The grid book / Hannah B. Higgins.
Material type:
TextPublication details: Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2009.Description: 300 p. : ill., cartes ; 23 cmISBN: - 9780262512404 (pbk.)
- 0262512408 (pbk.)
- 741.6 HIG
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Loan | LSAD Library Main Collection | 741.6 HIG (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 39002100415554 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Ten grids that changed the world- the emergence and evolution of the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. Emblematic of modernity, the grid is the underlying form of everything from skyscrapers and office cubicles to paintings by Mondrian and a piece of computer code. And yet, as Hannah Higgins makes clear in this engaging and evocative book, the grid has a history that long predates modernity; it is the most prominent visual structure in Western culture. In The Grid Book , Higgins examines the history of ten grids that changed the world- the brick, the tablet, the gridiron city plan, the map, musical notation, the ledger, the screen, moveable type, the manufactured box, and the net. Charting the evolution of each grid, from the Paleolithic brick of ancient Mesopotamia through the virtual connections of the Internet, Higgins demonstrates that once a grid is invented, it may bend, crumble, or shatter, but its organizing principle never disappears. The appearance of each grid was a watershed event. Brick, tablet, and city gridiron made possible sturdy housing, the standardization of language, and urban development. Maps, musical notation, financial ledgers, and moveable type promoted the organization of space, music, and time, international trade, and mass literacy. The screen of perspective painting heralded the science of the modern period, classical mechanics, and the screen arts, while the standardization of space made possible by the manufactured box suggested the purified box forms of industrial architecture and visual art. The net, the most ancient grid, made its first appearance in Stone Age Finland; today, the loose but clearly articulated networks of the World Wide Web suggest that we are in the middle of an emergent grid that is reshaping the world, as grids do, in its image.
Bibliogr.: p. 279-297.
Introducing grids : a meditation on Mrs. O\'Leary -- Brick -- Tablet -- Gridiron -- Map -- Notation -- Ledger -- Screen -- Type -- Box -- Network -- Afterword : toward fractional dimensions.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Introducing Grids (p. 01)
- A Meditation on
- 1 Brick 9000 BCE (p. 13)
- 2 Tablet 3000 BCE (p. 33)
- 3 Gridiron 2670 BCE (p. 49)
- 4 Map 120 BCE (p. 79)
- 5 Notation 1025 (p. 99)
- 6 Ledger 1299 (p. 125)
- 7 Screen 1420 (p. 147)
- 8 Type 1454 (p. 177)
- 9 Box 1817 (p. 201)
- 10 Network 1970 (p. 235)
- Afterword (p. 257)
- Toward Fractional Dimensions
- Notes (p. 279)
- Acknowledgments (p. 299)