dhendry.org > Reading > History of Technology & Writing

Burke, J. & Ornstein, R. (1995). The Axemaker's Gift. New York: Grosset/Putnam. Amazon

An entangled history of the evolution of tools, and humanity's cognitive life, from early counting devices to online communities.

Eisenstein, E.(1983). The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press.

A history of the book. The ability to reliable reproduce texts lead to amazing advances, including the rise of modern science in the 16th century. In general, the history and impact of printing has been underappreciated.

Levy, M. and Salvadori, M. (1992). Why Buildings Fall Down.  New York:  W. W. Norton & Company. Amazon

Understanding failures leads to better codification of practice.

McArthur, T. ( 1986). Worlds of Reference: Lexicography, learning, language from the clay tablet to the computer. Cambridge University Press.

By covering the technology of reference, McArthur reminds us that Information Architecture is not a particularly new discipline.  The taxonomic urge is strong.

Petroski, H. (1992). To Engineer is Human:  The Role of Failure in Successful Design.  New York: Vintage Books. Amazon

Petroski, H. (1994). The Evolution of Useful Things. New York: Vintage Books. Amazon

Petroski, H. (1994). Design Paradigms:  Case Histories of Error and Judgement in Engineering. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Salvadori, M. (1980). Why Buildings Stand Up:   The Strength of Architecture. New York:  W. W. Norton & Company. Amazon

Structural engineering - a very old discipline - suggests a sensibility for information architecture.

An account of how the telegraph influenced personal relationships and society at large. Just like the Internet, but in the mid 1880s.

Swade, D. (2001). The Difference Engine: Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer. New York: Viking. Amazon