To engineer is human : the role of failure in successful design
Petroski, Henry1992
Book
Total copies: 1
Examines the process of engineering design and explains what can be learned by studying unsuccessful designs and the reasons for their failure. 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.
Main title:
To engineer is human : the role of failure in successful design / Henry Petroski.
Author:
Edition:
1st Vintage Books ed.
Imprint:
New York : Vintage Books, 1992.
Collation:
p. cm.
Notes:
Originally published: New York : St. Martin's Press, 1985.Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:
9780679734161 (pbk)
Dewey class:
620.0042620
LC class:
TA174
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
337283