To Engineer Is Human

The Role of Failure in Successful Design

Henry Petroski

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Paperback

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English

Vintage Books
04 August 1992

Architectural structure & design; Civil engineering, surveying & building

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? 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.

By: Henry Petroski
Imprint: Vintage Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 201mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 227g
ISBN: 9780679734161
ISBN 10: 0679734163
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 04 August 1992
Audience: College/higher education , Adult education , General/trade , A / AS level , Tertiary & Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. The author of more than a dozen previous books, he lives in Durham, North Carolina, and Arrowsic, Maine.

Reviews for To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

Reading Petroski's fine book is not only a delight, it is a necessity. --Houston Chronicle Serious, amusing, probing, sometimes frightening, and always literate. --Los Angeles Times