Pete Hindle

I’m doing a lot of reading for the course at the moment. I’ve been reading a lot of different books that tie into my main project, and these academic books aren’t always a gripping read. Sometimes I find that they aren’t even that relevant to my subject, they just have all the correct buzzwords on the cover. In order to stop this from happening, I’ve taken to sitting in the library with a large pile of books, sampling and dipping into them, so as to decide which ones should be carried back to my house.

One of the books I’ve taken back from the library recently is a series of essays by an engineer, John Lienhard, originally broadcast as part of a radio show on American Public Radio (a bit like the BBC, but more American). This is a really well written book, which might be because it the material is supposed to be followed verbally, but Lienhard’s argument’s are easy to follow and well constructed.

The subject matter of the book is the effect that engineering has had on contemporary culture, and the reverse. From this starting point Lienhard is free to explain various technological tidbits that he must have picked up during his career as an engineer, always bringing back his audience to the point that technological marvels do not exist seperately of the culture they originate from.

While I found this book interesting, and worth spending time reading, it wasn’t actually that relevant to the subjects I need to be researching. His chapter on technology and literature is well-researched and immensly readable, but of course most people working in left-wing computer fields are familiar with the links between the Byron family and early computer programming. Lienhard’s point that it’s not possible to remove technological innovations from the culture they come from seems almost redundant here, but I’m willing to allow that – in this case – it might be due to the fact that I already have specialist knowledge.

This did not make his writing any less engaging though.

If you do have a chance to pick up this book, you might find it engaging enough to spend a few hours with. Lienhard’s storytelling and grasp of the field is comprehensive without being dry, and his essays are well balanced pieces of writing.