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There's a fascinating book containing short first-person accounts of living through the industrial revolution called Pandaemonium: Coming of the Machine as Seen

There's a fascinating book containing short first-person accounts of living through the industrial revolution called Pandaemonium: Coming of the Machine as Seen by Contemporary Observers edited and with notes by Humphrey Jennings. It covers 1660-1886, and it's one of the few books that genuinely blew my mind. It's extremely accessible because of the first-person nature of the accounts, and I think one of the reason it's so compelling is that you can feel the change sweeping through so many aspects of daily life. I find it a very interesting lens through which to look at the current digital revolution.

nerdponx 3y ago
I've been looking for exactly this: first-hand accounts of technological progress and societal change in the 17th and 18th centuries. It's a fascinating time in history.
- throw0101a 3y ago
  You may be interested in Liberty's dawn: a people's history of the Industrial Revolution > This remarkable book looks at hundreds of autobiographies penned between 1760 and 1900 to offer an intimate firsthand account of how the Industrial Revolution was experienced by the working class. The Industrial Revolution brought not simply misery and poverty. On the contrary, Griffin shows how it raised incomes, improved literacy, and offered exciting opportunities for political action. For many, this was a period of new, and much valued, sexual and cultural freedom. * https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205251/libertys-dawn/ https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205251/libertys-dawn/
jmacd 3y ago
That book sounds like a great read. It appears to be hard to find however!
- synkarius 3y ago
  It's on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Pandaemonium-1660-1886-Machine-Contemporary-Observers-ebook/dp/B00KFEJKTS https://www.amazon.com/Pandaemonium-1660-1886-Machine-Contem...
- frereubu 3y ago
  I got my (physical) copy through ABE Books, but as as a sibling comment has pointed out it's also on Kindle. There are very few pictures and they're all in black and white, so Kindle would be fine.

nerdponx 3y ago

I've been looking for exactly this: first-hand accounts of technological progress and societal change in the 17th and 18th centuries. It's a fascinating time in history.

throw0101a 3y ago
You may be interested in Liberty's dawn: a people's history of the Industrial Revolution > This remarkable book looks at hundreds of autobiographies penned between 1760 and 1900 to offer an intimate firsthand account of how the Industrial Revolution was experienced by the working class. The Industrial Revolution brought not simply misery and poverty. On the contrary, Griffin shows how it raised incomes, improved literacy, and offered exciting opportunities for political action. For many, this was a period of new, and much valued, sexual and cultural freedom. * https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205251/libertys-dawn/ https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300205251/libertys-dawn/

jmacd 3y ago

That book sounds like a great read. It appears to be hard to find however!

synkarius 3y ago
It's on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Pandaemonium-1660-1886-Machine-Contemporary-Observers-ebook/dp/B00KFEJKTS https://www.amazon.com/Pandaemonium-1660-1886-Machine-Contem...
frereubu 3y ago
I got my (physical) copy through ABE Books, but as as a sibling comment has pointed out it's also on Kindle. There are very few pictures and they're all in black and white, so Kindle would be fine.