The essential role that the oldest literary technology—books—played in making computers popular and pervasive.In README, historian Patrick McCray argues that in order for computers to become ubiquitous, people first had to become interested in them, learn about them, and take the machines seriously. A powerful catalyst for this transformation was, ironically, one of the oldest information technologies we have: books. The author uses a carefully chosen sele...

When the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, thousands of ordinary people across the globe seized the opportunity to participate in the start of the Space Age. Known as the "Moonwatchers," these largely forgotten citizen-scientists helped professional astronomers by providing critical and otherwise unavailable information about the first satellites. In Keep Watching the Skies!, Patrick McCray tells the story of this network of pioneers who, fueled by civic pride and exhilarated by s...

The creative collaborations of engineers, artists, scientists, and curators over the past fifty years.Artwork as opposed to experiment? Engineer versus artist? We often see two different cultural realms separated by impervious walls. But some fifty years ago, the borders between technology and art began to be breached. In this book, W. Patrick McCray shows how in this era, artists eagerly collaborated with engineers and scientists to explore new technologies and cr...

The transformation of the Venetian glass industry during the Renaissance was not only a technical phenomenon, but also a social one. In this volume, Patrick McCray examines the demand, production and distribution of glass and glassmaking technology during this period and evaluates several key topics, including the nature of Renaissance demand for certain luxury goods, the interaction between industry and government in the Renaissance, and technological change as a social process. McCray pl...

The story of the visionary scientists who invented the futureIn 1969, Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill began looking outward to space colonies as the new frontier for humanity's expansion. A decade later, Eric Drexler, an MIT-trained engineer, turned his attention to the molecular world as the place where society's future needs could be met using self-replicating nanoscale machines. These modern utopians predicted that their technologies could transform society a...

For the first time ever, one of Rock 'N' Roll Comics most acclaimed series is collected and back in print! The Elvis Presley Experience is both scholarly and dramatic in its graphic recreation of the King's remarkable life story. Though the series was among the best selling contemporary bio-graphic comics of the 1990s, the individual issues have been out of print for over ten years. This 200 page collection features art by future Marvel and DC star Aaron Sowd (Wolverine, Hawkman, Nightwing...

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs arguably revolutionized how people work and communicate. Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey pioneered new ways to connect socially. Sergey Brin and Larry Page created a way to navigate the massive World Wide Web. Together, these men rise above the rest as icons in the world of technology, and their stories are as interesting as their work. Cover by famed artist George Amaru.

Betty White: Golden Girl Goes Platinum traces the amazing life of the actor, writer, wit, and humanitarian who has also been Hollywood’s most enduring "it girl" for over sixty astounding years. From the earliest days of television to the cutting edge of Facebook and SNL, Betty always makes the scene!

Jack Dorsey is the co-founder of Twitter, a social media platform like none other that allows users to have their voice broadcast to the masses, 140 characters at a time. With Twitter, Dorsey has managed bridge the social gaps that entrepreneurs have been trying to close for years; friends are connecting with far-away friends, companies are finally reaching their customers in a new and unique way, and celebrities are tweeting directly at their fans in every corner of the world. Learn about...

As an aspiring or seasoned writer, do you feel like you aren't making headway, stumbling on what to write next, or wondering if you're even on the right path? Are you unable to find the motivation to charge up your computer and put your fingers on the keyboard after that last rejection?Between the pages of What I Wish I'd Known: For Writers, 100 highly accomplished authors share their time, energy, and knowledge to pay it forward and inspire other writers, experienced or a...

On the transformative role of greed in global science and technology during the 1980s.In the 1980s, a transformative era emerged where profit-driven motives and an entrepreneurial spirit dominated scientific research and technological innovation. This collection of essays, edited by Michael D. Gordin and W. Patrick McCray, examines how greed reshaped the global scientific community through the relentless pursuit of money, fame, and celebrity.Profiting off s...

Did the Woodstock generation reject science—or re-create it? An "enthralling" study of a unique period in scientific history ( New Scientist).Our general image of the youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of hostility to things like missiles and mainframes and plastics—and an enthusiasm for alternative spirituality and getting "back to nature." But this enlightening collection reveals that the stereotype is overly simplistic. In fact, there were d...