Cars and Culture by
More than any other artifact of modern technology, the automobile has shaped our physical, social, and cultural environment. At the same time, the history of the automobile demonstrates how decisions made by governments, entrepreneurs, and the general public have strongly affected the automobile's evolution. Cars and Cultures provides a succinct yet comprehensive history of the automobile. While the book highlights the technical changes that altered the appearance and performance of automobiles, it also explores the political, economic, social, and cultural forces that shaped the car's development. Because of the wide-ranging impact of the automobiles, no history would be complete without covering the components essential for our automotive-based transportation system--roads and highways, gasoline production, traffic laws, governmental regulation-- as well as the other aspects of our social and cultural history that were deeply affected by the history of the automobile--labor unions, suburbanization, travel and recreation, and the fast-food industry. Anyone fascinated by the history of the automobile will find much of interest in this volume. Students and general readers will find such information as: * 4,192 cars produced in the U.S. in 1900, 1,681 were steam-powered, 1,575 were electrics, and only 936 used internal combustion engines * General John Pershing organized a convoy of 79 trucks that crossed the U.S. from Washington to San Francisco in 1919. Hampered by the poor state of the roads upon which they traveled, the trucks averaged only fifty miles a day, and needed 56 days to complete their journey * In 1960, the entire Japanese automobile industry exported fewer than 1000 cars to the United States; by the early 1980s, it became such a threat to the U.S. auto industry that the U.S. government limited Japanese imports to 1.65 million cars per year. Although focused on the United States, it is global in scope, with comparisons to how the automobile developed in Europe, Japan, and elsewhere. The volume includes a chronology of the automobile's evolution, a glossary of technical terms, a selected bibliography, and more than 20 photographs and illustrations.
Driverless by
When human drivers let intelligent software take the wheel: the beginning of a new era in personal mobility. "Smart, wide-ranging, [and] nontechnical." --Los Angeles Times "Anyone who wants to understand what's coming must read this fascinating book." --Martin Ford , New York Times bestselling author of Rise of the Robots In the year 2014, Google fired a shot heard all the way to Detroit. Google's newest driverless car had no steering wheel and no brakes. The message was clear: cars of the future will be born fully autonomous, with no human driver needed. In the coming decade, self-driving cars will hit the streets, rearranging established industries and reshaping cities, giving us new choices in where we live and how we work and play. In this book, Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman offer readers insight into the risks and benefits of driverless cars and a lucid and engaging explanation of the enabling technology. Recent advances in software and robotics are toppling long-standing technological barriers that for decades have confined self-driving cars to the realm of fantasy. A new kind of artificial intelligence software called deep learning gives cars rapid and accurate visual perception. Human drivers can relax and take their eyes off the road. When human drivers let intelligent software take the wheel, driverless cars will offer billions of people all over the world a safer, cleaner, and more convenient mode of transportation. Although the technology is nearly ready, car companies and policy makers may not be. The authors make a compelling case for why government, industry, and consumers need to work together to make the development of driverless cars our society's next "Apollo moment."
Engineering Drawing and Design by
ENGINEERING DRAWING AND DESIGN, 5E provides readers with an easy-to-read, A-to-Z coverage of drafting and design instruction that complies with the latest ANSI & ASME standards. This fifth edition continues its twenty year tradition of excellence with a multitude of actual quality industry drawings that demonstrate content and provide problems for real world, practical application. The engineering design process featured in ENGINEERING DRAWING AND DESIGN, 5E follows an actual product design from concept through manufacturing, and provides readers with a variety of design problems for challenging applications or for use as team projects. Also included in this book is coverage of Civil Drafting, 3D CADD, solid modeling, parametric applications, and more.
