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Essays by a distinguished humanist upon the beauty and fascination of technology and its impact upon society. For the serious general reader. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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Library Journal Review

Hardison, English professor (Georgetown), Shakespearean scholar, and amateur physicist, is always entertaining and often thought-provoking, as in Entering the Maze: Identity & Change in Modern Culture (Oxford Univ. Pr., 1981); here, he is very successful at placing the advent of technology within the context of our century. Through witty and elegantly written chapters on art, architecture, music, and poetry, he weaves a cogent and coherent theory on how the world left the domain of philosophers and classical artists and entered that of mathematicians and computer scientists. When our capacity to envision nature as solid and tangible ``disappeared through the skylight,'' our ability to envision what nature and science consist of was irrevocably altered. Of the current titles that seem to address this subject, this is by far the best: Hardison illustrates, cleverly and vividly, by example. Challenging but highly readable, the book should spark discussion. Fascinating and well conceived.-- Mark Shelton, Columbus, Ohio (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Armed with the opinion that technological and cultural trends are negating history and the idea of humanity itself, Hardison takes readers on a tour of the modern age. Described by PW as ``by turns incisive and glib,'' this volume offers ``engaging discussions of all manner of topics, from the British cracking of the Germans' Enigma code in WW II to automobiles as `thin-steel sculptures.' '' Illustrated. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Hardison's skill in evoking the pace and progress of the new, the avant garde, and still further out movements in the arts and sciences provokes a certain dizziness. As his discussion moves from cultural change to the technologies that push and pull it, several themes recur. The most pervasive is disappearance. Between the Greek certainties and Mandelbrot's unending fractal geometries, we have lost our sense of what constitutes the physical world. The search for universals in language, in architecture, and in art has eroded the definitions of communication and beauty. Lost in the argument over machine capabilities in particular, and technological prowess in general, are old understandings of intelligence, humanness, and life itself. What these disappearances mean is not as clear. Hardison fluctuates between awareness of loss and excitement about the possibilities. What pervades his book is bemusement at the rapidly changing landscape, expressed in clever wordplay and thought-provoking insights. A far-ranging exploration of our time. Bibliography. --Virginia Dwyer