Television: The Life Story of a Technology

(Hardback)

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For better or worse, television has been the dominant medium of communication for 50 years. Almost all American households have a television set; many have more than one. Transmitting images and sounds electronically is a relatively recent invention, one that required passionate inventors, determined businessmen, government regulators, and willing consumers. This volume in the Greenwood Technographies series covers the entire history of television from 19the-century European conceptions of transmitting moving images electrically to the death of TV as a discrete system in a digital age. Magoun also discusses the changing face of television in the displays that people watch around the globe. Television: The Life Story of a Technology appeals to students and lay readers alike in highlighting key events and people: the American engineers and entrepreneus such as Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff who ignited the television industry; the bloom of programming choices in tandem with the Baby Boom generation; the development of cable and satellite TV; the Asians who innovated American inventions in videorecording and flat-panel displays; the use of TV in wartime; and the new worlds of digital and high-definition television. Based on the latest research, this crisply written, sometimes provocative survey includes a glossary, timeline, and bibliography for further infomration.

Reviews

Tracing the history of television from early inception through golden age, to the current world of flat screens, cable, and satellites, Magoun comprehensively overviews a medium now in everyone's memory. He readily admits that he neither watches television nor possesses any technical training in chemistry or physics, but these have not hampered his research skills. Magoun provides an interesting historical survey of major inventors, companies, and influences in the life story of a technology known as television. He writes from the perspective of a witness to the conception and birth of television. He continues to document its life from the role of a parent who ultimately must witness the eventual breaking away of the child so that it could forge ahead to build the revolutionary digital world, and he follows its eventual death as medium of choice for most people. Along the way, Magoun reveals how society has also evolved with each change in technology. Readers are left with an appreciation for an old friend that they enjoyed having around, as well as recognition of the role that television has played in making entertainment and communication what it is today. Highly recommended. General readers; lower- and upper-division undergraduates. * Choice *
The idea of a technography, or a biography of a technology, is intriguing, and this thorough exposition supports the viability of the concept. Magoun discusses both the personalities and the technology that came together to create television.Magoun traces television's origins and development through the advent of the VCR to today's flat-panel displays and the future of the medium. * School Library Journal *
In this history of television, Magoun not only explains the development and basic workings of this technology, but also the processes, personalities, and business decisions involved, and TV's impact on American values. In a life cycle framework, he traces TV from its protracted birth through the death of cathode tube TVs and resurrection in digital form. The author addresses issues relating to the paternity of inventions, government regulation, and changing broadcast standards. The book includes B&W illustrations. * SciTech Book News *
[A]n appealing read for students who should be encouraged to exercise their critical thinking skills to debate whether their digital generation spells the end of television and what they might predict in the immediate future to replace the gadgets that seem to be replacing it now. * GALE Reference for Students/Lawrence Looks at Books *

Author Bio

Alexander B. Magoun is Executive Director of the David Sarnoff Library.