Reviews for Weighing Imponderables and Other Quantitative Science Around 1800

The average rating for Weighing Imponderables and Other Quantitative Science Around 1800 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-22 00:00:00 Jim Ferguson Morison's 1903 "New Epoch" is one of two books to figure prominently in Brandy Schillace's fine book on the origins of Steampunk, "Clockwork Futures." The other book is "Men, Machines, and Modern Times" written by Morison's nephew, Elting Morison, in 1966: another excellent book. Both of the latter two books were reviewed here previously. While interesting and visionary, the senior Morison's book suffers a bit in comparison to these other two. The "New Epoch's" author spent much of his life as a civil engineer. In the closing years of the 19th Century he gave a series of speeches based on the thesis that mankind was entering a new era based on the revolutionary development of Man's recent ability to manufacture power, notably in the form of steam and electricity. This book is based on those speeches. No longer would available energy be confined to that of the human body or that of animals under Man's control. Morison outlines a future in which this ability to provide energy anywhere will enable people around the world to live abundantly. perhaps achieving a one-world unified government. His speeches were delivered to various audiences including the American Society of Civil Engineers (of which he was president), the Society of Phi Beta Kappa, and a commencement at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also incorporated in the book was material from an article titled "The New Epoch and the Currency" published in the North American Review. Although each of these presentations was tailored for the several audiences the theme remained the same: the reality of the new ability to manufacture power and the consequences that would follow from that. A close corollary to this theme was the role of civil engineers in bringing about this change and of the importance of their role across a broad spectrum of society going forward. He contends that the man who is able to envision, design, and build the tools of an industry--the engineer-- should certainly be central in the management and operation of that industry. He derives this view from two sources. First, the definition of civil engineering coined by Thomas Tredgold in England in 1828, naming it "the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man." Then, he links this with the American Society of Civil Engineers requirement for full membership. "the ability to design as well as direct engineering works." (p.62-63) Morison does not offer a detailed timetable of change, choosing not to prophesize, but among the changes he does foresee is that much will be destroyed to make way for the new. "The old and the new cannot exist together. (p. 82) The university, he notes, will have a major role in preserving knowledge of what must be destroyed. In this regard, it will come to play a role as a museum, and must prepare to educate "the men who are students rather than workers, readers rather than originators, who are guided by what others have done rather than what they themselves would do." One of his more startling projections is that, "the new epoch must reduce the number of people who work by themselves; it must reduce the number of people who sem to be entirely their own masters, who seem to be entirely their own masters." Instead, the new epoch "must increase the number of salaried employees, the number of men who are working for fixed wages, and who are apparently dependent on others." This would "wipe out the small manufacturers; they cannot compete with the great concerns," and also eliminate "the small traders and dealers." (p. 44) Optimistically, he adds, "It is premature to say where the compensation for the loss of individualism and personal independence will be found, but we may be sure that such compensation will come." (p. 45) These and other interesting observations, "the engine frames of the first Cunard steamers were decorated with Gothic arches" help one to see the relevance of this work to the concerns of steampunk with its focus on the interplay between technology and society. Overall, an insightful journey, but one marred by redundancy as he makes many of the same points to each of his varied audiences. Also, his elevation of civil engineers to seeming philosopher kings in the new epoch strikes one as overdone, as nice and as educated as civil engineers may be. It is interesting to contemplate how one might characterize contemporary society in such a big picture way. Would the computer programmers controlling social media and social institutions be the new, new epoch forgers? This Morison material is now in the public domain. My reading copy is the version published by the Leopold Classic Library, undated.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-09-29 00:00:00 Osamu Arakane very detailed informion tlls the types of volcanoes and