—and to predict the pull the technological still holds over us today.

 “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

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 )

About the Author

Lewis Mumford (1895–1990) was a writer whose scope encompassed literary criticism, architecture, history, urban sociology, and philosophy. The author of over thirty books, he was also the architectural critic for The New Yorker for over thirty years. He was eventually honored with the United States Medal of Freedom and Knight of the Order of the British Empire.

 

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; Reprint edition (October 30, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226550273
• ISBN-13: 978-0226550275
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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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

By Edward Garea VINE™ VOICE

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.

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

By C. McDonald

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.

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.