"Insightful and provocative...Tenner has become a worthy successor to such luminaries as business philosopher Peter Drucker, social critic Lewis Mumford, and historian Lynn White in connecting technology’s past, present, and future."

--Nature

"Ambitious, stimulating work...The lesson Tenner transmits so cogently, unpredictably, and delightfully is that in the best designs ease and complexity cohabit, furthering and reflecting evolution itself."

--The Christian Science Monitor

This delightful and instructive history ot invention snows wny National Public Radio dubbed Tenner "the philosopher of everyday technology." Looking at how our inventions have impacted our world in ways we never intended or imagined, he shows that the things we create have a tendency to bounce back and change us.

The reclining chair, originally designed for brief, healthful relaxation, has become the very symbol of obesity. The helmet, invented for military purposes, has made possible new sports like mountain biking and in-line skating. The typewriter made a swelling tide of documents easier to read, but in helping push penmanship out of the schools it created nightmares for pharmacists and others struggling to decipher modern handwriting. As he sheds light on the many ways inventions surprise and renew us, Tenner considers where technology will take us in the future, and what we can expect from the devices that we no longer seem able to live without.

Preface

Chapter One:   Technology, Technique, and the Body

Chapter Two:   The First Technology: Bottle-Feeding

Chapter Three:  Slow Motion: Zori

Chapter Four:  Double Time: Athletic Shoes

Chapter Five:  Sitting Up Straight: Posture Chairs

Chapter Six:   Laid Back: Reclining Chairs

Chapter Seven:  Mechanical Arts: Musical Keyboards

Chapter Eight:  Letter Perfect?: Text Keyboards

Chapter Nine:  Second Sight: Eyeglasses

Chapter Ten:   Hardheaded Logic: Helmets

Epilogue:    Thumbs Up

Notes

Suggestions for Further Reading

Index