The Tender Ship : Governmental Management of Technological Change
109: Birkhäuser, 1986. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Text in English. 247 pp. Dust jacket has slight shelf wear to exterior. Faded spine.
Arthur Squires tells stories of governmental successes and failures in managing technological change
• of Sweden's Vasa, a "tender ship" that sank minutes away from dockside on her maiden voyage in 1628;
• of Oak Ridge's K-25, the brilliantly engineered gaseous diffusion plant that enriched Uranium-235 for the bomb dropped over Hiroshima;
• of the U.S. Army's M-16 rifle, whose failures in combat put names on the Vietnam memorial wall;
and other stories illustrating
• how large enterprise fares well when managed by maestros of technology working in an atmosphere of trust, and
• how badly enterprise can go when managed by distant, untrusting bureaucrats who assume tasks according to signs on their doors.
Squires proposes drastic changes in the U.S. Government's practices in managing technology, Will readers agree with his suggestions? Perhaps not in detail. Squires invites a debate: he calls urgently for the righting of our ship of state. Top-heavy with a sterile, obstructive bureaucracy, it is The Tender Ship –as tender as Sweden's Vasa. Very Good / Very Good. Item #6646
ISBN: 081763312X
Price: $50.00