book data
126 ratings,
3.43
average rating, 18 reviews
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published
March 31st 1992
(first published 1985)
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 272 pages
isbn
0679734163
(isbn13: 9780679734161)
description
The moral of this book is that behind every great engineering success is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures. P...more
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avg 3.43
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
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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Read in July, 2005
recommends it for:
anyone interested in the art and science of engineering
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
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Read in January, 1999
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.
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Read in January, 2009
recommended to Sueij by:
Scott
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.
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Read in October, 2004
recommends it for:
engineers
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
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06/29/09
Krzysztof Kot
is currently reading it
I've not got too far into this one as it's pretty pretentiously written and can be rather dry. Here's hoping it picks up.
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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,...more
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This book was included in my book: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. www.100bestbiz.com
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Surprisingly interesting, despite fairly dry prose. This is something I didn't know I cared about until Petroski convinced me.
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Read in March, 2008
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.
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Read in January, 2008
Finally got around to finishing this... at first I was disappointed that it wasn't very technical and mostly metaphorical, but then Petroski won me over in the last couple of chapters with his reverence for architectural fiction.
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Read in June, 2006
This book looks at engineering disasters as case studies. Petroski makes the case that failure is an inevitable part of the engineering success cycle. Interesting - to an engineer, anyway - and thought provoking.
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Very interesting. I learned that when reading Henry Petroski you need to keep a dictionary handy; he uses big words like paradigm. ( pair-a-dij-em )
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11/12/08
Kevin
marked it as to-read
I am coming back to this after some time. It seems very insightful. Failure is not necessarily a "bad" thing....we learn so much for it.
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Borrowed it from Sabrina during our disastrous trip down the Harricana River.
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I definitely liked it. Good analysis and lots of good anecdotes.
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01/27/08
Jay
added it
Read in January, 1999
Murphy was an engineer.
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