A History of Everyday Things

A History of Everyday Things PDF Author: Daniel Roche
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521633598
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Things which we regard as the everyday objects of consumption (and hence re-purchase), and essential to any decent, civilised lifestyle, have not always been so: in former times, everyday objects would have passed from one generation to another, without anyone dreaming of acquiring new ones. How, therefore, have people in the modern world become 'prisoners of objects', as Rousseau put it? The celebrated French cultural historian Daniel Roche answers this fundamental question using insights from economics, politics, demography and geography, as well as his own extensive historical knowledge. Professor Roche places familiar objects and commodities - houses, clothes, water - in their wider historical and anthropological contexts, and explores the origins of some of the daily furnishings of modern life. A History of Everyday Things is a pioneering essay that sheds light on the origins of the consumer society and its social and political repercussions, and thereby the birth of the modern world.

A History of Everyday Things

A History of Everyday Things PDF Author: Daniel Roche
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521633598
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book

Book Description
Things which we regard as the everyday objects of consumption (and hence re-purchase), and essential to any decent, civilised lifestyle, have not always been so: in former times, everyday objects would have passed from one generation to another, without anyone dreaming of acquiring new ones. How, therefore, have people in the modern world become 'prisoners of objects', as Rousseau put it? The celebrated French cultural historian Daniel Roche answers this fundamental question using insights from economics, politics, demography and geography, as well as his own extensive historical knowledge. Professor Roche places familiar objects and commodities - houses, clothes, water - in their wider historical and anthropological contexts, and explores the origins of some of the daily furnishings of modern life. A History of Everyday Things is a pioneering essay that sheds light on the origins of the consumer society and its social and political repercussions, and thereby the birth of the modern world.

Origin of Everyday Things

Origin of Everyday Things PDF Author: Johnny Acton
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 9781402743023
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Describes the origins of over 400 everyday items, arranged in alphabetical order.

Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody

Panati's Extraordinary Endings of Practically Everything and Everybody PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 486

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Book Description
A compendium of facts and anecdotes about the demise of historic figures, diseases, beliefs, capital endings, and extinctions.

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things

Panati's Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things PDF Author: Charles Panati
Publisher: Chartwell Books
ISBN: 0785834370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
Relates facts and information about a host of ordinary things ranging from safety pins to negligees.

The Origins of Everyday Things

The Origins of Everyday Things PDF Author: Ruth Binney
Publisher: Reader's Digest Association
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
"The Origins of Everyday Things" traces the evolution of customs, manners, and commonplace objects through the twists and turns of time to uncover their history-making roots.

Brief Histories of Everyday Objects

Brief Histories of Everyday Objects PDF Author: Andy Warner
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250078660
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Hilarious, entertaining, and illustrated histories behind some of life's most common and underappreciated objects - from the paperclip and the toothbrush to the sports bra and roller skates In the tradition of A Cartoon History of the Universe and, most recent, Randall Munroe's What If? comes Brief Histories of Everyday Objects, a graphic tour through the unusual creation of some of the mundane items that surround us in our daily lives. Chapters are peppered with ballpoint pen riots, cowboy wars, and really bad Victorian practical jokes. Structured around the different locations in our home and daily life—the kitchen, the bathroom, the office, and the grocery store—award-nominated illustrator Andy Warner traces the often surprising and sometimes complex histories behind the items we often take for granted. Readers learn how Velcro was created after a Swiss engineer took his dog for a walk; how a naval engineer invented the Slinky; a German housewife, the coffee filter; and a radical feminist and anti-capitalist, the game Monopoly. This is both a book of histories and a book about histories. It explores how lies become legends, trade routes spring up, and empires rise and fall—all from the perspective of your toothbrush or toilet.

Everyday Things in Premodern Japan

Everyday Things in Premodern Japan PDF Author: Susan B. Hanley
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520922670
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 230

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Book Description
Japan was the only non-Western nation to industrialize before 1900 and its leap into the modern era has stimulated vigorous debates among historians and social scientists. In an innovative discussion that posits the importance of physical well-being as a key indicator of living standards, Susan B. Hanley considers daily life in the three centuries leading up to the modern era in Japan. She concludes that people lived much better than has been previously understood—at levels equal or superior to their Western contemporaries. She goes on to illustrate how this high level of physical well-being had important consequences for Japan's ability to industrialize rapidly and for the comparatively smooth transition to a modern, industrial society. While others have used income levels to conclude that the Japanese household was relatively poor in those centuries, Hanley examines the material culture—food, sanitation, housing, and transportation. How did ordinary people conserve the limited resources available in this small island country? What foods made up the daily diet and how were they prepared? How were human wastes disposed of? How long did people live? Hanley answers all these questions and more in an accessible style and with frequent comparisons with Western lifestyles. Her methods allow for cross-cultural comparisons between Japan and the West as well as Japan and the rest of Asia. They will be useful to anyone interested in the effects of modernization on daily life.

The Secret of Everyday Things

The Secret of Everyday Things PDF Author: Jean-Henri Fabre
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Industrial arts
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description


Stuff

Stuff PDF Author: John C. Ryan
Publisher: Seattle, Wash. : Northwest Environment Watch
ISBN:
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
This volume takes you to the places and people you touch every day. - BOOK JACKET.

The Design of Everyday Things

The Design of Everyday Things PDF Author: Don Norman
Publisher: Constellation
ISBN: 0465050654
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Even the smartest among us can feel inept as we fail to figure out which light switch or oven burner to turn on, or whether to push, pull, or slide a door. The fault, argues this ingenious—even liberating—book, lies not in ourselves, but in product design that ignores the needs of users and the principles of cognitive psychology. The problems range from ambiguous and hidden controls to arbitrary relationships between controls and functions, coupled with a lack of feedback or other assistance and unreasonable demands on memorization. The Design of Everyday Things shows that good, usable design is possible. The rules are simple: make things visible, exploit natural relationships that couple function and control, and make intelligent use of constraints. The goal: guide the user effortlessly to the right action on the right control at the right time. In this entertaining and insightful analysis, cognitive scientist Don Norman hails excellence of design as the most important key to regaining the competitive edge in influencing consumer behavior. Now fully expanded and updated, with a new introduction by the author, The Design of Everyday Things is a powerful primer on how—and why—some products satisfy customers while others only frustrate them.