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

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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Being Human
Comment: To Engineer is Human To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Designis a wonderful read, for all the reasons in other reviews posted here (and elsewhere I'm sure) and more. DISCLAIMER: I am not an engineer, nor do I play one on television or YouTube.

I picked up this book because of its subtitle "the role of failure in successful design." What could I learn from another discipline's perspective on successes and failures in creating a product? I think if readers come at Petroski's work from this angle (and many have, do, and will) the self-reflective dissection of why things don't work, go wrong, or prove fatal is a necessary skill and habit for anyone walking among the rest of the human population (as well as our animal and environmental cohabitants). Whether it is labeled critical thinking or something else (self-improvement in reverse perhaps), this is a good introduction to "being human" - the first chapter.

One of the major lessons either in school or in life is to learn from our missteps, mistakes, and misadventures. Easier said than done. Aside from the medical or nuclear professions perhaps the many facets of engineering is equally important. For instance, I came away learning from Petroski a little bit more about walkways, railroad bridges, and other things that occasionally fall down - and why, and the things around us that do not (and why). The lesson, as every student of history (rightly or wrongly) concedes on some level to Santayana's aphorism on repetitive consequences, is simply hopefully we learn from our mistakes and do better the next time around. As I think about this I wish I could find my copy of Robert Fulghum's All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

Perhaps the ironic (or iconic) jewel of this book on engineering failures is the one that should have failed but didn't: the Crystal Palace. I won't spoil the chapter for you, although the story like some many others, including the opening collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel skywalks, is one of the recurring themes throughout To Engineer is Human. Simply, the idea was to create a temporary structure for the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. This temporary structure lasted in some form, however, until finally demolished in 1940. The longevity of this structure notwithstanding, this is not a dry rehash of a building. As with all the chapters in this slim book, there is a moral to this story - and a lesson for more than engineers. The moral, of the book as well, is that "[t]he object of engineering design is to obviate failure, but the truly fail-proof design is chimerical" (217).

How do we prevent failure if it is a moving target? After almost thirty years, Petroski's wonderful book is a good starting place and surely a "successful design" by the standards of the essays and ideas circulating in this book. I recommend this book for everyone with a general interest in figuring things out. Whether it's actual engineering (including software), or simply gaining a more reflective view of other career paths, To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Very pleased
Comment: I was very impressed with the book and the speed in which I received it. It was exactly as promised and arrived much quicker than I expected. I would do business with this seller again and as always am grateful to Amazon for contracting with sellers this way. I like to buy used books and appreciate that you take care of all the financial end. I feel very secure buying this way. Thank you

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Those who don't Learn from History are Doomed to Repeat It!
Comment: I found the book absolutely fascinating, especially since I am a mechanical engineer by education and experience. To Engineer is Human covers some of the greatest engineering disasters in modern times such as the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapse, the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Walkways collapse and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Henry Petroski explains the engineering disaster in great detail and then explores the causes and effects. He then explores how (if possible) the disaster could have been avoided.

Well written and understandable this book is a masterpiece. One of the primary things that all good engineers do is to contemplate the "lessons learned" after any significant endeavor...whether it has good or bad results. As the old saying goes: Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it!

Engineers as well as anyone else who has an interest in engineering marvels and what can go wrong will find this book entertaining, informative and well researched.

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Nice collection of essays
Comment: The title suggests a coherent essay on 'failure', but the actual content is a collection of essays loosely brought together by the theme 'engineering is about preventing failure'. Some chapters focus on the history of engineering, others on the nature of failure. If one essay bores you, just flip to the next chapter. The articles can be read in any order. All in all, a very thought provoking book.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Tedious answer to a stupid question
Comment: This book tries to answer the question of why the stuff built by engineers break, what a stupid quesion. Stuff breaks and stops working all the time, that's why we have quality control in factories. If someone thinks we can make something perfectly the first time and every time he must've been born yesterday or smoking. Think about the first plane built or the first car, the first train, the first computer, MP3 players that stops working in a week, umbrellas that flip in the wind... Maybe people don't die when these things break, maybe they do... but this has always been how technology develops---it improves over time.

The title of the book suggests that things built by God do not fail, wrong! Humans get sick, ozone layer gets holes, species go extinct, the Old Man of the Mountain falls flat on his face, and how about birth defects, the list goes on.

Not a well thought out book. And trust me when I say the writing style puts even a true nerd to sleep.

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