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Young Adult Nonfiction General

Technology

A Groundwork Guide

by (author) Wayne Grady

series edited by Jane Springer

Publisher
Groundwood Books Ltd
Initial publish date
Nov 2010
Category
General, History of Science
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780888999849
    Publish Date
    Nov 2010
    List Price
    $11.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780888999825
    Publish Date
    Nov 2010
    List Price
    $18.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554982271
    Publish Date
    Nov 2010
    List Price
    $9.95

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Where to buy it

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 14 to 18
  • Grade: 9 to 12
  • Reading age: 0

Description

"[The Groundwork Guides] are excellent books, mandatory for school libraries and the increasing body of young people prepared to take ownership of the situations and problems previous generations have left them." -- Globe and Mail

There is no doubt that we have come to rely on technology, not only for our comfort and convenience, but for our very survival as a species. A hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin noted wryly that if the human species were returned to the wild without the advantage of technology, we would become extinct in six weeks.

Since that time, technology has proliferated to the extent that we can no longer conceive of life without it. As this book shows, technology is more than the sum of the tools we use, whether they are primitive ploughs or space shuttles. It is a way of seeing the world, the way we determine how the world works -- technology is a way of thinking.

We see this in the way technology has invaded our language: we speak of the education system, the cultural industry. Since the 18th century, we have tended to describe the universe as a giant clockwork, the body as a machine, and, more recently, the mind as a computer. These are all aspects of the degree to which we have come to live in a technological age.

About the authors

Wayne Grady is the general editor of this series of literary anthologies devoted to the world's natural wonders. One of Canada's foremost popular science writers and the winner of three Science in Society awards from the Canadian Science Writers' Association, he is the author of twelve nonfiction books on such diverse adventures as hunting dinosaurs in the Gobi Desert, investigating global warming at the North Pole, and discovering the wild in an urban metropolis. His books include the bestselling Tree: A Life Story, written with David Suzuki, and Bringing Back the Dodo. His most recent book is the award-winning The Great Lakes: The Natural History of a Changing Region. He lives near Kingston, Ontario.

Wayne Grady's profile page

Jane Springer is the author of Genocide, part of the Groundwork Guides series for which she is also the series editor. She is a consultant in international development and has lived and worked in Mozambique and India. She is the author of Listen to Us: The World's Working Children and translator of the Portuguese-language books Nest Egg and Tales from the Amazon. Jane Springer lives in Toronto.

Jane Springer's profile page

Editorial Reviews

...a short and poignant book by an exceptionally knowledgeable writer.

Waterloo Record

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