[net.sf-lovers] Technology, Literature, Engineers, and Scientists

susie@uwmacc.UUCP (sue brunkow) (05/20/85)

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In article <594@tpvax.fluke.UUCP> inc@fluke.UUCP (Gary Benson) writes:
>> So, it must be good, eh?  By the way, it was used as a text -- at
>> least the year before publication it was -- at Indiana U (the Hoosiers).
>
>Used as a text? So what? At the University of Wisconsin (GO BADGERS!) you
>can take a course called "Poetry for Engineers" that uses some real
>*garbage* as texts.

Are you talking about 'Technology in Literature'? This was a class
in the General Engineering Dept. which I took 9 years ago. Some 
of the books which I remember reading include: All Quiet on the
Western Front, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (a poem by
T. S. Eliot), The Machine Stops (a short story by E. M. Forster),
and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Manitainance.
   Maybe the last one qualifies as 'junk', but the rest of these
certainly don't!


   Now, I have a question for everybody:
   If you were designing a course, for technological people,
covering different views of technology and its impact
on society;  which books, stories, or music
etc would you include?


                           Sue Brunkow
                     University of Wisconsin
              {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!susie

cm@unc.UUCP (Chuck Mosher) (05/21/85)

In article <uwmacc.1106> susie@uwmacc.UUCP (sue brunkow) writes:
>>can take a course called "Poetry for Engineers" that uses some real
>>*garbage* as texts.
>
>Are you talking about 'Technology in Literature'? This was a class
>in the General Engineering Dept. which I took 9 years ago. Some 
>of the books which I remember reading include: All Quiet on the
>Western Front, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (a poem by
>T. S. Eliot), The Machine Stops (a short story by E. M. Forster),
>and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Manitainance.
>   Maybe the last one qualifies as 'junk', but the rest of these
>certainly don't!

Are you kidding?!  I can't think of a more appropriate book for a
"Technology in Literature" course.  You could not have possibly
read the book to make such a statement.

>   Now, I have a question for everybody:
>   If you were designing a course, for technological people,
>covering different views of technology and its impact
>on society;  which books, stories, or music
>etc would you include?
>

As a starter, ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTANANCE!
I read the book as a freshman in college (when the book came out) and
was blown away by it.  I am re-reading it now and getting even more out
of it.  By the way, if you judge books by their titles, you will really
miss on this one.  It has a little to do with Zen, less to do with 
motorcycle maintanance, and a whole lot to do with trying to bridge the
gap between Art and Science.  A *must* read, especially for all us
technophiles!

>
>                           Sue Brunkow
>                     University of Wisconsin
>              {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!susie

		 	   Chuck Mosher
		     University of North Carolina
	          {allegra|seismo|decvax}!mcnc!unc!cm