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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
If it can go wrong, it will--thus Murphy's Law. Science journalist Edward Tenner looks more closely at this eternal verity, named after a U.S. Air Force captain who, during a test of rocket-sled deceleration, noticed that critical gauges had been improperly set and concluded, "If there's more than one way to do a job and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." Tenner concurs, and he gives us myriad case studies of how technological fixes often create bigger problems than the ones they were meant to solve in the first place. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics, by way of example, has yielded hardier strains of bacteria and viruses that do not respond to pharmaceutical treatment; the wide-scale use of air conditioning in cities has raised the outdoor temperature in some places by as much as 10 degrees, adding stress to already-taxed cooling systems; the modern reliance on medical intervention to deal with simple illnesses, to say nothing of the rapidly growing number of elective surgeries, means that even a low percentage of error (one patient in twenty-five, by a recent estimate) can affect increasingly large numbers of people. Tenner examines what he deems the "unintended consequences" of technological innovation, drawing examples from everyday objects and situations. Although he recounts disaster after painful disaster, his book makes for curiously entertaining, if sometimes scary, reading. --Gregory McNamee
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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
If it can go wrong, it will--thus Murphy's Law. Science journalist Edward Tenner looks more closely at this eternal verity, named after a U.S. Air Force captain who, during a test of rocket-sled deceleration, noticed that critical gauges had been improperly set and concluded, "If there's more than one way to do a job and one of those ways will end in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." Tenner concurs, and he gives us myriad case studies of how technological fixes often create bigger problems than the ones they were meant to solve in the first place. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics, by way of example, has yielded hardier strains of bacteria and viruses that do not respond to pharmaceutical treatment; the wide-scale use of air conditioning in cities has raised the outdoor temperature in some places by as much as 10 degrees, adding stress to already-taxed cooling systems; the modern reliance on medical intervention to deal with simple illnesses, to say nothing of the rapidly growing number of elective surgeries, means that even a low percentage of error (one patient in twenty-five, by a recent estimate) can affect increasingly large numbers of people. Tenner examines what he deems the "unintended consequences" of technological innovation, drawing examples from everyday objects and situations. Although he recounts disaster after painful disaster, his book makes for curiously entertaining, if sometimes scary, reading. --Gregory McNamee
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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
One of industrial and postindustrial humanity's parennial nightmares is the machine that passes from stubbornness to rebellion. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
recomplicating effect, maintenance compulsion, potential revenge effects, rearranging effect, insult accumulation, chronic consequences, cogon grass, risk homeostasis, computerized office, cumulative trauma disorders Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, North America, New York, Second World War, First World War, Great Lakes, Department of Agriculture, South America, Exxon Valdez, Los Angeles, Third World, Civil War, New Jersey, North Carolina, San Francisco, Soil Conservation Service, American Southwest, Jack London, Mary Shelley, New Deal, New England, New Zealand, Aaron Wildavsky, Bartlett Finchley, East Coast New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
One of industrial and postindustrial humanity's parennial nightmares is the machine that passes from stubbornness to rebellion. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
recomplicating effect, maintenance compulsion, potential revenge effects, rearranging effect, insult accumulation, chronic consequences, cogon grass, risk homeostasis, computerized office, cumulative trauma disorders Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, North America, New York, Second World War, First World War, Great Lakes, Department of Agriculture, South America, Exxon Valdez, Los Angeles, Third World, Civil War, New Jersey, North Carolina, San Francisco, Soil Conservation Service, American Southwest, Jack London, Mary Shelley, New Deal, New England, New Zealand, Aaron Wildavsky, Bartlett Finchley, East Coast New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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72
books
cite this book:
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- Traffic Safety by Leonard Evans on 4 pages
- From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports by Professor Allen Guttmann on 4 pages
- Worried Sick: Our Troubled Quest for Wellness by Arthur J. Barsky in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Power and Illness: The Failure and Future of American Health Policy by Daniel M. Fox in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Searching for Safety by Aaron Wildavsky in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 100 books this book cites
- Life Out of Bounds: Bioinvasion in a Borderless World (Worldwatch Environmental Alert Series) by Chris Bright in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- On Being A Superpower: And Not Knowing What To Do About It by Seymour J Deitchman on page 329, and Back Matter
- Scientific Papers and Presentations, Second Edition by Martha Davis on page 20, and page 162
- The Prepared Mind of a Leader: Eight Skills Leaders Use to Innovate, Make Decisions, and Solve Problems (J-B US non-Franchise Leadership) by Bill Welter on page 159, and Back Matter
- The Enchantments of Technology by Lee Worth Bailey on page 21, and Back Matter
See all 72 books citing this book
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77% buy the item featured on this page: Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Vintage) $12.44 |
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12% buy The Logic Of Failure: Recognizing And Avoiding Error In Complex Situations $14.82 |
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6% buy Inviting Disaster: Lessons From the Edge of Technology $10.87 |
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2% buy Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity $19.77 |
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