Examines our deepest notions of progress and perfection, tracing the fine connection between the quantifiable realm of science and the chaotic real...
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Apr 09, 2009
Eric_W
rated it: 
Perhaps I rate this too highly. Problem is I love technology and its issues and Petroski is one of my favorite writers on civil engineering.
On the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 27, 1987, almost 1,000,000 people showed up to celebrate and to walk across a bridge that was designed using the same basic technology as the infamous Tacoma Narrows bridge. Only about 250,000 were able to squeeze on the bridge, and fortunately no panic occurred as the Golden Gate Bridg More...
On the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, May 27, 1987, almost 1,000,000 people showed up to celebrate and to walk across a bridge that was designed using the same basic technology as the infamous Tacoma Narrows bridge. Only about 250,000 were able to squeeze on the bridge, and fortunately no panic occurred as the Golden Gate Bridg More...
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Jul 25, 2011
Daniel
rated it: 
What attracted me to this book when I bought it 17 years ago? Between the introduction and the back of the book, I got the idea that "To Engineer Is Human" would give me a greater understanding about the reasoning and effort that engineers put into their structures. Then and now, I am awed by the bridges and buildings I come across, and at times a voice in my head echoes that of Djimon Hounsou's character in "Gladiator," who, upon seeing the Coliseum for the first time, whisp
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Jun 29, 2010
Aerin
rated it:
The fact of the matter is, every now and then, buildings fall down. Bridges collapse. Planes fall out of the sky and space shuttles explode and nuclear plants melt down. Screws fall out all the time. The world is an imperfect place.
Petroski argues that that's not such a bad thing, because failures teach engineers much more than successes do, and thus each new iteration of building, bridge, or plane is safer than the last.
This is a very distant, abstract, and pragmatic More...
Petroski argues that that's not such a bad thing, because failures teach engineers much more than successes do, and thus each new iteration of building, bridge, or plane is safer than the last.
This is a very distant, abstract, and pragmatic More...
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May 04, 2011
Matt
rated it: 
This was a very enjoyable read for me. Petroski presents the world of engineering in an enjoyable and approachable manner, using both prominent failures and a few resounding successes to trace the development of engineering throughout science. Probably the most enjoyable part for me was how Petroski ties engineering in to society at large, showing how each shapes the other. Structures are the kind of thing that usually only draw our attention when they fail, and this book does an excellent jo
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Jul 29, 2011
A good book for both the engineer and the layperson. The beginning starts off a bit slow, but he builds point by point, and then starts getting into case studies like the DC-9 crashes, the Kansas City Hyatt hotel catwalk failures, and of course, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Galloping Gertie), among others. Engineers can always learn from case studies of past failures (which is the premise of the book - that failures, indeed, are a necessary part of the design cycle), and the layperson can learn ab
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Sep 05, 2007
Tracey
rated it:
I bought a used copy of To Engineer Is Human : The Role of Failure in Successful Design sometime last year & it finally migrated to the top of Mount ToBeRead.
Petroski examines the development of the role of engineer, and how for much of our history, design was a matter of trial and error, with error being the greater teacher. The first few chapters wax philosophical - comparing human development (infant --> toddler --> child) to learning engineering principles and using the pr More...
Petroski examines the development of the role of engineer, and how for much of our history, design was a matter of trial and error, with error being the greater teacher. The first few chapters wax philosophical - comparing human development (infant --> toddler --> child) to learning engineering principles and using the pr More...
Jan 31, 2009
Chuck
rated it:
The author (a civil engineer) uses famous cases of engineering failures to illustrate the progress of engineering and our understanding of important engineering concepts. A great (and easy) read for anyone with an interest in failure analysis. As any practicing engineer knows, we usually learn more from a failure, than we do from a success, for a variety of reasons. This book will give you a deeper appreciation for the learning opportunities presented to you, when failures occur.
Nov 26, 2009
Alice
rated it: 
The first third of this book tried to explain why we need to learn from our mistakes. Um . . . I really didn't need a hundred pages to know this. The examples of the failures was interesting. But, then the last third of the book was again kind of boring. Unfortunately, this isn't going to be my parting gift to my intern as I'd hoped. I have to find something else to give him.
Jan 24, 2009
Sueij
rated it:
The premise really is interesting: that it is from engineering failures that the most learning can be derived. Sadly (at least as a non-engineer reader), the writing shifted from pulled-me-into-it fascinating to merely slogging through.
Probably not something you'd want to pick up unless the topic itself really appealed to you.
Probably not something you'd want to pick up unless the topic itself really appealed to you.
Feb 10, 2010
Classic text recommended by The Art of Project Management, which walks through major engineering mistakes and the powerful opportunity for learning which such mistakes present.
Sep 18, 2009
John
rated it:
Should be required reading for anyone working on projects where the harm caused by a mistake far exceeds the benefits of success. Lots of good civil engineering history.
Jul 24, 2007
Dan
rated it:
This book is engineering philosophy (an epistemological field that is quite underdeveloped in my opinion.)
The book is exactly what its title says it is. It is about how failure is engineered for, designed in, designed around, and ultimately used to engineer again better later.
The examples and real life stories in this book are awesome. I learned many useful things from this book. However, I really did not like reading it. I did not like the writing style. I found it More...
The book is exactly what its title says it is. It is about how failure is engineered for, designed in, designed around, and ultimately used to engineer again better later.
The examples and real life stories in this book are awesome. I learned many useful things from this book. However, I really did not like reading it. I did not like the writing style. I found it More...
Jun 26, 2011
Noladishu
rated it: 
Meh, never really got into it.
A bit dated as well.
A better book along the same line is Chiles' Inviting Disaster.
A bit dated as well.
A better book along the same line is Chiles' Inviting Disaster.
Dec 18, 2007
David
rated it:
The first book by Petroski that I read was The Pencil, a book about the engineering of the pencil. I think To Engineer is Human was the second of his books that I read, and in it he again shows a flair for popular engineering writing. For whatever reason, popular engineering writing is more rare than popular science writing, which makes Petroski's work all that much more to be treasured. In this particular book, Petroski looks at how the study of failures informs the engineering design cycle,
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May 08, 2009
Todd
rated it:
This book was included in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com
Jun 29, 2010
A friend of mine once described this book as 'like self-help for geeks.' I love it.
Dec 29, 2009
Alan
rated it:
So far, pretty bad. Some interesting points hidden behind bad analogies.
Feb 27, 2009
Noah
rated it:
Surprisingly interesting, despite fairly dry prose. This is something I didn't know I cared about until Petroski convinced me.
Aug 09, 2010
The book starts out slow, with some really generic information about the engineering discipline, so in that sense it's probably better for people who haven't spent 4 years of their lives learning about engineering. After that, though, he gets into some really interesting case studies about engineering disasters and the like, and that part's pretty fascinating for everybody.
Jun 01, 2010
Heather
rated it:
It's a little tiresome to review and reiterate basic engineering principles, (build the bridge stronger than you actually expect it to need to be) and such. The examples of various engineering disasters was informative, and the take away here is that is as a society, we learn from our mistakes in order to achieve bigger, faster, stronger engineering capabilities.
Oct 21, 2007
http://nhw.livejournal.com/802767.html[return][return]Lots of interesting stuff about why mistakes happen - the Tacoma Narrows bridge, the Kansas City Hyatt Regency, etc. Unfortunately the style is a bit repetitive and some of the most interesting nuggets - about Nevil Shute, for instance, or the Crystal Palace - felt rather shoved in at the end.
Oct 18, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
I wish the author had spent more time on case studies, and found the discussion of engineering psychology extremely dry.
Mar 30, 2008
Jen
rated it:
My boss loaned me this book to read, so I took that as a sign I should read it even though it's not my typical book. I'm not a huge fan of the author's writing style, as the book was slow and dry oftentimes. However, the engineering disaster case studies were really interesting, and I learned some new things about well-known engineering disasters such as the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse.
Dec 18, 2009
Melissa
rated it:
And I had such high hopes for this one. But thus far the first couple of chapters are rather dry. He keeps mentioning the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkway collapse but thus far hasn't explained what that was even about. Right now he's blathering on about "what is an engineer". Perhaps it gets better....
It didn't. I quit on this one too...
It didn't. I quit on this one too...
