| Description |
296 pages ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Translation of Att uppfinna världen from the Swedish. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-296). |
| Contents |
In which we invent the wheel and, after 5,000 years, manage to attach it to a suitcase -- In which we start the car without breaking out jaw -- In which bras and girdles take us to the moon -- In which we learn the difference between horsepower and girl power -- In which a great invention is made in Ṽstērs, and we go on a whale hunt -- In which influencers get richer than hackers -- In which the black swan turns out to have a body -- In which Serena Williams beats Garry Kasparov -- In which we forget to ask about Mary -- In which we decide not to burn the world at the stake. |
| Summary |
The wheel was invented some 5,000 years ago, and the modern suitcase in the mid-nineteenth century, but it wasn't until the 1970s that someone successfully married the two. What was the hold up? For writer and journalist Katrine Marçal, the answer is both shocking and simple: because 'real men' carried their bags, no matter how heavy. There were rolling suitcases before the '70s, but they were marketed as a niche product for (the presumably few) women travelling alone, and the wheeled suitcase wasn't 'invented' until it was no longer threatening to masculinity. Mother of Invention draws on this example and many others, from electric cars to tech billionaires, to show how gender bias stifles the economy and holds us back. Our traditional notions about men and women have delayed innovations, sometimes by hundreds of years, and have distorted our understanding of our history. While we talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age, we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age, since these technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way. Marçal takes us on a tour of the global economy, arguing that gendered assumptions dictate which businesses get funding, how we value work, and how we trace human progress." -- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Technology and women.
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Technological innovations.
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Inventions.
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Women inventors.
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Inventors.
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| Added Author |
Fleming, Alex (Translator), translator.
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English translation of (work): Marçal, Katrine.
Att uppfinna världen.
|
| Added Title |
Att uppfinna världen.
|
| ISBN |
9781419758041 (hardcover) |
|
1419758047 (hardcover) |
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