Paper Heroes: Review of Appropriate Technology

by Witold Rybczynski

Paper Appropriate Panacea or Pipe Dream?

Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Witold Rybczynski was born in Edinburgh, of Polish parentage, raised in London, and attended Jesuit schools in England and Canada. He studied architecture at McGill University in Montreal, where he also taught for twenty years. He is currently the Martin and Margy Meyerson Professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also co-edits the Wharton Real Estate Review. Rybczynski has designed and built houses as a registered architect, as well as doing practical experiments in low-cost housing, which took him to Mexico, Nigeria, India, the Philippines, and China.

(From www.witoldrybczynski.com)

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

While obviously dated, this is a remarkably useful book. Ignore its polemic title, it represents rather a critical survey of early attempts to develop sensible approaches to technology. The first chapter is an informative narrative account of the emergence of the term and the third chapter turns to a personal narrative that charts the "whole earth" movement in the 60s/70s as what it was-- a sort of "enlightenment" event that brought the flaws in naive/idealistic approaches to tools and technology into high relief. It brought many of the "small is beautiful" ideas that are still a constant source of conversation among hipsters some sorely needed insight. Amazing how we're still stuck in this rut.

[Yatin Diwakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally i finished this book! almost 3 years after i first picked it up, while i was still a student at CTARA and working on technology dissemination.
At that time, i was unable to understand why my guide had asked me to read this book. It seemed to criticise Appropriate Technology, which we had been studying at that time.
Now i realise why i should have read the book then. This book outlines the AT movement, its incongruities, moral fallacies, and a lot more and gives a clearer perspective on technology and development than most texts on AT.
All Technology is violent, All of humanity is dependent on all of the resources, self-sufficiency is a myth, etc. Over the years, i had realised these things for myself, but still thought of some utopian AT and an alternative world can exist. Now i am not waylaid.
A must read for every student of Technology and Development.