Why the Wheel Is Round by Steven Vogel

Why the Wheel Is Round by Steven Vogel

A book about how people and machines work together, and how we design machines to replicate and amplify what we can do ourselves.

"Vogel writes with his typical, easy-as-pi style that epitomizes his intense curiosity for all things roundGear up to read topics revolving around tools, toys, machines, and even animals. Ever the spokesman for experiments, Vogel goes full circle by ending with an appendix filled with DIY physical models. Whether you're a tinkerer in the garage, an inquisitive self-educator, or a budding biomechanist, this page-turner will round out your knowledge of circular motion." --Anna Ahn, Harvey Mudd College "A revolution about revolutions, Why the Wheel Is Round is Vogel's microhistory of humans doing what doesn't come naturally: creating and powering rotational tools and machines. To make muscle-powered rotary machinery -- querns, bow drills, whims, lathes, and horse ferries -- requires the invention of axels, cranks, and ropes. How this clever technology works, and why it works the way it does, is revealed clearly through the lens of biomechanics. Vogel is fascinated by spins, turns, and twists, and his enthusiasm for the artifacts around us is more than infectious. He incites an urge to invent and build, and, fortunately, includes instructions for doing so. Happiness runs in a circular motion." --John Long, author of Darwin's Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us about the History of Life and the Future of Technology "Reading this book, I found myself being pulled along by the curiosity of Vogel as he connects the power provided by the muscles of humans and animals with the immense variety of rotating objects invented over the course of human history. Despite the book's title, wheels are only one part of the story. Firmly grounded in Vogel's deep understanding of physical principles, the book is as informative as it is entertaining." --Richard Marsh, Brown University

James B. Vogel is Steven Vogel. At Duke University, he is a Duke Professor in the Department of Zoology. Life's Devices: The Physical Universe of Animals and Plants (Princeton), for which he received the Jean and Irving Stone Science Writing Prize, and Vital Circuits: A Popular Overview of Circulatory Systems (both Princeton).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780226599687
ISBN 10	022659968X
Title	Why the Wheel Is Round
Author	Steven Vogel
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	The University of Chicago Press
Year published	2018-10-06
Number of pages	344
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.