To Engineer is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

by Henry Petroski

Book Overview

The perfect gift for engineers and curious minds: 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.

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679734163
• ISBN13: 9780679734161
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Not an easy read

Not an easy read

To err is human . . .

If we wanted to design machines and structures that never failed, cars would last fifty years yet cost half a million dollars. There would be no DC-10's falling from the sky, but people couldn't afford to travel in them. But nature, indifferent engineering (and excessive innovation) sometimes throw us dirty curves, as witness the suspension bridge across Puget Sound that bucked and wiggled so in cross-winds that it garnered the nickname "Galloping Gertie" and failed spectacularly in 1940, making for a great cover photo of this book. (On the other hand, the much wider Golden Gate Bridge outside San Francisco has a similar design, but has not been prone to catastrophic failure.) An example of too much innovation came when two pedestrian decks in the atrium of the Hyatt Regency - Kansas City suddenly collapsed during a tea dance in 1981, instantly killing over 100 people. Author Henry Petroski takes up a great deal of this book with that disaster, and why it took so long to figure things out. (The law and constrained economics had a lot to do with it.) In late June of 2021 half of an ocean-side condominium in southern Florida unexpectedly and spectacularly collapsed, with similar loss of life. New books will follow on that subject -- written by some other structural expert if not Petroski himself -- but if they are as well written as Henry Petroski's many prior books explaining structural engineering to the layman, they will likely prove easily understandable if not necessarily fully comforting.

Those who don't Learn from History are Doomed to Repeat It!

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

How Things Break

This little gem is an analysis of engineering failures, and the learning that occurs due to these failures. While he is himself a professor of engineering, Petroski uses language comprehensible to the layman making this book accessible to almost anyone. During the course of the book he argues that engineering is part art and part science, and that as a discipline engineers focus on building safe, affordable, and reliable things (from paper clips to airliners) to meet a set of requirements. He goes on to elaborate that, being human, engineers make errors and sometimes spectacular failures ensue. The key, he argues, is that once errors are exposed, engineers can glean knowledge from those problems to improve future designs.He uses accessible examples that most people can readily relate to, from researching failure modes on one of his son's toys (the components used most frequently failed first, just like a frequently used light bulb burns out more quickly due to metal fatigue and subsequent cracking), to the deadly collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel walkways, which killed over 100 people. He also discusses easy to comprehend failures (suspension bridges in strong wind), and more intricate interactions, such as was revealed in the Chicago DC-10 accident. Throughout, he retains an aura of good humor and approachability, which makes this book far more readable than most books in this field. My only complaint about the book is not even the fault of Mr. Petroski at all: the font in the book is very small, and combined with small borders, the book is a bit tough to physically read. Small matter, though, as once you start the book, you will not want to put it down. Well done.

Looking for the perfect gift for the man who has everything?

Here it is. I purchased this for my Dad, 79 years young. Finding anything for him, that he hasn't seen, heard or done is very difficult. Imagine my surprise when he sent me a note stating this was the BEST gift he'd received in a long time! I also bought him "the Evolution of Useful Things"... same message! Both are super-duper gifts!

What every engineer and designer should know...

Why do buildings and bridges suddenly collapse, or why do airplanes fall out of the sky ? Even though since the start of the industrial revolution the relative number of disastrous accidents has gone down, it is still a daily event. Some great examples are given (most prominently the walkway of a Houston hotel that collapsed during the opening ceremony) with pictures and detailed analysis. Great stuff even for non civil-engineers since with some imagination you may learn some more general design lessons. The editorial side of the book is less impressing, most facts and interpretations are repeated 3 or 4 times throughout the book (excluding the introduction and back flap) so I never got further than 3 quarters into it, preventing myself from another deja vu. In any way, a veryimportant and useful read.