The Toothpick: Technology and Culture

by Henry Petroski

Like The Pencil, Henry Petroski’s The Toothpick is a celebration of a humble yet elegant device. As old as mankind and as universal as eating, this useful and ubiquitous tool finally gets its due in this wide-ranging and compulsively readable book. Here is the unexpected story of the simplest of implements—whether made of grass, gold, quill, or wood—a story of engineering and design, of culture and class, and a lesson in how to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Petroski takes us back to ancient Rome, where the emperor Nero makes his entrance into a banquet hall with a silver toothpick in his mouth; and to a more recent time in Spain, where a young señorita uses the delicately pointed instrument to protect her virtue from someone trying to steal a kiss. He introduces us to Charles Forster, a nineteenth-century Bostonian and father of the American toothpick industry, who hires Harvard students to demand toothpicks in area restaurants—thereby making their availability in eating establishments as expected as condiments.

And Petroski takes us inside the surprisingly secretive toothpick-manufacturing industry, in which one small town’s factories can turn out 200 million wooden toothpicks a day using methods that, except for computer controls, haven’t changed much in almost 150 years. He also explores a treasure trove of the toothpick’s unintended uses and perils, from sandwiches to martinis and beyond.

With an engineer’s eye for detail and a poet’s flair for language, Petroski has earned his reputation as a writer who explains our world—from the tallest buildings to the lowliest toothpick—to us.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Design, Science, Food

464 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2007

About the author

Henry Petroski was an American engineer specializing in failure analysis. A professor both of civil engineering and history at Duke University, he was also a prolific author.

Reviews

[Ben Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 than a 4, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt because it's a very niche book and I like niche books.

Overall, a very good and thorough rundown of the history of the toothpick. The book meanders back and forth through the technology and industry to the social implications of the toothpick. It seems the toothpick's heyday was the mid to late 1800s, and this is where the book focuses. It's interesting to see how the toothpick had fallen in and out of favor several times over those decades, as well as the fierce competition between manufacturers, creating a patent war that today's patent trolls would be envious of.

My biggest criticism of the book is the incredibly in-depth analysis of the Charles Forster estate's finances. I'm sure someone will really appreciate this analysis, but I found it to be dry and of minimal value to the book. I also struggled at times to understand how the machinery manufactured the various styles of toothpicks, having only the most modern understanding of the toothpick. The book provides patent diagrams, but these are often useless for understanding how the machines actually work.

[Noel · Rating 1 out of 5]

you might not want to read this if you're going to read the book (it's actually all the best parts condensed into one page), but i suggest you DON'T read the book, so read on!

the best quote:
"With a toothpick, what we see is what we've got- inside a toothpick in the same wood that we see on the outside." (and this one didn't come until chapter 16. i feel that if that sentence was even necessary, perhaps it should have been placed closer to the intro)

best anecdote of the book:
"One of these packers may have been the 'Maine girl' who once inserte a note with her address into one of the boxes, 'requesting the finder to write to her'. A man from Kansas City did write, and the ensuing correspondence led to his traveling east 'to see if the young lady was the sort of a woman he wanted for a wife.'

best randomly inserted bit of information:
(talking about patented toothpick dispensers) "Some dispensers are more dynamic; they have hidden mechanisms that activate moving animals to deliver one toothpick at a time...A dispenser patented in 1913...took the form of a stork, whose beak was a "resilient bifurcated stem,"which is patent-talk for something like a flexible two-pronged fork. A plunger caused the body of the stork to pivot about its legs and dip its beak into a receptacle full of toothpicks. In order to have it retrieve one in its bill, the stem/fork had to be attached sideways, somewhat like the cockeyed stuck landing gear of the JetBlue airliner that had to make an emergency landing at the Los Angeles airport in 2005"
aHAHAHAHAHA

best chapters of the book:
--18 New Uses for Old which describes other manners in which toothpicks have been used (escaping from prison for example)
--27 The Fatal Martini which describes ways people have died from the toothpick. not actually as interesting as it sounds, but a heck of a lot more riveting than the rest...

[Jaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't bad. Considering it's subject matter, I actually breezed through it, learning a lot about toothpicks, patents, and business practices in the past. I really want to try a Brazilian rosewood hand-carved toothpick now!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know, I just thought it was very interesting.

I'm not...entirely certain what other reviewers thought they were going to read but yes. Yes, the entire book is about toothpicks. All 353 pages of it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know more about toothpicks than any sane person has the right to know - The first couple of chapters were the best in my opinion - early uses.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most boring book I have ever read! Paint drying would be more exciting. This book could have been ten pages long and accomplished the same thing.

[Jeff Siperly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Finished reading. 354 pages. Only paid $2.50 for it. Took me way too long to finish.

I now know EVERYTHING there is to know about toothpicks. All the people involved with toothpicks. All the types of woods, and other materials, to make toothpicks. All the ways toothpicks can be deadly/hurtful. All the shapes of toothpicks.
I’ll probably forget about 85% of what I now know about toothpicks within the next week. But, yeah, kinda interesting.

Kinda.

[Eileen Pace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this with your tongue in your cheek. Unless you really do want to know about the making, technology, history and culture of the toothpick.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

-4

[Miguel Panão · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written, but honestly, it was boring.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but I didn't find it. I think I was looking for broader lessons about technology and culture that more broadly applied to society, but those weren't present at all. Instead, this book is simply a very, very comprehensive history of the toothpick. But sometimes that history feels needlessly long. For instance, one of the Forster heirs moves to San Diego. That part is fine - but then he spends time telling us the brief history of someone with the same last name who already lived in San Diego, but wasn't important in any other way.

Overall, this is the type of book that I'm glad has been written, but not one I'm glad to have read. It's an impressive big of research - digging up a 1910's forestry graduate thesis as a source material, for instance - but I just don't need to know this much about toothpicks.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhaustive (and frankly, exhausting) look at the toothpick throughout history. Petroski is skilled at looking at common objects with an engineer's eyes. He is able to discuss the technology that helps make an object common in the first place (consistent, affordable reproduction) and the cultural impetus which makes a society value the effort to invest in that technology. When that happens an object becomes, almost paradoxically, common and iconic at the same time.

Just too much toothpick lore after a bit. I mean, the book starts with the fossilized teeth of early humans...and doesn't stop there. However, if you are interested in the intersection of technology with culture, I think you'd like this book.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book #18 completed for Book Riot Challenge: "A Microhistory"
I've always been curious to the origins of the toothpicks, given that I take handfuls from every dining establishment that offers them and keep them with me. So it was very interesting learning of the history and manufacturing and such, but the book itself read like a liberal arts college student's term paper on a subject that doesn't relate at all to their major. There was a lot of research involved, sure, but the writing style seemed to be forced together to connect thoughts and quotes and relevancy.

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to describe the ideal reader for this book. It has a lot of history, which I found interesting, but it also some engineering-related descriptions that I found difficult to follow (more pictures would have been nice). I also found a little redundant at times and thought he could have left out some of the detail. But it's certainly different and had lot of interesting information, and you can't deny his enthusiasm for the subject.

[Philbeert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can't help but question if this is a book-worthy subject. It really just felt like a way too long research paper with some interesting or amusing factoids thrown in. I love a toothpick and will continue to use them for numerous tasks in addition to their designated purpose but this book just wasn't necessary.

[Phil Breidenbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

While he did come up with some interesting facts and stories about...toothpicks, there really is only "so much" I need to know about them. I have to hand it to Henry for his fact finding skills. I have read a couple of his books, The Pencil, a lot like this one, and The Book on the Bookshelf, a book I could really relate to!
This book was so-so...

[Coral · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't bad ... It was just much, much more in-depth than I needed it to be. I was looking for something with more of a How It's Made bent than a full-blown history book.

[Emily]

What are the chances that my library will actually have a book that is exclusively about toothpicks? Also, what are the odds that you could have a friend who is nerdy enough to be interested in a book exclusively about toothpicks?

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Books that explore a particular common object within its cultural, historical, and technological context are popular right now. It's quite interesting when done properly. Unfortunately, this book was both exhaustive and exhausting. I would have liked it better at half the size, I think.

[Stephanie]

Dr. Petroski has written a number of books on the design of everyday objects. I'm particularly interested in this because Maine was the toothpick capital of the world at one time!

[Alan Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting points made in a disconnected and uninteresting manner.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointing. I loved his "The Pencil" and most of the rest of his work. According my wife they're all part of my "Boring Book of the Month" club but this one got really dry, even for me.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could you resist learning everything there is to know (in appropriately minute detail) about the genesis and bright future of the toothpick?

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have assumed that an object so commonly used would have such a rich history with such interesting stories.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

I often thought I was a victim of an elaborate practical joke designed to see who would actually finish the book, but I love Petrovsky's writing and I marvel at the thoroughness of his research.

[Corey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh, after 60 pages of aimless meandering thru various anecdotes (all of which are vaguely connected at best) about toothpicks...yeah, I'm bored (and done).

[David Webber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I now know more about toothpicks than any sane person has any reason to know

[Lanangbentara · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am just start reading now

[Cheri]

Petroski can find fascinating details in darn near anything, so I shouldn't have been surprised at how enjoyable this exploration of the humble toothpick was.

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much business culture and not enough technology for an entire book.