Radical Technology

Book: "Radical Technology - Food and Shelter, Tools and Materials, Energy and Communications, Autonomy and Community" (1976). Edited by Godfrey Boyle and Peter Harper, and the editors of Undercurrents.

"Radical Technology is a large-format, extensively illustrated collection of original articles concerning the reorganisatipn of technology along more humane, rational and ecologically sound lines. The many facets of such a reorganisation are reflected in the wide variety of contributions to the book. They cover both the hardware - the machines and technical methods themselves - and the 'software' - the social and political structures, the way people relate to each other and to their environment, and how they feel about it all.

The articles in the book range from detailed 'recipes' through general accounts of alternative technical methods, to critiques of current practices, and general proposals for reorganisations. Each author has been encouraged to follow her or his own personal approach, sometimes descriptive, sometimes analytic, sometimes technical, sometimes political. The contributors are all authorities in their fields.

The book is divided into seven sections: Food, Energy, Shelter, Autonomy, Materials, Communication, Other Perspectives. Over forty separate articles include items on fish culture, small-scale water supply, biological energy sources, a definitive zoology of thewindmiH, selfhelp housing, building with subsoil, making car-type shoes, the economics of autonomous houses, what to look for in scrap yards, alternative radio networks, utopian communities, and technology in China... "

Links

• If you want to read the original Radical Technology book, a slightly grainy microfiche version can be downloaded here.
• No Tech Magazine "Radical Technology Revisited"