Something for everyone: a real smorgasbörd for science and technology studies

摘要

When one of my students came to me earlier this yearrnand said ‘You really must get this book’, my first reactionrnwas that my book budget was about to bernraided yet again. This imminent feeling of gloom wasrnbrought on by memories from my days as a graduaternstudent in engineering and physics: handbooks werern(and are) weighty tomes full of tables, formulae andrnfactual information, printed on India paper, intendedrnto last for the rest of your working career, and costing,rneven then, in three figures of US dollars.