false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173308214m/271495.jpg 271495 3 The moral of this book is that behind every great engineering success is a trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures. Petroski covers many of the best known examples of well-intentioned but ultimately failed design in action -- the galloping Tacoma Narrows Bridge (which you've probably seen tossing cars willy-nilly in the famous black-and-white footage), the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel walkways -- and many lesser known but equally informative examples. The line of reasoning Petroski develops in this book were later formalized into his quasi-Darwinian model of technological evolution in <B>The Evolution of Useful Things</B>, but this book is arguably the more illuminating -- and defintely the more enjoyable -- of these two titles. Highly recommended. 263211 1985 To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design total:139|5:15|4:53|3:56|2:13|1:2| 139 483 247 21 5 1 false false Tue Dec 09 07:58:18 -0800 2008 Thu Apr 09 18:33:31 -0700 2009
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 th...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Wed Sep 05 07:46:11 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 05 10:29:26 -0700 2007 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 erro...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Sat Jan 31 16:04:52 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 16:04:52 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 19:31:21 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 19:34:20 -0800 2009
Probably not something you'd want to pick up unless ...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Sep 18 12:11:47 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 12:14:34 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Tue Jul 24 19:05:23 -0700 2007 Tue Jul 24 19:09:58 -0700 2007
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.

...more...]]> 0 0 false false Mon Jun 29 19:51:06 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 19:51:42 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Dec 03 17:44:12 -0800 2007 Tue Dec 18 22:10:54 -0800 2007 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 t...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 08 08:35:54 -0700 2009 Fri May 08 08:36:00 -0700 2009 www.100bestbiz.com]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Fri Jun 12 01:27:08 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 12 01:30:30 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Fri Feb 27 12:30:02 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 27 12:30:02 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Mar 30 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jan 27 19:11:55 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 30 07:09:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Sep 25 13:47:20 -0700 2009 Fri Nov 20 14:20:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jul 03 13:22:20 -0700 2007 Sat Jan 05 14:10:03 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Wed Sep 26 22:34:55 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 22:34:55 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Tue Jun 17 11:57:05 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 19 11:43:37 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed Nov 12 14:30:15 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 07 19:41:13 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Nov 09 12:55:26 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 09 12:55:26 -0800 2007 3 0 false false Tue Mar 11 10:52:36 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 11 10:52:36 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Sun Jan 27 14:28:34 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 14:29:05 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=271495