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Monsters: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Birth of Pathological Technology, by Ed Regis
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“Oh, the humanity!” Radio reporter Herbert Morrison’s words on witnessing the destruction of the Hindenburg are etched in our collective memory. Yet, while the Hindenburg—like the Titanic—is a symbol of the technological hubris of a bygone era, we seem to have forgotten the lessons that can be learned from the infamous 1937 zeppelin disaster.
Zeppelins were steerable balloons of highly flammable, explosive gas, but the sheer magic of seeing one of these behemoths afloat in the sky cast an irresistible spell over all those who saw them. In Monsters, Ed Regis explores the question of how a technology now so completely invalidated (and so fundamentally unsafe) ever managed to reach the high-risk level of development that it did. Through the story of the zeppelin’s development, Regis examines the perils of what he calls “pathological technologies”—inventions whose sizeable risks are routinely minimized as a result of their almost mystical allure.
Such foolishness is not limited to the industrial age: newer examples of pathological technologies include the US government’s planned use of hydrogen bombs for large-scale geoengineering projects; the phenomenally risky, expensive, and ultimately abandoned Superconducting Super Collider; and the exotic interstellar propulsion systems proposed for DARPA’s present-day 100 Year Starship project. In case after case, the romantic appeal of foolishly ambitious technologies has blinded us to their shortcomings, dangers, and costs.
Both a history of technological folly and a powerful cautionary tale for future technologies and other grandiose schemes, Monsters is essential reading for experts and citizens hoping to see new technologies through clear eyes.
- Sales Rank: #1092729 in Books
- Published on: 2015-09-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.25" h x 1.19" w x 6.13" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 352 pages
Review
“Regis’s account of the [Hindeburg]’s final flight makes for gripping reading.”
—Financial Times
“Regis’ provocative book analyses the reasons for [hydrogen airships’] popularity and introduces the concept of ‘pathological technologies’ to explore other, less famous ideas that never should have left the drawing board.”
—Physics World, Top Physics Books of 2015
“Regis’ tone is a lively mixture of exasperation, comic understatement and black humour, and his inventiveness in coming up with fresh denunciations for zeppelins (‘a technology very much worth abandoning’) is frequently a delight.”
—Physics World
“A must for any aeronautical history buff, this book is as readable and entertaining as a high octane spy thriller and as informative as a semesters worth of graduate level seminars. Regis is a gifted writer with empathy for his subjects, even if they do sound bonkers.”
—Library Journal
“Wonderful... one of the most readable accounts of airship history that has recently been published.”
—Airships.net
“Much more than another book about the Hindenburg disaster.”
—Maclean’s
“An engaging history of humankind’s technological hubris.”
—Science News
“Fascinating… a fine history of Zeppelin and his disastrous airships.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A fine account of the rigid airship and… a thoughtful meditation on out-of-control technology.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Monsters is both a fascinating historical narrative and a wakeup call to the dangers of technologies that capture our collective imagination—but come with staggering risks that seem obvious only in retrospect. As we move into an era of rapid advance in fields like genetic engineering, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence, the forgotten lessons from technology's past are sure to become ever more relevant.”
—Martin Ford, author of Rise of the Robots
“Ed Regis has written an important book, one that should be required reading for scientists, engineers, politicians, and policy-makers pursuing The Next Big Thing. Focusing on the alluring and tragic Hindenburg, but examining as well such costly projects as the abandoned Superconducting Supercollider, Project Plowshare (earth moving using nuclear bombs!) and proposed “Space Arks” roaming the Cosmos, Regis shows how fascination with ill-considered mega-technology has generated both waste and human tragedy. This is a sobering yet fascinating picture of the human and material costs incurred when the unchecked dreams of zealots run amok.”
—Richard P. Hallion, Senior Adviser for Air and Space Issues, Directorate for Security, Counterintelligence and Special Programs Oversight, The Pentagon
“Monsters provides a very thoroughly researched and well-written explanation for how a nation, an industry, and wealthy passengers saw only the benefits of traveling in hydrogen-filled dirigibles and overlooked the potential hazards until the Hindenburg literally exploded on the news. Regis shows how the tunnel-vision lessons from this 1937 tragedy went unheeded in projects like using atomic bombs to excavate canals and harbors and DARPA's 100-year starship.”
—David Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project and co-author of Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster
“The inevitability of the Hindenburg or a similar disaster serves as the centerpiece in Ed Regis’s masterful and tragically humorous envisioning of our myopic infatuation with grandiose yet dangerous scientific projects. In the background lies the question of risks that may be suppressed in pursuit of large-scale contemporary technological ventures.”
—Wendell Wallach, author of A Dangerous Master
About the Author
Ed Regis is a longtime science writer and the author of seven books, including What is Life?, The Info Mesa, and Who’s Got Einstein’s Office?. Most recently he was co-author, with George Church, of Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves.
Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
Disappointing and Disjointed
By Ursa Major
I was looking forward to reading Monsters; I bought it with a few other books and jumped into it first. Unfortunately, the book was considerably less satisfying than the promise. Part One is a history of the airship, leading up to an including the Hindenburg disaster. Part Two is the author explaining his theory of pathological technologies, which a) are massive in size or effect, b) induce in proponents a high degree of fixation or emotional enthusiasm, c) induce its proponents to ignore or underplay significant dangers or unintended consequences, and d) confers benefits significantly outweighed by its costs in lives, money and other resources. In Part Two he gives one chapter stories of three abortive (so far) technologies which he says meet those criteria: Project Plowshare (a post-WWII proposal to use nuclear weapons for geo-engineering - like what Elon Musk proposes for Mars); the Superconducting SuperCollider, and the 100 Year Starship proposal. What about ocean liners, which at points in their history meet all of his criteria? The Apollo Program? The Space Shuttle? He's essentially picked three technologies (besides airships) that he holds in contempt, and builds a theory around them that's not particularly useful or compelling. In Part Three, he tosses in a chapter discussing what really destroyed the Hindenburg (should have been in Part One, and a chapter on mass delirium (should have been in Part Two - or else the epilogue). His tone throughout is contemptuous - if only Zeppelin, the German public, and any number of later proponents of his despised technologies had his wisdom and perspective (ah, the joys of hindsight). But they didn't, so he weaves into his writing constant descriptions of these fools as stupid, short-sighted, etc. - it's advocacy rather than history, delivered in a sneering style that reminds the reader of the person everyone knows who trashes people constantly - as long as they're outside the room.
To summarize, what I was hoping was a history of the development and death of rigid lighter than air transport (completely excludes blimps) and especially of the Hindenburg (who doesn't enjoy a good disaster story?) is instead a starting point for an odd and disappointing theory that isn't developed particularly well. I wish I'd spent a few more minutes skimming in the bookstore before I headed for the register.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
The Birth, Career, And Death Of Fabulous But Fatally Flawed Technology
By John D. Cofield
We have all seen that newsreel film many times: as the gigantic zeppelin called the Hindenburg comes into view and begins to descend to its landing zone in Lakehurst, New Jersey a young man's voice narrates what appears to be a routine and rather humdrum event. Then suddenly flames erupt and within seconds the entire craft is engulfed. Small figures are seen leaping from the gondola while others already on the ground run for their lives. Meanwhile the young announcer's panicked voice rises as he describes the inferno, culminating in his famous "Oh, the humanity!" Ed Regis's new book is an invaluable and engrossing history of how The Hindenburg and its sister zeppelins were constructed and used, of the intelligent but somewhat eccentric men who dreamed up the idea in the first place, and of the ultimate abandonment of hydrogen-based lighter than air craft.
Regis classifies the zeppelin or dirigible as an example of pathological technology: grandiose visions which capture the imagination and are carried out at enormous expense and with a blind eye turned to any hazards, but ultimately abandoned once their lack of practical use and inherent danger becomes clear. The idea of lighter than air craft has been around for centuries. Regis provides some interesting and entertaining information on the philosophers and scientists in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries who began to dream up ways to allow humans to sail the skies in airships. In the eighteenth century hot air and hydrogen balloons were experimented with, and in the nineteenth century their value in warfare began to be appreciated, both in the American Civil War and during the Siege of Paris in 1870. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a Prussian officer who was assigned to observe balloon reconnaissance flights during the Civil War, was entranced with the idea of lighter than air flight and devoted much of his career to making it a practical reality. His dream came to be widely shared throughout the new German Empire, where it was a symbol of national pride and ingenuity. Even though the zeppelins were unwieldy and vulnerable to even the slightest mishaps, larger and larger versions of them were constructed and put into service carrying passengers and cargo. During World War I they were put into use for reconnaissance and for bombing raids, though their inherent vulnerabilities made them extremely dangerous to their own crews. After World War I Germany continued to build and put into service larger and larger hydrogen based zeppelins, which continued to crash and burn or suffer other crippling mishaps until the outbreak of a new war in 1939 caused them to be permanently shelved.
There is much to enjoy in Monsters. I found the early history of lighter than air craft fascinating. Count von Zeppelin's career made for good reading as an example of the enthusiastic amateur who creates an industry almost single-handedly. It was entertaining, though disturbing, to read about the many occasions when early zeppelins either failed to work at all or achieved momentary success but were then destroyed by freak accidents. Most of all I enjoyed reading about the Hindenburg's final voyage with its crew and passengers enduring cramped quarters (but excellent cuisine) and breathtaking views until the final moments, when split-second decisions about where and whether to jump and run made the difference between life and death. Regis does a good job of describing the German and American investigations into the causes of the disaster and of summing up its likely causes, then of the last few years of the hydrogen based zeppelin era.
Regis uses the Hindenburg as an example par excellence of pathological technology, and that's certainly a good way of describing it. I'm more hesitant in endorsing some of his other examples of pathological technology, however. There's no question that the idea of using hydrogen bombs as part of massive engineering projects like building a new port in Alaska or a new canal in Central America is a terrible one, and we should all be thankful that the proposed Project Plowshare was shelved. But I think it's too soon and too facile to simply dismiss the idea of a 100-Year Starship or the achievements of physicists using super-colliders as impractical or unachievable.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Airship history interesting, but some pathological technology arguments lazy and uninspired (despite potential)
By Brian
I came into this book hoping for an interesting read on airships and perhaps an enlightening thesis on pathological technologies that we should inoculate ourselves against. The airship history is a smooth, enjoyable read except for the utter contempt Regis constantly has for everything airship. After this he lays into Project Plowshare (nuclear warheads for civilian uses), the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), and the 100 year starship (his singular 'current' pathological tech example).
The disappointment for me was that he neglects to mention how fixed wing aircraft have suffered from this (Spruce Goose, anyone?) along with ocean liners and warships. Also, why more airship material is at the end of the book is beyond me. Readers may want to skip the 'other pathological tech' sections and read the "6 Hindenburgs" part first. I'll continue with the other examples here:
Project Plowshare was a good example and one of the few sections I rather enjoyed.
The section on the SSC was a little jarring in that he fully acknowledges that other colliders were on budget and gave good science, the main problem with the SSC was the ballooning budget and mismanagement and the need to fund other areas of science with limited resources. But, for example, LIGO cost a pretty penny and only employed a small 'elite' group as do many astronomy projects yet I would say this is well spent science money, despite the risks. His argument that the SSC should not have even been given a chance just rings a little hollow.
And then we come to something more current, I was hoping he would use all the vigor and contempt he had for airships and pick on something significant in modern technology. Instead ... he goes after the 100 year spaceship, barely a blip on the scientific radar full of mostly harmless humans musing about interstellar travel. Yes Ed, we can see that interstellar travel should not be given huge amounts of funding, but where is the *meat* in this book? Don't leave us with all this hindsight 20/20 stuff about airships and then not have the courage to go after something significant in the modern era!
Overall, it was an OK read. If you are reading this primarily for the airship history, it will be interesting. Wait for some real meat on pathological technology, however.
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