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Design pervades our lives. Everything from
drafting a PowerPoint presentation to planning a state-of-the-art
bridge embodies this universal human activity. But what
makes a great design? In this compelling and wide-ranging
look at the essence of invention, distinguished engineer
and author Henry Petroski argues that, time and again, we
have built success on the back of failure -- not through
easy imitation of success.
Success through Failure shows us
that making something better -- by carefully anticipating
and thus averting failure -- is what invention and design
are all about. Petroski explores the nature of invention
and the character of the inventor through an unprecedented
range of both everyday and extraordinary examples -- illustrated
lectures, child-resistant packaging for drugs, national
constitutions, medical devices, the world's tallest skyscrapers,
long-span bridges, and more. Stressing throughout that there
is no surer road to eventual failure than modeling designs
solely on past successes, he sheds new light on spectacular
failures, from the destruction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
in 1940 and the space shuttle disasters of recent decades,
to the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001.
Petroski also looks at the prehistoric and
ancient roots of many modern designs. The historical record,
especially as embodied in failures, reveals patterns of
human social behavior that have implications for large structures
like bridges and vast organizations like NASA. Success
through Failure -- which will fascinate anyone intrigued
by design, including engineers, architects, and designers
themselves -- concludes by speculating on when we can expect
the next major bridge failure to occur, and the kind of
bridge most likely to be involved.
Henry Petroski is Aleksandar S. Vesic
Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history
at Duke University. He is the author of To Engineer
Is Human (Vintage), and was the writer and presenter
of the BBC television documentary of the same title. His
many other books on engineering and design include The
Pencil (Knopf), The Evolution of Useful Things
(Vintage), and Small Things Considered (Vintage).
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