Confessions of a Technophile [Hardcover]

In this technologically adventurous book, Lewis Branscomb-- distinguished physicist who once headed the National Bureau of Standards and later was IBM's Chief Scientist--explores the wise and creative uses of our nation's science, from the boundless faith in science after the Second World War, into the age of technology, which, says Branscomb, is an expression of the values of the society that creates and uses it. Branscomb examines emerging information technologies--computer software, electronic libraries, video disks, and the information superhighway --always exploring the way people are affected. Here readers can share his vision of how we can use both science and politics to improve the prospects for humankind.CHOICE MAGAZINE
Branscomb is a gifted writer, and each chapter is a clear and compelling treatment of an issue or bit of history. This book will be interesting reader for students of any science who want to know how US attitudes and government policies have positioned science from WWII to the present. Its insights on the information superhighway make it timely reading for anyone interested in the relationship between the practice of science and the NII&General; upper-division undergraduate through professional.