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Samuel Florman And Literature Of Technology, Paul F. Sharke

Theses

In 1996, engineer and author Samuel Florman asked why engineering and technology had been represented only lightly in literature. From a mere handful of books dealing with this topic, he named The Control of Nature (1989), by John McPhee, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), by Robert Pirsig, and The Soul of a New Machine (1981), by Tracy Kidder, as being among the best examples of a literary expression of engineering. These three works are examined here in light of Florman's own four books on the subject of engineering, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (1976), Blaming Technology …