Michael Brian Schiffer, an archaeologist and historian of technology, earned his graduate degrees from the University of Arizona (M.A. 1972, Ph.D. 1973). From 1975 to 2014 he served on the faculty of the University of Arizona, and is currently a research associate in the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. His interests have included cultural resource management, formation processes of the archaeological record, experimental archaeology (ceramics), human (nonverbal) communication, technological change, materiality, and history of electrical science and technologies.

• Introduction: Understanding Technological FailuresSecret Project: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and the First AutomobileToo Little, Too Late: The Atmospheric Railway Putting Electromagnetism to WorkAudacious Engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Eastern Steamship Ferdinand de Lesseps' Panama CanalCrackpot Invention? Nikola Tesla's World SystemVisionary Inventor: R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion WorldThe Nuclear-Powered BomberDomesticating the Bomb: "Geographical Engineering" and Project ChariotChrysler's Turbojet-Powered AutomobileThe Concorde: Supersonic AirlinerFusion, Hot and ColdConclusion: Several Limited GeneralizationsReferencesIndex

“The reader of this work will no doubt greatly benefit from Schiffer's voluminous knowledge regarding electrical and mechanical devices. Through excellent illustrations and careful explanatory text, Schiffer succeeds in describing the intricacies of steam engines, jet turbines and nuclear power (in addition to other technologies). . . . Schiffer does an outstanding job explaining the technology to the layperson reader. Readers who enjoy learning about the history of technology initiatives will thoroughly enjoy Spectacular Flops”. Howard Schneider, Business History Review, v95 n1 (2021) ". . . interesting stories, ideal for inserting into a class lecture, but also excellent examples of the many ways technologies fail. . . . Schiffer provides a very useful theoretical framework for exploring the lives of technologies both successful and unsuccessful." Jonathan Coopersmith, Technology and Culture

Michael Brian Schiffer, an archaeologist and historian of technology, earned his graduate degrees from the University of Arizona (M.A. 1972, Ph.D. 1973). From 1975 to 2014 he served on the faculty of the University of Arizona, and is currently a research associate in the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. His interests have included cultural resource management, formation processes of the archaeological record, experimental archaeology (ceramics), human (nonverbal) communication, technological change, materiality, and history of electrical science and technologies.

• Introduction: Understanding Technological FailuresSecret Project: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and the First AutomobileToo Little, Too Late: The Atmospheric Railway Putting Electromagnetism to WorkAudacious Engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Eastern Steamship Ferdinand de Lesseps' Panama CanalCrackpot Invention? Nikola Tesla's World SystemVisionary Inventor: R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion WorldThe Nuclear-Powered BomberDomesticating the Bomb: "Geographical Engineering" and Project ChariotChrysler's Turbojet-Powered AutomobileThe Concorde: Supersonic AirlinerFusion, Hot and ColdConclusion: Several Limited GeneralizationsReferencesIndex

“The reader of this work will no doubt greatly benefit from Schiffer's voluminous knowledge regarding electrical and mechanical devices. Through excellent illustrations and careful explanatory text, Schiffer succeeds in describing the intricacies of steam engines, jet turbines and nuclear power (in addition to other technologies). . . . Schiffer does an outstanding job explaining the technology to the layperson reader. Readers who enjoy learning about the history of technology initiatives will thoroughly enjoy Spectacular Flops”. Howard Schneider, Business History Review, v95 n1 (2021) ". . . interesting stories, ideal for inserting into a class lecture, but also excellent examples of the many ways technologies fail. . . . Schiffer provides a very useful theoretical framework for exploring the lives of technologies both successful and unsuccessful." Jonathan Coopersmith, Technology and Culture

Michael Brian Schiffer, an archaeologist and historian of technology, earned his graduate degrees from the University of Arizona (M.A. 1972, Ph.D. 1973). From 1975 to 2014 he served on the faculty of the University of Arizona, and is currently a research associate in the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. His interests have included cultural resource management, formation processes of the archaeological record, experimental archaeology (ceramics), human (nonverbal) communication, technological change, materiality, and history of electrical science and technologies.

• Introduction: Understanding Technological FailuresSecret Project: Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot and the First AutomobileToo Little, Too Late: The Atmospheric Railway Putting Electromagnetism to WorkAudacious Engineer: Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the Great Eastern Steamship Ferdinand de Lesseps' Panama CanalCrackpot Invention? Nikola Tesla's World SystemVisionary Inventor: R. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion WorldThe Nuclear-Powered BomberDomesticating the Bomb: "Geographical Engineering" and Project ChariotChrysler's Turbojet-Powered AutomobileThe Concorde: Supersonic AirlinerFusion, Hot and ColdConclusion: Several Limited GeneralizationsReferencesIndex

“The reader of this work will no doubt greatly benefit from Schiffer's voluminous knowledge regarding electrical and mechanical devices. Through excellent illustrations and careful explanatory text, Schiffer succeeds in describing the intricacies of steam engines, jet turbines and nuclear power (in addition to other technologies). . . . Schiffer does an outstanding job explaining the technology to the layperson reader. Readers who enjoy learning about the history of technology initiatives will thoroughly enjoy Spectacular Flops”. Howard Schneider, Business History Review, v95 n1 (2021) ". . . interesting stories, ideal for inserting into a class lecture, but also excellent examples of the many ways technologies fail. . . . Schiffer provides a very useful theoretical framework for exploring the lives of technologies both successful and unsuccessful." Jonathan Coopersmith, Technology and Culture