{"product_id":"island-tinkerers-isbn-9780262549387","title":"Island Tinkerers","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow Taiwan rose to global prominence in high tech manufacturing, from computer maker to the world’s leading chip manufacturer.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow did Taiwan, a former Japanese colony and the last fortress of the defeated Chinese Nationalists, ascend to such heights in high-tech manufacturing? In \u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers\u003c\/i\u003e, Honghong Tinn tells the critical history of how hobbyists and enthusiasts in Taiwan, including engineers, technologists, technocrats, computer users, and engineers-turned-entrepreneurs, helped transform the country with their hands-on engagement with computers. Rather than engaging in wholesale imitation of US sources, she explains, these technologists tinkered with imported computing technology and experimented with manufacturing their own versions, resulting in their own brand of successful innovation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDefying the stereotype of “the West innovates, and the East imitates,” Tinn tells the story of Taiwanese technologists’ efforts over the past six decades. Beginning in the 1960s, they grappled with the “black-boxed” computers that were newly available through international technical-aid programs. Shortly after, multinational corporations that outsourced transistor and integrated circuit assembly overseas began employing Taiwanese engineers and factory workers.  Island tinkerers developed strategies to adapt, modify, assemble, and work with computers in an inventive manner. It was through this creative and ingenious tinkering with computers that they were able to gain a better understanding of the technology, opening the door to future manufacturing endeavors that now include Acer, Foxconn, Asus, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003ePart I Embracing Electronics, 1950s\u003cbr\u003e1 Network Reset: Restoring a University for Engineering\u003cbr\u003e2 Negotiating Technical Aid: “Immediate and Direct” Results of Science and Engineering Education\u003cbr\u003ePart II Emulating Humming Machines, 1960s\u003cbr\u003e3 Tinkering with a Technological System: Mainframe Computers from Afar\u003cbr\u003e4 Grappling with Machines: Late Adoption of Computers in Taiwan’s Military Alliance with the United States\u003cbr\u003e5 Manufacturing Hope: Explorations in Making Minicomputers and Calculators from Scratch\u003cbr\u003ePart III Technology Inscribed, 1970s–1990s\u003cbr\u003e6 Assembling Electronics: Women’s Memories, Men’s Factories\u003cbr\u003e7 Mass-producing Calculators: Solderers, Engineers, and Entrepreneurs\u003cbr\u003e8 Incompatible Computer Dreams: Contested Computer Exports to the United States\u003cbr\u003e9 The Republic of Computers: From Scoundrels to Asian Heroes\u003cbr\u003e10 TSMC and the New Geopolitics of the 21st Century\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue\u003cbr\u003eAbbreviations\u003cbr\u003eGlossary of Selected Chinese Names\u003cbr\u003eAppendix: Archives and Other Collections\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eBibliography\u003cbr\u003eList of Figures\u003cbr\u003eIndex“Engrossing and meticulously researched.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Taipei Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“\u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers \u003c\/i\u003ehelps us understand how impoverished east Asian countries developed some of the world’s most sophisticated and prosperous economies.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eIEEE History Center\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers\u003c\/i\u003e]\u003ci\u003e is\u003c\/i\u003e an important corrective to the myths that underpin tech companies’ cooperation with and co-optation by ambitious governments in Asia or the West.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The book sparks valuable questions for future research, particularly in ongoing discussions about imported technology in the history of technology in East Asia… \u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers\u003c\/i\u003e encourages scholars to enhance the conceptual frameworks we bring to the intertwined histories of technology, innovation, and manufacturing.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e—\u003cb\u003eEast Asian Science, Technology and Society\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Against all the saber-rattling, myth-making, and visions of world domination, Honghong Tinn’s new book, \u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers: Innovation and Transformation in the Making of Taiwan’s Computing Industry\u003c\/i\u003e, offers a timely intervention and powerful antidote.” \u003cbr\u003e—\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“This fascinating book uses the history of computing technology as a critical lens to investigate technology and politics, from the early independence of Taiwan to its current key role in geopolitics.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Wiebe Bijker, Professor Emeritus, Maastricht University and Norwegian University of Science and Technology\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“This compelling history of Taiwan’s ‘Silicon cowboys,’ probably the most influential tinkerers in history, offers rich food for thought about today’s maker culture.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Francesca Bray, coeditor, \u003ci\u003eCambridge History of Technology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers \u003c\/i\u003eis by far the best account of the development of Taiwan’s computer and semiconductor industry. If you want to look beyond the news headlines about the chip war, start with this timely and comprehensive book.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Fa-ti Fan, Professor of History, Binghamton University\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eIsland Tinkerers\u003c\/i\u003e makes a significant contribution to the literature on Taiwan's economic development, demonstrating through a richly detailed examination of a single industry the importance of human networks to that development.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—J. Megan Greene, Professor of History, University of Kansas; author of \u003ci\u003eThe Origins of the Developmental State in Taiwan\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBuilding a Nation at War\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eHonghong Tinn is Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304743424229,"sku":"NP9780262549387","price":60.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262549387.jpg?v=1767730218","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/island-tinkerers-isbn-9780262549387","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}