Book review of The BBC: A Century on Air, by David Hendy
Author: A. David Wunsch
Riding the New York Subway: The Invention of the Modern Passenger
By A. David Wunsch on March 6th, 2023 in Articles, Book Reviews, Case Studies, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Stefan Höhne dives into a wealth of letters—correspondence sent to the New York City Transit Authority in the period 1955–1968.
Good Pictures: A History of Popular Photography
By A. David Wunsch on February 21st, 2023 in Articles, Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Good Pictures is about the advice given to photographers—mostly amateurs—on the techniques they should use to improve their work. Of course, the advice is intimately tied to technological developments in photography as well as the desire of camera makers to sell new products.
Electric Light: An Architectural History
By A. David Wunsch on September 3rd, 2021 in Book Reviews, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology
The author’s intention is to study cases that “suggest an architectural history of spaces that have been generated or extensively reconstituted by electric light.” His thesis is “the electric light changes the underlying nature of a space.”
Book Review: Techno-Fixers: Origins and Implications of Technological Faith
By A. David Wunsch on May 23rd, 2021 in Book Reviews, Environment, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
The public’s faith in science and technology has never been higher. Computer “apps” that explore things such as the frequency of, and point of origin of, COVID-related Google search terms, and Twitter posts, are being used to trace the progress of the virus and to predict the sites of further outbreaks. The United States has been roiled by the death, at the hands of the police, of George Floyd. Floyd’s killing was captured by an app that has been circulating throughout the globe that has acquired the near iconic power of the crucifixion. With the majority of the American people equipped to make audio–visual recording of police brutality and post them on social media, we expect that crimes such as this will certainly diminish.
Book Review: Their Own Devices
By A. David Wunsch on January 15th, 2021 in Book Reviews, Environment, Ethics, Health & Medical, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Albright’s book focuses on a group of Americans who live a life of digital hyper-connectivity. Mostly under age 50, this would include what are called Generation X (born between 1965 and 1979), Millennials (born between 1980 and 1999), and their offspring — some, as we have seen, still infants.
Climate Madhouse
By A. David Wunsch on November 29th, 2019 in Book Reviews, Environment, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Mann and Toles crystallize for us climate change denialism, principally in the United States, over the last generation. The core of this denial results from the confluence of several trends deeply embedded in the American culture.
BOOK REVIEW: The Revenge of Analog
By A. David Wunsch on September 5th, 2019 in Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
“From today, painting is dead!” is said to have been proclaimed by the French painter Paul Delaroche in 1839 after seeing his first daguerreotype. His was an early name on the list of people who have made fools of themselves when prognosticating a future resulting from a new medium or invention. Motivated by either techno-euphoria or pessimism they have become famously wrong.
BOOK REVIEW: A Maverick of Electrical Science
By A. David Wunsch on December 11th, 2018 in Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
It’s interesting that the first major science fiction novel was written by a woman and perhaps significant that it presents a dark vision of scientific experimentation.
BOOK REVIEW: The Camera Does the Rest: How Polaroid Changed Photography
By A. David Wunsch on September 30th, 2018 in Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Peter Buse, in his The Camera Does the Rest, stakes out different territory. His focus is on the social meaning of the Polaroid camera: how did it change photography? How were the cameras used? And how did Land intend them to be used — a concept that often differed from their actual use.
The Truth about Tesla: The Myth of the Lone Genius in the History of Innovation
By A. David Wunsch on July 28th, 2017 in Book Reviews, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
By Christopher Cooper. New York: Race Point Publishers, 2015, 195 pages. Ask a “twentysornething” or “millennial” A what the word… Read More