Spectacular Flops (eBook)

Michael Brian Schiffer, an archaeologist and historian of technology, earned his graduate degrees from the University of Arizona (M.A. 1972, Ph.D. 1973). From 1975 to 2014 he served on the faculty of the University of Arizona, and is currently a research associate in the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. His interests have included cultural resource management, formation processes of the archaeological record, experimental archaeology (ceramics), human (nonverbal) communication, technological change, materiality, and history of electrical science and technologies.

"Using his background in behavioral archaeology, Schiffer (Univ. of Arizona) seeks patterns of failure that may help generalize, at least to a limited extent, what causes certain grandiose innovations to fail. . . . Readers interested in odd examples of sometimes inspired, at other times harebrained, ideas that began with high hopes but eventually crashed will find this a rich source of case studies over several centuries of spectacular technological flops."--Dauben, J.W., CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College "The reader of this work will no doubt greatly benefit from Schiffer's voluminous knowledge regarding electrical and mechanical devices. Through excellent illustrations and careful, explanatory text, Schiffer succeeds in describing the intricacies of steam engines, jet turbines, and nuclear power (in addition to other technologies). . . . In all of the chapters in this book, Schiffer does an outstanding job explaining the technology to the layperson reader. Readers who enjoy learning about the history of technology initiatives will thoroughly enjoy Spectacular Flops." --Schneider, Howard, Business History Review, v95 n1 (2021) ". . . interesting stories, ideal for inserting into a class lecture, but also excellent examples of the many ways technologies fail. . . . Schiffer provides a very useful theoretical framework for exploring the lives of technologies both successful and unsuccessful." --Coopersmith, Jonathan, Technology and Culture