Far from being an attack on science and technics, The Pentagon of Power seeks to establish a more organic social order based on technological resources. Index; photographs.

    There are, for example, machines that transform two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional perspective displays and others that check myriad aspects of a design against specifications and tolerance requirements. "The Architecture Machine" looks several machine generations ahead of these to a future in which genuine man-machine dialogue is achieved, when man and machine will act together on something closer to equal terms toward a common goal, each contributing his-its own characteristic faculty.The ideal result would be a final design so seamless and well integrated that it is not possible to tell which partner contributed what, and so creative and innovative, yet contingency-proof, that neither an unaided designer nor the most elaborate computer system could have produced it without the help of the other. Negroponte looks forward to man-machine relationships so personal that each can (politely) interrupt the routine work of the other with a fresh inspiration or a nudging reminder of higher priorities; so personal indeed that the response pattern of a machine to one designer would be significantly different from its dealings with a designer of another temperament or of another culture.Some of the proposals put forth here have already been realized in a system called URBAN5, developed at M.I.T. and IBM by the author and his colleagues. A full account of this system is given. Beyond this, the more radical and adventuresome of the man-machine interactive attributes envisioned by Negroponte are now being created with the coming of more designers (men) trained in the newer technologies and more sophisticated configurations (machines)--and the exploratory interaction of the two.The author has consulted the full literature on systems theory philosophy and has probed deeply into the underlying issues of man-machine relationships and artificial intelligence. It is perhaps not so surprising that an architect rather than a computationist should have provided us with one of the most provocative proposals for humanizing this relationship--architects have always been charged with infusing cold and neutral material with true human dimension and meaning. And although the author's illustrative examples are taken from architecture and planning, the book is equally pertinent to those in other areas in which computer-aided design processes are being pressed into active service. The fact that no specialized knowledge of computers is required will also facilitate the spread of the book's message: "The concern is to avoid dehumanizing a process whose aim is definitely humanization."The text is augmented with over 200 illustrations. The pictures are independent of the text, and the reader should be able to grasp much of the meaning from the pictures and captions alone.

    The celebrated memoir of a World War 1 British air ace, Duncan Grinnell-Milne.

    Harrison, Dean Emeritus of M.I.T.''s School of Science, writes as follows: "Basic to man''s behavior is his ability to determine, modify, and adapt to his environment. This he has been able to do in proportion to his skill at making measurements, and fundamental to all other measuring operations is his ability to determine locations in the material world. Thus the science of mechanical measurements is a fundamental one. It is this science, and the art which accompanies and informs it, with which this book is concerned."Classic text on precision engineering with over 550 photographs and engineering drawings, “Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy” has been translated into seven different languages with over 15,000 copies sold. How to attain precision in manufacturing to millionths of an inch and control such accuracies by appropriate measuring techniques is described and illustrated in this new book. Its author, Wayne R. Moore, devoted seven years to its research and writing. Acclaimed by leaders in science and industry throughout the world, the book is an invaluable source of ideas and a reference book of lasting value for everyone concerned with precision measurement and machining to ultra close tolerances. Contained in its 353 pages are over 550 photographs and engineering drawings-most of them original. Much of the information in the book has never before appeared in print. The subject matter is based in large part on the "four arts" underlying the attainment of mechanical accuracy: geometry, standards of length, dividing the circle, and roundness. A fifth section covers the techniques and applications of the Universal Measuring Machine.

    It is unquestionably the best book of its kind for either broad or more limited studies of electrical fundamentals.It is divided in to 21 chapters and an extensive section of appendixes. Chapters cover safety, fundamental concepts of electricity, baueries, electromagnetism and magnetic circuits, introduction to alternating-cu rent electricity, inductance, capacitance, inductive and capacitive reactance, fundamental alternating-current circuit theory, circuit protective and control devices, electrical indicating instruments, alternating-current generators and transformers, alternating-current motors, direct current genera tors, direct-current motors, magnetic amplifiers, and synchros and servomechanisms. Appendixes acquaint the layman with common terms, abbreviations, Acomponent color-code, and more."

    

    The real turning point is at hand for each of us in our own community and the information and suggestions found in THE ENVIRONMENTAL HANDBOOK can become the source for our efforts. Read it and look around. There's a planet that needs you help ..."