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The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artefacts - from Forks and Pins to Paperclips and Zippers - Came to be as They are by Henry Petroski (Paperback, 1997)

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Newsweek "Petroski is a valuable resource-an engineer who examines the simplest, most ubiquitous tools in our live with an appraising eye.". The Evolution of Useful Things. Short Title EVOLUTION OF USEFUL THINGS.

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Only Henry Petroski, author of The Pencil, could make one never pick up a paper clip again without being overcome with feelings of awe and reverence. In his new book the author examines a host of tech-trivia questions - how the fork got its tines, why Scotch tape is called that, how the paper clip evolved, how the Post-it te came to be, how the zipper was named, why aluminum cans have hollow bottoms - and provides us with answers that both astonish and challenge the imagination. In addition to an extended discussion of knives, forks, spoons, and other common devices, the author explains how the interplay of social and technical factors affects the development and use of such things as plastic bags, fast-food packaging, push-button telephones, and other modern conveniences. Throughout the book familiar objects serve to illustrate the general principles behind the evolution of all products of invention and engineering. Petroski shows, by way of these examples as well as a probing look at the patent process, that the single most important driving force behind techlogical change is the failure of existing devices to live up to their promise. As shortcomings become evident and articulated, new and improved versions of artifacts come into being through long and involved processes variously kwn as research and development, invention, and engineering. He further demonstrates how the evolving forms of techlogy generally are altered by our very use of them, and how they, in turn, alter our social and cultural behavior. In this wonderful mixture of history, biography, and design theory, Henry Petroski brings us to an understanding of an essential question: By what mechanism do theshapes and forms of our made world come to be?

Product Identifiers

Publisher
Random House USA Inc
ISBN-10
0679740392
ISBN-13
9780679740391
eBay Product ID (ePID)
105826873

Product Key Features

Author
Henry Petroski
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Popular Science

Additional Product Features

Place of Publication
NY
Content Note
Illustrations
Author Biography
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.
Date of Publication
01/03/1997
Imprint
Vintage Books
Country of Publication
United States

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item 1 The Evolution of Useful Things: How..., Petroski, Henry
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item 2 Henry Petroski The Evolution of Useful Things (Paperback)
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item 3 Henry Petroski The Evolution of Useful Things (Paperback) (US IMPORT)
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Picture 1 of 1

The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artefacts - from Forks and Pins to Paperclips and Zippers - Came to be as They are by Henry Petroski (Paperback, 1997)

About this product

Product Information

Product Identifiers

Product Key Features

Additional Product Features

All listings for this product

item 1 The Evolution of Useful Things: How..., Petroski, Henry

item 2 Henry Petroski The Evolution of Useful Things (Paperback)

item 3 Henry Petroski The Evolution of Useful Things (Paperback) (US IMPORT)

Best Selling in School Textbooks & Study Guides

Tracks, Scats and Other Traces: Reissue by Barbara Triggs (Paperback, 2004)

Self-Made Man: My Year Disguised as a Man by Norah Vincent (Paperback, 2006)

Save on School Textbooks & Study Guides

Powerless: Tiktok Made Me Buy It! an Epic and Sizzling Fantasy Romance Not to Be

Viktor Schauberger The Water Wizard (Paperback)

Targeting Mental Maths Australian Curriculum Year 5 - New Edition 2023

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