The Origins of Invention: A Study of Industry Among Primitive Peoples - Couverture souple

Mason, Otis T.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0262630052 ISBN 13 : 9780262630054

Editeur : The MIT Press, 1966

Synopsis

The devices of primitive man are the forms out of which all subsequent inventions arise. The fire sticks of savages are the earliest form of illumination by friction. The tribulum is the modern thresher with stone teeth. The kayak furnishes the lines of the swiftest racing boats. The sewing machine makes no new loops. Warfare is still cutting, bruising, or piercing, and our most precious maxims antedate literature. The whole earth is full of monuments to nameless inventors, and the history of the development of the inventive faculty is the history of humanity.

This classic study, originally published in 1895, traces some of our modern industries to their origins and shows how genius of man, working upon and influenced by the resources and the forces of nature, learned the art of inventing. The term “invention” is used in a fundamental and logical sense, that is, discovering how to perform specific acts by some new implement or improvement or substance or method. Basically, each invention is a change in one or all of these aspects. The author holds that all industries, arts, languages, institutions, and philosophies are inventions. Although, as the author states, we may resemble the brutes in other respects we part company intellectually, subduing and enslaving them, and ruling the earth. The history of the mental processes responsible for invention follows an evolutionary series, beginning with observing and following examples, and ending with the highest co-operation such as in a great industrial establishment, a symphony, the writing of a dictionary, or the framing of a government.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The MIT Press
• Date d'édition: 1966
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0262630052
• ISBN 13: 9780262630054
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 419
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible