This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.

86 used & new from $0.27
See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences
 
 
Please tell the publisher:
I'd like to read this book on Kindle
 
  

Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Hardcover)

by Edward Tenner (Author) "One of industrial and postindustrial humanity's parennial nightmares is the machine that passes from stubbornness to rebellion..." (more)
Key Phrases: recomplicating effect, maintenance compulsion, potential revenge effects, United States, North America, New York (more...)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


86 used & new available from $0.27
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (Import) 3 used & new from $9.83
Paperback $15.95 $10.85 93 used & new from $0.15
School & Library Binding $25.10 $19.08 3 used & new from $12.69
 
   

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations

The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations by Dietrich Dorner

4.4 out of 5 stars (44)  $12.92
Inviting Disaster: Lessons From the Edge of Technology

Inviting Disaster: Lessons From the Edge of Technology by James R. Chiles

4.4 out of 5 stars (36) 
Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies

Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies by Charles Perrow

4.1 out of 5 stars (27)  $22.52
Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity

Our Own Devices: How Technology Remakes Humanity by Edward Tenner

3.0 out of 5 stars (3)  $14.35
Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error

Set Phasers on Stun: And Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error by S. M. Casey

4.5 out of 5 stars (15)  $19.14
Explore similar items : Books (88)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
To the Hopi Indians in America's Southwest, our existence will soon become koyaanissqatsi or "a world out of balance." Some doomsday theorists, like historian Edward Tenner, argue we are already there. But unlike many of his colleagues, Tenner doesn't believe technology is causing the world's demise--rather, it is carrying us, as individuals, to our own koyaanissqatsi more quickly. Technological "breakthroughs" such as X-rays and computers have their immediate benefits, but their long-term consequences in terms of health and environmental risks, lost time, and disintegration of traditions set us back further than where we started in the first place. While Tenner doesn't damn technology, he cautions for modest and skeptical acceptance of it.

From Publishers Weekly
Even when used to better the world, technology fosters unforeseen, often unpleasant consequences that Tenner calls "revenge effects." For example, air-conditioned subways raise platform temperatures by as much as 10 degrees F; some computer users get painful, wrist-numbing carpal tunnel syndrome; flood control systems encourage settlement of flood-prone areas, inviting disaster; 6% of all hospital patients become infected with microbes they encounter during their stay. In a thought-provoking study, Tenner, a historian of science and visiting researcher at Princeton, looks at revenge effects that pop up in medicine, sports, the computerized office and the environment. Oil spills, erosion of beaches, back injuries, athletes' illegal use of steroids and mass extermination of bird species on the world's islands by ship-hopping rats mark this saga of bewildering, often frustrating change. Tenner's cautionary conclusion: revenge effects demand ingenuity and brainpower as technology continues to replace life-threatening problems with slower-acting, more persistent ones.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 346 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf; 1st edition (May 7, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679425632
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679425632
  • Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: