1. Brown, H. (1954). The Challenge of Man’s Future. 290 pp. New York; The Viking Press. (The first part is devoted to reviewing statistics of human population and availability of natural resources. The last and most interesting part contains a discussion of the possible ways of living that man may adopt or drift into, in view of the dwindling supplies of readily available resources.)
2. Cross, H. (1952). Engineers and Ivory Towers. 141 pp. New York; McGraw-Hill. (A collection of miscellaneous essays on the aims of the engineering profession, written from a somewhat philosophical viewpoint.)
3. Finch, J. K. (1951). Engineering and Western Civilization. 374 pp. New York; McGraw-Hill. (This book presents a socioeconomic analysis of the concurrent rise of engineering and the western way of life. It discusses the effect of economic and social conditions upon technological development and progress. Some chapter headings: Ancient engineering; American engineering in the 19th century; Modern engineering; Engineering and economic change; the distribution of technological gains; Engineering and research.)
4. Galbraith, J. K. (1958). The Affluent Society. 368 pp. Cambridge, Boston; The Riverside Press. (This book is written by an outstanding economist and is regarded as a landmark in the economic literature. Its main theme is that in our capitalistic society we aim to produce more and more, for the sake of a healthy economy. There is almost no concern over what we produce. There is a danger that we shall produce more and more of what we need less and less, thus causing social imbalance. The author advocates the search for a substitute for production as a source of income, in order to break the present link between production and income.)
5. Huxley, A. (1932). Brave New World. 213 pp. London; Chatto and Windus. (The author, an outstanding novelist and philosopher, describes a future Utopian world. Science and technology have made fantastic progress, but the human mind is completely controlled and society is regimented into worker and leader units to ensure maximum efficiency and stability. In a recent essay: ‘Brave new world revisited’ the author concludes that much of his frightening fantasy of the thirties is already taking place at the present time.)