Random House New Releases - Technology

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell

2010-06-08T00:30:00-05:00

Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter
Written by Tom Bissell

Hardcover, 240 pages | Pantheon | Social Science - Popular Culture; Technology - Television & Video | $22.95 | 978-0-307-37870-5 (0-307-37870-5)

Like many otherwise functional adults, Tom Bissell is addicted to video games, spending hours a day neglecting work and social engagements in favor of Oblivion, Left 4 Dead, and Grand Theft Auto IV. In Extra Lives, Bissell examines the question that haunts him every time he turns off his consoles: Why on earth does he keep playing?

Extra Lives is a shrewd, cutting, spirited, highly personal, and very funny inquiry into what makes video games so habit-forming and compelling—and how, as creative artifacts, they fall short. He describes the pure plotless joy of Left 4 Dead, the mind-bendingly awful dialogue of Resident Evil, the beautiful but heartless chaos of Far Cry 2, and the peerless cinematic characterization of Grand Theft Auto IV—a game whose charms escort Bissell to the point of near ruin. Alongside the book’s critical project, Bissell candidly examines his own emotional connection to these games, which shifts over time from carefree escapism to bitter and self-destructive compulsion.

Combining personal experience with interviews of some of the leading game designers at work today, Extra Lives is an insightful—and highly entertaining—appraisal of this ubiquitous form of popular art. Even those who don’t play video games will, after reading this book, acknowledge their creative and artistic legitimacy.

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell

2010-06-08T00:30:00-05:00

Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter
Written by Tom Bissell

eBook, 208 pages | Pantheon | Social Science - Popular Culture; Technology - Television & Video | $22.95 | 978-0-307-37928-3 (0-307-37928-0)

Discovering Horse Brasses by John Vince

2010-05-18T00:30:00-05:00

Discovering Horse Brasses
Written by John Vince

Trade Paperback, 48 pages | Shire | Antiques & Collectibles; Technology - Optics | $11.95 | 978-0-7478-0480-2 (0-7478-0480-X)

Horse brasses are flat, generally round, ornaments for decorating the harness of draught horses. First devised as charms to keep the animal safe, brasses later became purely decorative. This book traces the history of horse brasses, from the plain, simple early examples through to the more advanced brasses that were developed as our knowledge of brass casting improved. Packed with over 200 photographs of different horse brasses, this classic title is an ideal collector's introduction, and a section on the care, cleaning and renovation of horse brasses makes this essential reading for new collectors.

Tin and Tin Mining by R. Atkinson

2010-03-23T00:30:00-05:00

Tin and Tin Mining
Written by R. Atkinson

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - History; History - Great Britain | $11.95 | 978-0-85263-733-3 (0-85263-733-0)

From the bronze age to the present day, man has found numerous uses for tin and its alloys, and has gone to great lengths to extract it from the ground. This book explains why tin minerals are found only in certain places, how and when they were formed, the ways in which deposits were discovered and mined in the past and how and where modern technologies for prospecting are applied. The history and development of mining since earliest times is reviewed, emphasizing the importance of the tin mining region of Cornwall and Devon to the British economy. The changing techniques of exploration, extraction, separation and smelting are examined against a background of evolving scientific understanding and technological advance.

Bee Boles and Bee Houses by Anne Foster

2010-02-16T00:30:00-05:00

Bee Boles and Bee Houses
Written by Anne Foster

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Architecture - History; Technology - Agriculture - Animal Husbandry | $11.95 | 978-0-85263-903-0 (0-85263-903-1)

The evolution of beekeeping can be traced in the changing shape of the beehive and in the various structures used to house and protect it. These range from simple recesses holding one or two straw hives in house or garden walls to large free-standing buildings which could hold up to 32 hives. The wide variety of forms reflects the wealth, occupation and idiosyncrasies of owners, the increasing knowledge of the life cycle and requirements of the honey bee and the economic climate of the day.

With developments in beekeeping techniques in the nineteenth century these structures fell into disuse. Today they are often unrecognized and many are derelict or have disappeared altogether. It is hoped that this book will introduce to a wider public the various and fascinating ways in which bees were housed and will encourage the recording and preservation of those examples still to be found.

The Felt Industry by Peter Walter

2010-02-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Felt Industry
Written by Peter Walter

Trade Paperback, 56 pages | Shire | Technology - History; History - Great Britain | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0753-7 (0-7478-0753-1)

Felt is an amazing material, and its history, properties and uses are unparalleled among textiles. Although its origins are lost in prehistory, there is a clear record of its manufacture and use in Roman times and it has a special place in many cultures. The Mongols, in particular, were masters of felt and to them it had an almost magical importance.

Taking advantage of the unique form of wool fibers, felt is made by matting fibers together in water, producing a dense. Warm un-woven material that can be made into a million different things, from carpets to piano hammers and from hats to homes. Felt can be soft and cushioning, or hard and dense enough to be carved.

This is a history of the woollen felt industry that was developed to produce felt on a large scale using expertise and machinery and production that had been developed in the textile industry during the industrial revolution. Now virtually extinct - replaced by machines capable of artificially felting manmade fibres - the woollen felt industry remains almost solely to produce high quality felts for use in pianos. This well-researched and readable history provides long-overdue coverage of an important part of textile history.

Tractors by Nick Baldwin

2010-02-16T00:30:00-05:00

Tractors 1880s to 1980s
Written by Nick Baldwin

Trade Paperback, 64 pages | Shire | Technology - Agriculture & Animal Husbandry; Transportation - Automotive - Antique & Classic | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0754-4 (0-7478-0754-X)

Of all motor vehicles the farm tractor has proved to be among the most beneficial. It has freed hundreds of thousands of laborers and horses from backbreaking toil on the land in all weathers and it has stabilized the cost of food.

Starting with steam power in the middle of the nineteenth century, the agricultural tractor became motorized in the early years of the twentieth century. From vast prairie types, lighter, one-man machines arrived in time to avert famine in the First World War. Mass production followed, which brought the price of tractors within reach of the average farmer. Meanwhile tractors changed from being simple substitutes for draught animals to highly sophisticated machines, with power takeoffs and hydraulically mounted implements. Pneumatic tires and diesel engines revolutionized the 1930s market, after which draught control and then inexpensive four-wheel-drive made sure that fuel and time went into crop production rather than wheelspin. This marked the end of the widespread use of tracked crawlers, as powerful and efficient wheeled tractors took their place, incorporating the latest multi-range transmission technology.

All the key developments and significant tractor makers are described in this book, from the beginning of the tractor's development to the 1970s. Illustrated by period views of machines at work and in contemporary sales literature, this is a nostalgic history of the machine that has been at the center of agricultural life since before World War II.

British Cattle by Val Porter

2010-01-19T00:30:00-05:00

British Cattle
Written by Val Porter

Trade Paperback, 56 pages | Shire | Technology - Agriculture - Animal Husbandry; Nature - Mammals | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0764-3 (0-7478-0764-7)

Since the eighteenth century, British cattle breeds have spread worldwide and have made the names of several counties famous in distant lands. Yet some of those breeds have become extinct and many others have become so rare in their own country that they are in danger of disappearing.

In the hope of awakening enthusiasm for the diversity that still makes British cattle so interesting, this book describes all the existing breeds and many of those that have already gone. Diversity is crucial; cattle provide meat, milk, leather, muscle power and a wide range of by-products, and each breed was developed to meet specific demands. Most were perfectly suited to the environment in which they first developed - be it moorland, island, hill country or lush lowland. Agricultural practices and the markets that farmers serve change, but there will always be a place for good breeds that can meet different needs.

The Potteries by David Sekers

2009-11-17T00:30:00-05:00

The Potteries
Written by David Sekers

Trade Paperback, 56 pages | Shire | Technology - History; Antiques & Collectibles - Pottery & Ceramics | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0759-9 (0-7478-0759-0)

The Potteries is the name given to the industrial area in the English Midlands that was home to hundreds of pottery-making companies and until recently supllied most of the country's crockery and decorative ceramics.

Although generations of collectors have studied the products of these companies, the story of the industry behind is rarely told. Yet no British industry was ever so concentrated, so polluting, and then so transformed. No industrial skyline was ever more memorable than the forest of bottle ovens that used to dominate the skyline of Stoke-on-Trent. An entirely revised and re-illustrated edition of a classic Shire title, this is the perfect introduction to the industrial history of the potteries, its major firms and the men and women who produced pottery for Britain and the world.

British Pigs by Val Porter

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

British Pigs
Written by Val Porter

Trade Paperback, 56 pages | Shire | Technology - Agriculture - Animal Husbandry; Nature - Mammals | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0763-6 (0-7478-0763-9)

Not so long ago, there were local British pigs of every size, color and shape. Over the centuries different localities had developed their own tastes in what their pigs should look like - often colored pigs in the Midlands, black ones in the southern countries and white ones in the north - and every county had its own 'breed'. But as urban populations exploded and needed to be fed from the countryside, pig breeders became selective and scientific, concentrating on productivity. Today most of the colorful old local breeds have disappeared; now only three of four highly commercial breeds and a handful of rare breeds remain of that once splendid diversity. This book describes these breeds and how they developed; it also looks at some of the evocatively named extinct pigs and at foreign breeds now being imported.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel by Richard Tames

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Written by Richard Tames

Trade Paperback, 48 pages | Shire | Biography & Autobiography - Science & Technology; Technology - History | $12.95 | 978-0-7478-0758-2 (0-7478-0758-2)

The famous son of a famous father, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was acknowledged in his own lifetime as the greatest engineer in an era of engineering titans. He helped drive the first tunnel under a navigable river, built the first all iron ship, bridged the Tamar and Avon, constructed the first railway to run express services and launched the world's first true luxury liner - a vessel five times bigger than any previously attempted. Success was often bought at a high price - in money and men's lives. Brunel himself was nearly drowned in his father's Thames Tunnel. Over a hundred laborers were killed excavating Box Tunnel on the Great Western Railway. The Great Eastern bankrupted its backers. Brunel's experimental 'gaz engine' and atmospheric railway both proved costly failures. He died knowing only that the maiden voyage of the Great Eastern had ended in disaster and that the Clifton suspension bridge, his first major triumph was still uncompleted. In 2002 Brunel was voted second in a BBC poll of the ten greatest Britons of all time. This is his story.

Lead and Leadmining by Lynn Willies

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

Lead and Leadmining
Written by Lynn Willies

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - History | $11.95 | 978-0-85263-596-4 (0-85263-596-6)

Leadmining was an important industry in Britain from the time of the Romans until the late nineteenth century - its remains are to be found scattered in and under the hills of Cornwall, Devon, the Mendips, the Pennines, the Lake District, Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland. From the thousands of early small mines, worked generally under medieval laws, leadmining by the eighteenth century was forced to use capital-intensive methods to cope with deeper deposits and great inflows of water, including very long levels and steam engines. Lead smelters, too, had to adapt and developed new furnaces and used spectacular flues and chimneys in otherwise wild landscapes to reduce pollution problems. By the 1880s, however, imports killed the industry - and only three mines have been successful since, all now closed. Today, and for the foreseeable future, lead ore production in Britain is only a by-product of mining for other minerals.

Quarries and Quarrying by Peter Stanier

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

Quarries and Quarrying
Written by Peter Stanier

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - History | $11.95 | 978-0-85263-728-9 (0-85263-728-4)

Whether they are still operational or long abandoned, quarries are often dismissed as eyesores. Despite this, they can be fascinating to visit, and provide an interesting link to a once powerful and necessary industry. Although the Romans worked quarries, it was not until the middle-ages that the industry became established on a large scale. It then achieved its height during the nineteenth century in response to industrialization and the associated demand for stone. The book deals with the extraction methods of various types of stone and the rise and slow decline of quarrying across the UK. While telling the history of quarrying it also covers some of the most famous and notable quarrying sites.

The Silk Industry by Sarah Bush

2009-10-20T00:30:00-05:00

The Silk Industry
Written by Sarah Bush

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - History; Antiques & Collectibles - Textiles & Costume | $11.95 | 978-0-7478-0440-6 (0-7478-0440-0)

Silk was first developed in ancient China as early as 2600 BC and over the centuries to follow it gradually spread first to South East Asia and then to the Middle East, North Africa and Europe along the silk route, becoming established in England in the fourteenth century. The early centers of the English silk industry, Spitalfields, Norwich and Cantebury, benefitted from the arrival of the Dutch or Huguenot silk workers and in 1718 the first factory system for producing silk was begun in Derby. This book traces the legendary silk route from China to the UK and explores the developments in silk production once it reached Europe, the changes to the loom, the popularity of silk clothing, and the industry's struggle with the removal of tariff protection. After reaching its peak in 1850, the industry began to decline with the introduction of Cobden's Free Trade Treaty of 1860 and was further diminished by the advent of artificial silk. Sarah Bush guides us through the ups and downs of the silk industry and provides a perfect introduction to the history of this ancient process.

Our Own Devices by Edward Tenner

2009-08-26T00:30:00-05:00

Our Own Devices How Technology Remakes Humanity
Written by Edward Tenner

eBook | Vintage | Technology | $15.95 | 978-0-307-48922-7 (0-307-48922-1)

From the author of Why Things Bite Back– which introduced us to the revenge antics of technology–Our Own Devices is a wonderfully revealing look at the inventions of everyday things that protect us, position us, or enhance our performance.

In helping and hurting us, these body technologies have produced consequences that their makers never intended:
• In postwar Japan traditional sandals gave way to Western-style shoes because they were considered marks of a higher standard of living, but they seriously increased the rate of fungal foot ailments.
• Reclining chairs, originally promoted for healthful brief relaxation, became symbols of the sedentary life and obesity.
• A keyboard that made the piano easier to learn failed in the marketplace mainly because professional pianists believed difficult passages needed to stay difficult.
• Helmets, reintroduced during the carnage of World War I, saved the lives of countless civilian miners, construction workers, and, more recently, bicyclists.

Once we step on the treadmill of progress, it’s hard to step off. Yet Edward Tenner shows that human ingenuity can be applied in self-preservation as well, and he sheds light on the ways in which the users of commonplace technology surprise designers and engineers, as when early typists developed the touch method still employed on today’s keyboards. And he offers concrete advice for reaping benefits from the devices that we no longer seem able to live without. Although dependent on these objects, we can also use them to liberate ourselves. This delightful and instructive history of invention shows why National Public Radio dubbed Tenner “the philosopher of everyday technology.”

From the Hardcover edition.

Bricks and Brickmaking by Martin Hammond

2009-08-18T00:30:00-05:00

Bricks and Brickmaking
Written by Martin Hammond

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - History | $11.95 | 978-0-7478-0067-5 (0-7478-0067-7)

Bricks were introduced to Britain by the Romans and reintroduced by Flemish craftsmen in the middle ages. Until the early nineteenth century they were made in numerous small brickyards supplying local needs, but eventually increasing demand led to the invention of improved brickmaking machines and kilns. This book gives an insight into the surprising variety of bricks, as well as a brief history of brickmaking, descriptions of hand and machine moulding, drying, the use of kilns and firing. Despite competition from newer materials, brick still holds its own as a facing material and traditional methods still survive in the smaller yards.

British Sheep Breeds by Elizabeth Henson

2009-06-23T00:30:00-05:00

British Sheep Breeds
Written by Elizabeth Henson

Trade Paperback, 32 pages | Shire | Technology - Agriculture - Animal Husbandry | $11.95 | 978-0-85263-779-1 (0-85263-779-9)

There are over thirty million sheep in Britain belonging to more than sixty different breeds. They are almost as varied in shape, color and size as the many breeds of dog, but are far less well-known. The sheep industry in Britain is based on a stratified system which makes the best use of the harsh mountains of Scotland, Wales and northern England, as well as of the more fertile and mild regions of southern Britain. It has helped to develop a rich range of specialist regional breed types. This book places the breeds into intelligible groups by outlining the way the national industry works, classifying their different roles and determining where each breed fits into an overall picture. Each breed and its wool is featured and illustrated with an extensive collection of pictures.

The One-Straw Revolution by Frances Moore Lappe

2009-06-02T00:30:00-05:00

The One-Straw Revolution An Introduction to Natural Farming
Written by Masanobu Fukuoka
Preface by Wendell Berry
Afterword by Masanobu Fukuoka
Translated by Larry Korn
Introduction by Frances Moore Lappe

Trade Paperback, 200 pages | NYRB Classics | Nature - Ecology; Technology - Agriculture - Organic; Health & Fitness - Healthy Living | $15.95 | 978-1-59017-313-8 (1-59017-313-9)

Call it “Zen and the Art of Farming” or a “Little Green Book,” Masanobu Fukuoka’s manifesto about farming, eating, and the limits of human knowledge presents a radical challenge to the global systems we rely on for our food. At the same time, it is a spiritual memoir of a man whose innovative system of cultivating the earth reflects a deep faith in the wholeness and balance of the natural world. As Wendell Berry writes in his preface, the book “is valuable to us because it is at once practical and philosophical. It is an inspiring, necessary book about agriculture because it is not just about agriculture.”

Trained as a scientist, Fukuoka rejected both modern agribusiness and centuries of agricultural practice, deciding instead that the best forms of cultivation mirror nature’s own laws. Over the next three decades he perfected his so-called “do-nothing” technique: commonsense, sustainable practices that all but eliminate the use of pesticides, fertilizer, tillage, and perhaps most significantly, wasteful effort.

Whether you’re a guerrilla gardener or a kitchen gardener, dedicated to slow food or simply looking to live a healthier life, you will find something here—you may even be moved to start a revolution of your own.

Being Digital by Penn Jillette

2009-05-26T00:30:00-05:00

Being Digital
Written by Nicholas Negroponte
Read by Penn Jillette

Abridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Technology - Telecommunications | $9.00 | 978-0-307-70453-5 (0-307-70453-X)

In lively, mordantly witty prose, Negroponte decodes the mysteries--and debunks the hype--surrounding bandwidth, multimedia, virtual reality, and the Internet, and explains why such touted innovations as the fax and the CD-ROM are likely to go the way of the BetaMax. "Succinct and readable. . . . If you suffer from digital anxiety . . . here is a book that lays it all out for you."--Newsday.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Pixar Touch by David A. Price

2009-05-05T00:30:00-05:00

The Pixar Touch
Written by David A. Price

Trade Paperback, 320 pages | Vintage | Business & Economics; Technology; Performing Arts - Animation | $16.00 | 978-0-307-27829-6 (0-307-27829-8)

The Pixar Touch is a lively chronicle of Pixar Animation Studios' history and evolution, and the “fraternity of geeks” who shaped it. With the help of animating genius John Lasseter and visionary businessman Steve Jobs, Pixar has become the gold standard of animated filmmaking, beginning with a short special effects shot made at Lucasfilm in 1982 all the way up through the landmark films Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, and others. David A. Price goes behind the scenes of the corporate feuds between Lasseter and his former champion, Jeffrey Katzenberg, as well as between Jobs and Michael Eisner. And finally he explores Pixar's complex relationship with the Walt Disney Company as it transformed itself into the $7.4 billion jewel in the Disney crown.

Random House New Releases - Technology

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell

Extra Lives Why Video Games MatterWritten by Tom Bissell

Extra Lives by Tom Bissell

Extra Lives Why Video Games MatterWritten by Tom Bissell

Discovering Horse Brasses by John Vince

Discovering Horse Brasses Written by John Vince

Tin and Tin Mining by R. Atkinson

Tin and Tin Mining Written by R. Atkinson

Bee Boles and Bee Houses by Anne Foster

Bee Boles and Bee Houses Written by Anne Foster

The Felt Industry by Peter Walter

The Felt Industry Written by Peter Walter

Tractors by Nick Baldwin

Tractors 1880s to 1980sWritten by Nick Baldwin

British Cattle by Val Porter

British Cattle Written by Val Porter

The Potteries by David Sekers

The Potteries Written by David Sekers

British Pigs by Val Porter

British Pigs Written by Val Porter

Isambard Kingdom Brunel by Richard Tames

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Written by Richard Tames

Lead and Leadmining by Lynn Willies

Lead and Leadmining Written by Lynn Willies

Quarries and Quarrying by Peter Stanier

Quarries and Quarrying Written by Peter Stanier

The Silk Industry by Sarah Bush

The Silk Industry Written by Sarah Bush

Our Own Devices by Edward Tenner

Our Own Devices How Technology Remakes HumanityWritten by Edward Tenner

Bricks and Brickmaking by Martin Hammond

Bricks and Brickmaking Written by Martin Hammond

British Sheep Breeds by Elizabeth Henson

British Sheep Breeds Written by Elizabeth Henson

The One-Straw Revolution by Frances Moore Lappe

The One-Straw Revolution An Introduction to Natural FarmingWritten by Masanobu Fukuoka Preface by Wendell Berry Afterword by Masanobu Fukuoka Translated by Larry Korn Introduction by Frances Moore Lappe

Being Digital by Penn Jillette

Being Digital Written by Nicholas Negroponte Read by Penn Jillette

The Pixar Touch by David A. Price

The Pixar Touch Written by David A. Price

Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter
Written by Tom Bissell

Extra Lives Why Video Games Matter
Written by Tom Bissell

Discovering Horse Brasses
Written by John Vince

Tin and Tin Mining
Written by R. Atkinson

Bee Boles and Bee Houses
Written by Anne Foster

The Felt Industry
Written by Peter Walter

Tractors 1880s to 1980s
Written by Nick Baldwin

British Cattle
Written by Val Porter

The Potteries
Written by David Sekers

British Pigs
Written by Val Porter

Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Written by Richard Tames

Lead and Leadmining
Written by Lynn Willies

Quarries and Quarrying
Written by Peter Stanier

The Silk Industry
Written by Sarah Bush

Our Own Devices How Technology Remakes Humanity
Written by Edward Tenner

Bricks and Brickmaking
Written by Martin Hammond

British Sheep Breeds
Written by Elizabeth Henson

The One-Straw Revolution An Introduction to Natural Farming
Written by Masanobu Fukuoka
Preface by Wendell Berry
Afterword by Masanobu Fukuoka
Translated by Larry Korn
Introduction by Frances Moore Lappe

Being Digital
Written by Nicholas Negroponte
Read by Penn Jillette

The Pixar Touch
Written by David A. Price