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Men, Machines, and Modern Times
- 50th Anniversary Edition
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
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Men, Machines, and Modern Times
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Summary
This 50th anniversary edition of Men, Machines, and Modern Times, though ultimately concerned with a positive alternative to an Orwellian 1984, offers an entertaining series of historical accounts taken from the 19th century to highlight a main theme: the nature of technological change, the fission brought about in society by such change, and society's reaction to that change. Beginning with a remarkable illustration of resistance to innovation in the US Navy following an officer's discovery of a more accurate way to fire a gun at sea, Elting Morison goes on to narrate the strange history of the new model steamship, the Wapanoag, in the 1860s. He then continues with the difficulties confronting the introduction of the pasteurization process for milk; he traces the development of the Bessemer process; and finally he considers the computer. While the discussions are liberally sprinkled with amusing examples and anecdotes, all are related to the more profound and current problem of how to organize and manage system of ideas, energies, and machinery so that it will conform to the human dimension.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- JCM
- 18-10-23
Still relevant, but no longer new
A classic, apparently. Much of what it contains is certainly familiar - lots of solid theories about organisational change, resistance to innovation, the impact of new technologies on ways of working and wider society, and so on.
Precisely because it's been so influential - even if I wasn't aware that this was the source of many of these ideas - to be honest this dragged. The detailed case studies, all from the US and mostly from the US military, all began to blur into one. The takeaways, when they came, felt almost like platitudes.
Yet this is still helpful, for when some bright spark spouts one of these truisms as if it's a profound new insight - something I get a lot in my B2B marketing day job - because now I can point to the source.
Worth reading the introduction and the final chapter, but you can safely skip the rest.
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