 | American Heritage of Invention and Technology
Availability: Your first issue should arrive in 12-16 weeks. Average customer review: (10 customer reviews) |
Product Description
Reports on the history and development of technology.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #434 in Magazine Subscriptions
- Format: Magazine Subscription
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
By Lonnie E. Holder
This magazine is devoted to American inventions and technology that have affected our lives. In essence, this magazine is a historical magazine about American technology. Within each issue are multiple articles about a historical invention. The articles can either focus on the technology or focus on an individual who has been a key contributor to the advancement of that technology. Typically, each issue also has an interview with an inventor or inventors whose contributions have materially affected our lives or society.
The scope of the magazine is broad. There have been articles on the Trans-Canada highway. Another recent issue had an excellent article on tunnel boring machines. In yet another article the development of refinery cracking was described in the context of the development of higher performance engines. The contribution of high octane gasoline to the winning of the air war was mentioned, an interesting piece of trivia of which I was previously unaware.
The scope of the magazine is beyond the physical sciences. Biology and the development of medical technology are also covered. While the magazine is written at a level that an educated non-expert can understand, some of the biology related articles challenge my attention.
This magazine is an excellent source of technological history. However, while the technical jargon used is that appropriate to a technology, this magazine is not light reading for those unfamiliar with a specific field. As an example, I had to read portions of the article on refinery cracking a couple of times to understand the general description of how the cracking process works. Therefore, while I highly recommend this magazine to anyone with an interest in the history of technology, realize that for some readers, for example elementary school students, this magazine could present a reading challenge.
Most articles also provide pictures or other artwork. Frequently this artwork is unavailable from any other magazine source because there are so few magazines that deal with technological history. The quality of the images varies because many of the pictures have not been well-preserved, but in many cases they are the only pictures available.
This magazine frequently mentions the Inventor's Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, which is sponsored by the United States Patent & Trademark Office. A number of articles have covered inductees to the Inventor's Hall of Fame, showing that while the articles are historical in nature, they are also currently relevant.
There are a large number of magazines that are either about technology, or have had articles about technology. There are a large number of trade magazines that cover technology. Sometimes these magazines even have articles about the history of an invention. However, the "American Heritage of Invention & Technology" is the only magazine of which I am aware the covers the history of invention and technology. While the focus of the articles is American technology, it is inevitable that the relationship of foreign invention is covered occasionally as well when that technology was important in the development of American technology. I consider this magazine to be excellent for anyone with an interest in historical technology, and is an excellent complement to other historical magazines.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
By A Customer
Of all the magazines I currently subscribe to, I have had this one the longest. Short, concise articles on everyday items are written for the layman and really open up the history of technology to the reader. I just wish I would have kept all the issues from the start of my subscription.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
By illegible
I read every issue cover to cover, information on a variety of technology related subjects. All the articles are well researched and informative. Unfortunately it only comes four times a year! Think Wired Magazine meets Smithsonian Magazine. Should appeal to engineers of all types especially.
A sampling of past articles:
'When Bridges fail and the inexact science of preventing it'
'The making of the Mouse: Its evolution from a deoderant ball in a butter dish into a tool you use every day'
'Birth of the Electron Microscope'
'The Radial Revolution: Inventing the tire that changed the way we drive'
'Kevlar: A mighty fiber and the woman who invented it'
'Creative Destruction: Your old cars high tech last moments'
'Eyes in the Skies: A picture history of spy photography'
'Making Teflon Stick: Discovering it was easy. Turning it into a successful product was anything but.'
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