The Evolution of Useful Things
by Henry Petroski · 2 Jan 1992 · 307pp · 97,677 words
and beautifully functioning artifact will be nipped in the bud. Considerations that go variously under the name “human-factors engineering” or, especially in England, “ergonomics” are closely related to those of industrial design, but the human-factors engineer is especially concerned with how anything from the simplest kitchen gadget to the most advanced technological system will
The Job: The Future of Work in the Modern Era
by Ellen Ruppel Shell · 22 Oct 2018 · 402pp · 126,835 words
, www.fastcompany.com/3024697/death-to-the-open-offices-floorplan. “a web of control that did not exist” Thanks to Charles Mauro, an expert in human factors engineering who helped me understand the link between office design and productivity (or the lack thereof). Mauro told me that while it has become received wisdom
The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age
by Robert Wachter · 7 Apr 2015 · 309pp · 114,984 words
The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA's Visionary Leader George M. Low
by Richard Jurek · 2 Dec 2019 · 431pp · 118,074 words
and aviation journalists, “are the most versatile scientific instruments yet devised.” In the ensuing years, he would work very hard to ensure proper integration of human-factors engineering. He also was an early supporter of NASA’s own space medical research in areas such as radiation exposure and the physical stresses of spaceflight
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us)
by Tom Vanderbilt · 28 Jul 2008 · 512pp · 165,704 words
, ed. R. E. Ebert and C. G. Eberts (North Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers, 1985). slower the object seems: H. W. Leibowitz, “Grade Crossing Accidents and Human Factors Engineering,” American Scientist, vol. 73, no. 6 (November–December 1985), pp. 558–62. Leibowitz also noted another potential reason—the “deceptive geometry of collisions”—for overestimating
Into That Silent Sea: Trailblazers of the Space Era, 1961-1965
by Francis O. French, Colin Burgess and Paul Haney · 2 Jan 2007 · 647pp · 161,908 words
the space program continued after his work on the Apollo hatch. He returned to graduate school for a second time and earned his doctorate in human factors engineering in 1979, then managed the development and integration of crew-to-spacecraft interface requirements as the head of Nasa's Crew Station Design Section. In
Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission
by Eileen M. Collins and Jonathan H. Ward · 13 Sep 2021 · 394pp · 107,778 words
the cockpit, while holding altitude, steering in the right direction, and talking on the radio. Nowadays, an electronic screen displays everything for the pilot, and human factors engineering—improving the layout of the cockpit and reducing the potential for distracting or confusing information—has made flying much safer and more efficient. Toward the
Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology
by Howard Rheingold · 14 May 2000 · 352pp · 120,202 words
was still a novice in digital computer design, Licklider was familiar with vacuum tube circuitry and enough of an expert in the hybrid discipline of "human factors engineering" to recognize that the mechanical assistant he wanted would need capabilities that would be possible only with the ultrafast computers he foresaw in the near
The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
by Daniel J. Levitin · 18 Aug 2014 · 685pp · 203,949 words
pilots formerly had two controls that looked strikingly similar but performed different functions for the flaps and the landing gear. After a series of accidents, human-factors engineers came up with the idea of externalizing the information about the actions of those controls: The flap control was made to look like a miniature
The Glass Cage: Automation and Us
by Nicholas Carr · 28 Sep 2014 · 308pp · 84,713 words
our metaphysicians. At least they should be. All too often, discoveries and insights from the field of ergonomics, or, as it’s now commonly known, human-factors engineering, are ignored or given short shrift. Concerns about the effects of computers and other machines on people’s minds and bodies have routinely been trumped
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, 119, 120, 139, 157–60, 162, 164, 168, 174, 175, 194, 196 Enlightenment, 159–60 entorhinal cortex, 134, 135 equilibrium, of aircraft, 61–62 ergonomics (human-factors engineering), 54, 158–60, 164–68 Ericsson, K. Anders, 84 essay-grading algorithms, 206 ethical choices, 18, 61, 183–93, 221–22 killer robots and, 187
Chaos Engineering: System Resiliency in Practice
by Casey Rosenthal and Nora Jones · 27 Apr 2020 · 419pp · 102,488 words
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
by Keith Houston · 22 Aug 2023 · 405pp · 105,395 words
Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy
by David A. Mindell · 12 Oct 2015 · 265pp · 74,807 words
Inventors at Work: The Minds and Motivation Behind Modern Inventions
by Brett Stern · 14 Oct 2012 · 486pp · 132,784 words