A History of Technology: Volume I: From Early Times to Fall of Ancient Empires, c. 500 B.C.

Description

Editors: Singer, Charles; Holmyard, E.J.; Hall, A.R.; and Williams, Trevor I.

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Pub Date: 1967 (Third printing, revised)

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Book: Fair to Good.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, bends or folds.  Upper corners bumped.  Very light edge wear.  Smudging to bottom text block.  Dust Jacket: Fair.  Lower front flap corner clipped.  Two approx. 1/4′ closed tears at spine head, one at front, one at rear.  Chipping and wear to spine foot.  One approx. 1/8″ closed tear at upper rear flap corner.  Four very small spots on lower rear edge (sticker?)

Notes: Volume 1 of a 5 volume series.  “Technology” has this “technical”, “machine” connotation, whereas this volume is as much “social history” as “technology.”  Skill, discovery, invention, diffusion are all topics addressed here.  Speech and language, time reckoning, working with stone, bone and wood, foraging, hunting, fishing, fire-making (fuel, heat, light) are all considered.  Chemical, culinary (including fermentation) and cosmetic “arts”, building, animal domestication, plant cultivation (irrigation as a separate topic).  Textiles, basketry, ceramics, building, mining, quarrying, smelting, making metals.  Transportation by land (including wheeled vehicles), boats and ships.  Record keeping, weights and measures, mathematics and astronomy.   This is the basics of civilization, right here in one doorstop of a volume.  Not a book you’re going to read in bed, trust me on this one.  I love the idea of “skill” as a step on the technological staircase.