Myth of the Machine : Technics and Human Development (Paperback)

~ Lewis Mumford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Mumford explains the forces that have shaped technology since prehistoric times and shaped the modern world. He shows how tools developed because of significant parallel inventions in ritual, language, and social organization. “It is a stimulating volume, informed both with an enormous range of knowledge and empathetic spirit” (Eliot Fremont-Smith, New York Times). Index; photographs.

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: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvest Books (September 29, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156623412
• ISBN-13: 978-0156623414
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #615,576 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars vital books, April 20, 2004

By	Derrick Jensen (Crescent City, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lewis Mumford was one of the 20th century's most important philosophers, and the two-volume set Myth of the Machine (Volume 1 is Technics and Human Development; and Volume 2 is The Pentagon of Power) are probably his most important books: the summation of his life's work. In writing as elegant as it is clear, Mumford makes plain the death urge that has always underlain civilization, which Mumford calls "the machine," and later "the megamachine." This is a social structure organized not around any organic human needs, but around the "needs" of the machines that have come to characterize and control our lives. These are crucial, incisive, devastating books. I cannot praise them highly enough.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The whole story!, September 22, 2000

By	Dan (Germany) - See all my reviews

rather than the typical modern myths about mankind and its evolution - evoked by TV-series like "The X-Files" - this great book - as an amazing anthology of the human intellect - shows the "whole truth" ( that is not outhere by the way, but in our brains ) and how much we are going to lose of our human capacilities if we adore the principle of the machine!

13 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is an excellent history of language as a tool, March 17, 1997

By A Customer

This superb book discusses why language was mans most valuable tool ever developed and critiques opinions that say other wise. Enjoy, Mumford was a true geniu