Spectacular Flops
Game-Changing Technologies That Failed
by Michael Brian Schiffer
Many technologies begin life as someone’s vision of an ambitious, perhaps audacious, technology that is expected to have a revolutionary impact on consumers-whether families, companies, or societies. However, if this highly touted technology fails “prematurely” at some point in its life history, it becomes a spectacular flop. Employing a behavioral perspective, this book presents a sample of twelve spectacular flops encompassing the past three centuries-ranging from the world’s first automobile to the nuclear-powered bomber. Because technologies may fail from many different causes, spectacular flops pose a special challenge to the author’s long-term project of furnishing generalizations about technological change. Instead of constructing generalizations that apply to all spectacular flops, this book provides limited generalizations that pertain to particular groups of technologies bounded by parameters such as “long-term development projects” and “one-off projects.” The reader need have no prior familiarity with the technologies because basic principles are introduced as needed.
- By (author) Michael Brian Schiffer
". . . this volume would be an excellent addition to both local and university libraries and will be of particular interest to introductory courses on the history of science and technology and for all enthusiasts of such histories." Stark, Robert James, Canadian Journal of Archaeology 45 (2021) "Using his background in behavioral archaeology, Schiffer (Univ. of Arizona) seeks patterns of failure that may help generalize, at least to a limited extent, what causes certain grandiose innovations to fail. . . . Readers interested in odd examples of sometimes inspired, at other times harebrained, ideas that began with high hopes but eventually crashed will find this a rich source of case studies over several centuries of spectacular technological flops." Dauben, J.W., CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College "The reader of this work will no doubt greatly benefit from Schiffer's voluminous knowledge regarding electrical and mechanical devices. Through excellent illustrations and careful, explanatory text, Schiffer succeeds in describing the intricacies of steam engines, jet turbines, and nuclear power (in addition to other technologies). . . . In all of the chapters in this book, Schiffer does an outstanding job explaining the technology to the layperson reader. Readers who enjoy learning about the history of technology initiatives will thoroughly enjoy Spectacular Flops." --Schneider, Howard, Business History Review, v95 n1 (2021) ". . . interesting stories, ideal for inserting into a class lecture, but also excellent examples of the many ways technologies fail. . . . Schiffer provides a very useful theoretical framework for exploring the lives of technologies both successful and unsuccessful." --Coopersmith, Jonathan, Technology and Culture
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