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The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution

David Mindell

Technology & society

The New Lunar Society: An Enlightenment Guide to the Next Industrial Revolution

By David Mindell, the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and professor of aeronautics and astronautics

MIT Press · 2025

Climate change, global disruption, and labor scarcity are forcing us to rethink the underlying principles of industrial society. In this book, Mindell envisions this new industrialism from the fundamentals, drawing on the 18th century when first principles were formed at the founding of the Industrial Revolution. While outlining the new industrialism, he tells the story of the Lunar Society, a group of engineers, scientists, and industrialists who came together to apply the principles of the Enlightenment to industrial processes.

From Summer 2025 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News). Cover image via Google Books.