Technology isn't just computers, networks and phones. Technology has always been part of the human experience. All of our ancestors have looked for ways to help them survive and do less work for more gain. Archive.org has a host of old technology books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. Many of the technologies discussed within these books are being put to use again these days in the back to the land" and homesteading movements. You might even find something that could address one of your own garden or farm issues but has been lost to time and history. Enjoy! --Douglas
Historical Technology Books: The Practical Mechanic's Journal (1849) - 25 in a series
Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more
"Men judged of evidence, and often very correctly, before logic was a science, or they never could have made one. And they executed great mechanical works before they understood the laws of mechanics. But there are limits both to what mechanicians can do without principles'of mechanics, and to what thinkers can do without principles of logic; and the limits in the two cases are of the same kind. The extent of what man can do, without understanding. the theory of what he is doing, is in all cases much the same ; he can do whatever i3 very easy; what requires only time and patient industry." — Mill's System of Logic.
"No doubt the sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge, wherein many things are reserved. But if we would be led by nature in invention, we should command her in action." — Lord Bacon.
"Utility is a prominent characteristic of truth. "Whatever is true becomes of some use, although imperfectly developed ; whereas error serves only to mislead, however ingeniously it may be propounded." — Dr. A. Combe.
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† Available from the LA Public Library
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