Download PDF The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are

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The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are

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Amazon.com Review

This surprising book may appear to be about the simple things of life--forks, paper clips, zippers--but in fact it is a far-flung historical adventure on the evolution of common culture. To trace the fork's history, Duke University professor of civil engineering Henry Petroski travels from prehistoric times to Texas barbecue to Cardinal Richelieu to England's Industrial Revolution to the American Civil War--and beyond. Each item described offers a cultural history lesson, plus there's plenty of engineering detail for those so inclined.

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Review

"A celebration of inventiveness...By cataloging the clutter of our desks, closets, and workbenches, and giving them a human history, Petroski makes us feel more at home in our homes."- Newsweek"Petroski is a valuable resource—an engineer who examines the simplest, most ubiquitous tools in our live with an appraising eye."- Washington Post Book World"Mr. Petroski's case histories delightfully illustrate his thesis... You never know when you will turn a page and find some tiny corner of your mind enlightened."- The New York Times"Petroski has an eye for the mundane that distracts and delights... [His] wealth of literary and cultural references runs from Aristotle... to Russell Baker... The book has substance."- Newsday

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Product details

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (February 1, 1994)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780679740391

ISBN-13: 978-0679740391

ASIN: 0679740392

Product Dimensions:

5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

3.7 out of 5 stars

48 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#184,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

On the face of it, the Evolution of Useful Things simply lists fun trivia about familiar objects. Why does a fork have four tines and not two or three? What's a perfect paperclip? Is there such a thing? Who invented the zipper? How many things can you see on your desk right now?However the book gives us much more. Petroski uses a large number of concrete facts to present general laws of human thought and activity. The paper clip appeared because pins used to hold papers together made holes in them and could injure someone looking through files, but it took a while for it to reach the form we know today. We invent new things because we are dissatisfied when we find problems. Form follows not function, but failure.While small objects play the center role here, large machines such as locomotives and large projects such as bridges also come up. Petroski argues that for his concepts to be valid, they must apply to the great as well as the small and he shows that engineers design new bridges or tunnels by solving problems observed found while building other bridges and tunnels.The book's title is especially good. The evolution of man-made things differs fundamentally from the evolution of living things. Natural selection follows a mindless process of sifting through countless minute _random_ changes. Things, however, evolve through a different process of sifting through countless _intended_ changes (sometimes small, somtimes large) until something arises that works better than before.Petroski's writing does annoy me a little; he's got some really bad puns. For example he follows two different quotations of how to manufacture a needle with the phrase "there's more than one way to make a point." Another problem is that he repeats himself. For instance, he twice mentions Karl Marx's astonishment at finding 500 different kinds of hammers in a Birmingham factory.But the originality of his thesis far outweighs these minor flaws. Henry Petroski is a philosopher of engineering examining the question of why we invent things. He asks why we are always perfecting our inventions, why we are never satisfied with our tools as they are. His proposed answers in no small way explain much of the history of our rich living environment with its tens of thousands of useful things.Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

This book held my interest from the first page to the last. I like the logical yet sensible way the author develops his theme (in my opinion) - that there really is no such thing as an original invention. Every so-called invention is actually an improvement on an earlier design and/or a synthesis of multiple design components into a new combination. The examples are simple to understand. All in all, this is a positively fascinating book. I bought this book years ago. The one I bought from Amazon was for a friend. I not only recommend it, I buy it for friends and family.

Mr. Petroski takes that everyday, and tells us the story behind them. His mastery of the subject is evident, and his writing makes it a please to read.

I love all of Petroski's books, and this is no exception. A fantastic look at the design process and how failure governs the advancement of even the most mundane objects. Worth a read for any aspiring engineer, designer, or anyone with a hands-on or technical bent.

Petroski never fails to educate on inventions of everyday life and make these discoveries seem thrilled. Love the book.

Very interesting account of how every day items began and evolved. From the development of the paper to the remarkable changes to the telephone. The material was interesting and ptesented in an entertaining way.

Excelente

I got this for my budding inventor, 12 yo nephew. He loved it, plus another boy his age wants a copy. They are high skilled readers, admittedly, but it's not just for engineers.

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The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are PDF

The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are PDF

The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are PDF