Even as new technologies revolutionize everything from health care to media to warfare, it’s important to remember that our world runs primarily on products and technologies long in use — everything from aspirin to the internal combustion engine. In his new book, The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900, David Edgerton, the Hans Rausing Professor of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Imperial College London, argues for a new view of the history of technology that focuses not only on “Big Bang” innovations

In today’s business climate, where the pressure to realize financial gains is constant, knowing which projects to fund and which to kill is vital to the future of your business. Too often, however, the products selected for development have low strategic value, undercutting their capacity to contribute to an organization’s organic growth and its ability to meet its revenue targets.