Books by Michael Brian Schiffer

This book presents a sample of twelve spectacular flops encompassing the past three centuries-ranging from the world's first automobile to the nuclear-powered bomber. 49 illustrations.

Through a broad range of examples, the author demonstrates how theories of behaviour and communication have too often ignored the fundamental importance of objects in human life.

Originally published by Academic Press in 1976, this book has become a foundational statement in archaeological methodology and has had a lasting impact on the discipline. As Michael Schiffer writes in his new prologue, the work "played a vital role in establishing as fundamental the behavioral perspective in archaeology."

Most of us know-at least we've heard-that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize-and what this book makes powerfully clear-is that Franklin played a major role in laying the foundations of modern electrical science and technology. This fast-paced book, rich with historical details and anecdotes, brings to life Franklin, the large international network of scientists and inventors in which he played a key role, and their amazing inventions. We learn what these early electrical devices-from lights and motors to musical and medical instruments-looked like, how they worked, and what their utilitarian and symbolic meanings were for those who invented and used them. Against the fascinating panorama of life in the eighteenth century, Michael Brian Schiffer tells the story of the very beginnings of our modern electrical world. The earliest electrical technologies were conceived in the laboratory apparatus of physicists; because of their surprising and diverse effects, however, these technologies rapidly made their way into many other communities and activities. Schiffer conducts us from community to community, showing how these technologies worked as they were put to use in public lectures, revolutionary experiments in chemistry and biology, and medical therapy. This story brings to light the arcane and long-forgotten inventions that made way for many modern technologies-including lightning rods (Franklin's invention), cardiac stimulation, xerography, and the internal combustion engine-and richly conveys the complex relationships among science, technology, and culture.