I hadn't realized how brainwashed I had become by reading books mostly written by people with liberals arts degrees, or economics.

Engineers have always been the most practical professions, and their books offer much needed relief to the philosophy and idealism of modern liberal thinking.

I sometimes think it is my place in this world to read boring books so that you don't have to, but I definitely think more of us should be familiar with the type of pragmatic skepticism of engineers.

This book is 40 years old and yet it could have been published yesterday and been just as relevant.

I often find myself bashing materialism and "technocratic" elites, but we must all guard ourselves against slipping too far into childish arguments against technological progress.

There are trade-offs to all technical progress, and as we move further into a technology-dominated society it is ever more important to understand these pros and cons, beyond the mere "tech is good/bad", or "technocratic globalists are enslaving us with technology."

The middle ground is not the most exciting stance to take, but it is the most realistic.

As usual, with these dry engineering books it is hard for me to say "you MUST read this", but it is definitely worth your time if you do. If anything, check your to-read list, and make sure there is a good balance of practical professions to academics, and take the academics with extra salt.