Hitting the Books: Meet Richard Akrwright, the world's first tech titan

You didn't actually believe all those founder's myths about tech billionaires like Bezos, Jobs and Musk pulling themselves up by their bootstraps from some suburban American garage, did you? In reality, our corporate kings have been running the same playbook since the 18th century when Lancashire's own Richard Arkwright wrote it. Arkwright is credited with developing a means of forming cotton fully into thread — technically he didn't actually invent or design the machine, but developed the overarching system in which it could be run at scale — and spinning that success into financial fortune. Never mind the fact that his 24-hour production lines were operated by boys as young as seven pulling 13-hour shifts.   In Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech — one of the best books I've read this year — LA Times tech reporter Brian Merchant lays bare the inhumane cost of capitalism wrought by the industrial revolution and celebrates the workers who stood against those first tides of automation: the Luddites. Hachette Book GroupExcerpted from Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant. Published by Hachette Book Group. Copyright © 2023 by Brian Merchant. All rights reserved.The first tech titans were not building global information networks or commercial space rockets. They were making yarn and cloth. A lot of yarn, and a lot of cloth. Like our modern-day titans, they started out as entrepreneurs. But until... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2023-09-10 14:30:56 UTC ]
News tagged with: #independent contractors #artificial intelligence

Other news stories related to: "Hitting the Books: Meet Richard Akrwright, the world's first tech titan"


Meet the 2022 National Book Award Finalists

The winners of the 73rd National Book Awards—given every year in Young People’s Literature, Translation, Poetry, Nonfiction, and Fiction—will be announced next week in a ceremony hosted by Padma Lakshmi at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City (and streamable online). Ahead of the festivities,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-09 09:53:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #national book award #padma lakshmi #ceremony hosted


Sharjah World Book Capital Supports a Fire-Damaged Italian Bookstore

The Bologna bookstore, Giannino Stoppani, was damaged by fire in May. Sharjah World Book Capital has contributed €50,000 to assist. The post Sharjah World Book Capital Supports a Fire-Damaged Italian Bookstore appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-11-08 12:43:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #world book #bookstore


Hitting the Books: AI could help shrink America's gender wage gap

Women have faced gender-based discrimination in the workforce throughout history, denied employment in all but a handful of subservient roles, regularly ignored for promotions and pay raises — and rarely ever compensated at the same rates as their male peers. This long and storied socioeconomic... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-30 14:30:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #playing field #southern california #artificial intelligence


Hitting the Books: The early EVs that paved the way for GM's Ultium success

General Motors has been in business for more than a century, but in its 112 years, the company has never faced such challenges as it does in today's rapidly electrifying and automating industry. The assembly line jobs from Detroit's heyday have been replaced by legions of automated industrial... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-23 14:30:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #harpercollins


Hitting the Books: The women who made ENIAC more than a weapon

After Mary Sears and her team had revolutionized the field of oceanography, but before Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson helped put John Glenn into orbit, a cadre of women programmers working for the US government faced an impossible task: train ENIAC, the world's first ... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-16 14:30:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #clear path


Hitting the Books: What the wearables of tomorrow might look like

Apple's Watch Ultra, with its 2000-nit digital display and GPS capabilities, is a far cry from its Revolutionary War-era self-winding forebears. What sorts of wondrous body-mounted technologies might we see another hundred years hence? In his new book, The Skeptic's Guide to the Future, Dr.... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-10-01 14:30:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #science fiction #brain-machine interface #good reminder #automatically adjust #dinner party #fifty years


Book World began on Watergate’s heels: A look back at the early days

Michael Dirda recalls a time of typewriters and landlines, of putting together a newspaper section that captured the joy of literature and love of reading. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-09-22 15:00:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #early days


Reintroducing Book World

The Washington Post’s books section starts its new chapter, in print every Sunday and with a refurbished and revitalized presence online. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-09-21 15:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Hitting the Books: What if 'Up' but pigeons?

We all have those thoughts, the ones that come to us in the small hours of the night. Who am I? Why are we here? What if my cellphone ran on vacuum tubes instead? Randall Munroe has the answer to, well, only one of those questions, but also the answers to a whole bunch of others collected... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-09-18 15:00:37 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #penguin random house


4 witchy books from the world of science fiction and fantasy

Megan Giddings, Emily Lloyd Jones, Sangu Mandanna and Desideria Mesa add new twists to a popular subgenre. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-09-17 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #science fiction #megan giddings


Hitting the Books: Newfangled oceanographers helped win WWII using marine science

Lethal Tides tells the story of pioneering oceanic researcher Mary Sears and her leading role in creating one of the most important intelligence gathering operations of World War II. Languishing in academic obscurity and roundly ignored by her male colleagues, Sears is selected for command by... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-09-04 15:00:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #harpercollins


How the Karma’s World Doll Launch Became a Meeting Ground for Brands and Culture

Karma's World is officially making its mark, and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges couldn't be happier. That's because it took the award-winning rapper, actor, producer and now children's book author over a decade to bring the animated children's program to audiences. Now, the show and its titular... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2022-08-25 15:59:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #children's book #book author


A Former Nickelodeon Star’s Memoir Has Become the Summer’s Big Hit Book. It’s Very Clear Why.

I’m Glad My Mom Died details the abuse the iCarly actor suffered as a child star. Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2022-08-18 20:31:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir #child star


UNESCO Names Strasbourg Its World Book Capital 2024

France's Strasbourg is to begin its tenure as UNESCO's World Book Capital on April 23, 2024, as Accra concludes its year in the role. The post UNESCO Names Strasbourg Its World Book Capital 2024 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-07-20 20:26:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #world book


‘The Crane Wife’ essay hit a nerve. A new book reminds us why.

C. J. Hauser’s memoir-in-essays is a frank exploration of intimacy and romance that doesn’t always lead to a happily ever after. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-05 13:21:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book reminds #crane wife


Dredd zone: the anarchic world of comic-book artist Steve Dillon

His groundbreaking work on such seminal characters as Judge Dredd, Preacher and Punisher is being celebrated with a posthumous show of his remarkable legacyThere are few artists who exemplify the anarchic, irreverent and anti-authoritarian British take on the comic book the way Steve Dillon... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-30 13:00:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #comic book #executive producer


Hitting the Books: Summer reading list

More than a million new titles are published annually in the US, far more than even the most bibliophilic secret agent could get through. Even with a weekly publishing schedule, we can only bring you 52 Hitting the Books each year. To help shine a spotlight on all the fantastic stories that... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-06-22 17:30:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #bestselling author #john scalzi


Meet Linda Sunshine, Groundbreaking Book Trade Comics Editor

Linda Sunshine established comics reprint imprints at both Harmony Books and Fireside in the 1970s that produced some of the earliest hardcover and trade paperback comics collections in the book trade. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-06-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #book trade


U.S. Book Show: Oscar Isaac Enters the World of Comics

The actor and producer spoke with Heidi MacDonald about the graphic novel 'Head Wounds: Sparrow,' out from Legendary in June, which he codeveloped with a team of writers, artists, and friends. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #graphic novel #head wounds #heidi macdonald #book show


Book Biz Stocks Take a Hit

A tough year for the stock market got worse in April, leading the Publishers Weekly Stock Index, now down to only six companies, to drop 8.8%. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-05-06 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #publishers weekly #stock market #tough year