To Engineer Is Human
The Role of Failure in Successful Design
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group · Print & ebook · March 31, 1992
How did a simple design error cause one of the great disasters of the 1980s - the collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel?
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- Who it’s for
- Engineering’s failures and successes become a lively way to rethink progress, perfection, and design.
- Themes
- Failure in engineering design, Progress and perfection, Science in everyday life
- Pacing
- Reflective
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For younger readers: Women of Steel and Stone, My First Book About Engineering, Dead Ends!
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Start with this bookAbout this book
How did a simple design error cause one of the great disasters of the 1980s - the collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel? What made the graceful and innovative Tacoma Narrows Bridge twist apart in a mild wind in 1940? How did an oversized waterlily inspire the magnificent Crystal Palace, the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture and engineering?
Continue reading
These are some of the failures and successes that Henry Petroski, author of the acclaimed The Pencil, examines in this engaging, wonderfully literate book. More than a series of fascinating case studies, To Engineer is Human is a work that looks at our deepest notions of progress and perfection, tracing the fine connection between the quantifiable realm of science and the chaotic realities of everyday life.
Design Under Pressure
Engineering’s failures and successes become a lively way to rethink progress, perfection, and design.
Come here for
- Engineering case studies, from a bridge’s collapse to the Crystal Palace
- A close look at how design meets the untidiness of everyday life
Expect
- A literate blend of engineering examples and larger questions
- Attention to the narrow line between scientific calculation and real-world complexity
Where it sits
| History of Technology | 43% |
|---|---|
| Design History | 35% |
| Engineering | 28% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Construction
- Civil Engineering
- History of Technology
- Authors
- Henry Petroski
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Published
- March 31, 1992
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Failure in engineering design · Progress and perfection · Science in everyday life
- Reading lane
- Construction