John Deere Evolution The Design And Engineering Of An American Icon

This beautiful book is an encyclopedic, behind-the-scenes look at how the machines were designed and built containing examples of every model line built by John Deere since 1919. Matching the strong visuals is an in-depth history that includes interviews with the engineers, industrial designers, and other Deere & Co. people who designed, built, and sold the machines.

The Complete Book of Classic John Deere Tractors explores the range of iconic “green tractors” with which Illinois-based John Deere has become one of the world’s most recognizable brands. Part of Motorbooks’ Complete Book series, this fact-packed volume takes you through dozens of John Deere farm models, beginning with the 1892 Waterloo Boy and ending with the game-changing New Generation and Generation II lines. With selected text from The Bigger Book of John Deere by late legendary Deere historian Don Macmillan, this book details year-to-year model changes within each series and offers comprehensive specs charts compiled by Deere authority John Dietz. In addition to the Waterloo Boy, you’ll witness the entire 40-plus years of two-cylinder “Johnny Poppers,” from the 1924 Model D through the 830 Series models in 1960, and the styled tractors of the prewar and postwar years. Also featured heavily are the groundbreaking New Generation tractors launched to much fanfare in 1960 and their successors, the New Generation II lineup with their Sound-Gard cabs. Standard, row-crop, orchard, and even a selection of experimental models…they’re all here. In addition, you'll find coverage of John Deere’s rich international heritage, with tractors produced in Spain, Germany, and Australia. Illustrated with incredible color photography and period advertising, The Complete Book of Classic John Deere Tractors isan essential edition for the library of any Deere fanatic.

This book celebrates an icon of American agriculture and industry with more than 400 pictures of legendary John Deere machines from one of world’s most famous tractor photographers.

The ultimate encyclopedia of John Deere tractors from around the world, The Big Book of John Deere Tractors is a model-by-model historical reference to John Deere tractors-including European models-and more, from their beginning in 1892 until today. --Publisher.

"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." —Wall Street Journal Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars,” the twenty-year period that introduced power farming—the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years. Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming. By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation’s farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That’s why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man’s landing on the moon or the advent of the internet—after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told. A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider’s view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure. With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture—a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.

A chronological history of the two-cylinder John Deere tractor. This book clarifies changes in design and styling, as well as variations in tractors built for different purposes.

See for yourself how the lines on the drawing board turned into actual iron and rubber! This insider's account takes you behind the scenes and tells the history of how and why the "New Generation" program came into being. Retired John Deere engineer, Merle Miller, delivers the full and fascinating story of the 3010 and 4010 New Generation tractors.

Ten laws of simplicity for business, technology, and design that teach us how to need less but get more. Finally, we are learning that simplicity equals sanity. We're rebelling against technology that's too complicated, DVD players with too many menus, and software accompanied by 75-megabyte "read me" manuals. The iPod's clean gadgetry has made simplicity hip. But sometimes we find ourselves caught up in the simplicity paradox: we want something that's simple and easy to use, but also does all the complex things we might ever want it to do. In The Laws of Simplicity, John Maeda offers ten laws for balancing simplicity and complexity in business, technology, and design—guidelines for needing less and actually getting more. Maeda—a professor in MIT's Media Lab and a world-renowned graphic designer—explores the question of how we can redefine the notion of "improved" so that it doesn't always mean something more, something added on. Maeda's first law of simplicity is "Reduce." It's not necessarily beneficial to add technology features just because we can. And the features that we do have must be organized (Law 2) in a sensible hierarchy so users aren't distracted by features and functions they don't need. But simplicity is not less just for the sake of less. Skip ahead to Law 9: "Failure: Accept the fact that some things can never be made simple." Maeda's concise guide to simplicity in the digital age shows us how this idea can be a cornerstone of organizations and their products—how it can drive both business and technology. We can learn to simplify without sacrificing comfort and meaning, and we can achieve the balance described in Law 10. This law, which Maeda calls "The One," tells us: "Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful."