"The true value of this book is that it has brought together a wide range of previous work on technolgy. It is a well-referenced discussion of a significant trend in technological studies, an area of study to which Dobres herself has made a major contribution. I hope Dobres will continue to make a significant contribution to these debates." Bill Sillar, University College London, for Antiquity 2003
"I found the book a thorougly researched and well-argued example of an inter-disciplinary approach, bringing together ideas from phenomenological philosphy,the sociology of technology and science and from material culture debates within British and American Anthropology ... a well informed work that is both highly innovative and challenging." Cambridge Anthropology
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
1. Of Black Boxes and Matters Material: The State of Things.
2. Deconstructing the Black Box: Some Philosophical and Historical Reflections on the Logos Tekhne.
3. Prying Open the Black Box: Philosophical Insights on Technology and Being.
4. A Synoptic Approach to Technology: Conceptual Contours of a Practice Framework.
5. Social Agency and Practice: The Heart and Soul of Technology.
6. Engendering the Chaine Operatoire: Methodological Issues.
7. A Future for Technology's Pasts.
Notes.
References.
Index.