Fall 2008 - The Johns Hopkins University Press

AirplanesThe Life Story of a TechnologyJeremy R. KinneyThe airplane has redefined the way in which people travel,conduct commerce, spend their leisure time, and wagewar. From the Wright brothers’ wood-and-fabric Flyer tothe modern jet aircraft, the airplane has evolved in countlessways as its many uses have unfolded. The developmentof safe and efficient air travel required solving multiple engineeringriddles about aerodynamics, control, propulsion,and structures. Airplanes shows how the solutions to theseriddles have helped spur dramatic changes in the world’ssocial and cultural life.The RobotThe Life Story of a TechnologyLisa NocksHuman-like (or hominoid) machines fascinate us, and theyhave become increasingly important in post–World War IIindustry and space exploration. Where did the idea for suchdevices come from? What varied uses do they serve in ourworld, and where do they seem to be headed? Lisa Nockscapitalizes on the salience of these issues, tracing the developmentof the robot from jacquemarts (human-form clocks)to the robot Elektro and his robotic dog at the 1939 World’sFair to Japanese car-making devices to rovers on Mars andprogrammable fighting hominoids in Western pop culture.“The author manages to do an impressive job of thoroughly discussingthe details and specifics of the way that airplane technology improvedand the political movements, world events, and social change thatbrought about these improvements. The introduction also offers anexcellent overview of the physics of flight and the time line of theevolution of the airplane.”—ChoiceJeremy R. KINNEY is curator in the Aeronautics Division atthe National Air and Space Museum of the SmithsonianInstitution. He has served as the Centennial of Flight lecturerat the University of Maryland.“Concise and direct to the point, Nocks’ technography on the robotoffers a rich overview of the systems we understand as robotic. Itsummarizes the 30-some-year-long history of a plethora of ideas,experiments, and implementations that have found their places inour everyday lives.”—ChoiceLisa NocKS is a historian who writes on the diffusion ofscientific and technical knowledge to the public throughthe media. She currently teaches at Fordham University,Rose Hill, in the department of communication and mediastudies.OVER VIRGINIA—Steve Hinton flies “GlacierGirl,” a P-38 Lightning dug out from 268 feetof ice in eastern Greenland in 1992. The aircraftwas part of a heritage flight during an air show atLangley Air Force Base, Virginia, on May 21, 2004.(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Ben Bloker)>October 184 pages 6 x 9¼ 27 halftones, 4 line drawings978-0-8018-9069-7 0-8018-9069-1 $19.95(s) / £11.00 pbHistory of TechnologyOctober 224 pages 6 x 9¼ 20 halftones978-0-8018-9071-0 0-8018-9071-3 $19.95(s) / £11.00 pbHistory of TechnologyTHE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS www.press.jhu.edu 38