The Engineering of Abundance
By: Roy Bainer
U.C. Davis
The Engineering of Abundance is an appropriate title for the very readable and illuminating memoirs of the late Roy Bainer, who started as a teenage wheat farmer, and spent forty active and vital years, from 1929-1969, at the University of California at Davis. During that time, he was Professor and Chairman of the Agricultural Engineering Department and the first Dean of Engineering. He became internationally recognized as a leader in the mechanization of agriculture and in the fields of Engineering. He tells his memorable story in the oral history format.
The book offers a first-hand historical perspective of how there was truly an abundance of engineering. More than 200 commercial California crops were mechanized, which was an unparalled time in the history of world agricultural mechanization. No wonder Time Magazine referred to the Agricultural Engineering Department as "the wildly inventive center of the farm machinery revolution." This technological revolution made it possible for California to produce almost a fourth of all the food consumed by people in the United States.
Bainer's career was varied. He was instigative in developing a full-fledged Engineering Department on campus. His expertise led to many foreign assignments as agrarian advisor and consultant in various parts of the world. One of his most exciting moments was leading a high level, unofficial committee to persuade Castro to exchange political prisoners for agrarian tractors, after the Bay of Pigs episode in 1962. The Cuban encounter received international publicity.
This book, The Engineering of Abundance, is in hardback, has 449 pages, and includes a bibliography and honors. These memoirs are expressed in well-organized, lucid prose which incorporates significant historical information, lively anecdotes, and pertinent human interest material. This all makes an excellent autobiography of an imaginative engineer, Roy Bainer who was an inspiring teacher and brilliant researcher.
This informative oral history is available in limited numbers. The book is available for purchase at $20. Send a money order or check or, if overseas, an International Money Order, to: L.M.Bainer, 31 Hilarita Ave., Mill Valley, Calif. 94941. The email is: mariabainer@aol.com for further inquiries.