0
    • Elementary Secondary Higher Ed Common Reads
    0 0
    Download high-resolution image Look inside

    To Engineer Is Human

    The Role of Failure in Successful Design

    Author Henry Petroski
    Look inside
    Paperback
    $19.00 US
    Knopf | Vintage
    On sale Mar 31, 1992 | 272 Pages | 9780679734161
    Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies

    Petroski sites some great disasters--the 1980s collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel, the twisting apart of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940, and a water lily being the inspiration of the Crystal Palace, the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture and engineering--as case studies in 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.
    Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, where he also serves as chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The author of more than 15 books, he has received grants from the National Science Foundation and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center. View titles by Henry Petroski
    "Reading Petroski's fine book is not only a delight, it is a necessity." --Houston Chronicle

    "Serious, amusing, probing, sometimes frightening, and always literate." --Los Angeles Times 

    About

    Petroski sites some great disasters--the 1980s collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel, the twisting apart of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940, and a water lily being the inspiration of the Crystal Palace, the crowning achievement of Victorian architecture and engineering--as case studies in 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.

    Author

    Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, where he also serves as chairman of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The author of more than 15 books, he has received grants from the National Science Foundation and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center. View titles by Henry Petroski

    Praise

    "Reading Petroski's fine book is not only a delight, it is a necessity." --Houston Chronicle

    "Serious, amusing, probing, sometimes frightening, and always literate." --Los Angeles Times 

    Other Books by this Author

    Related Articles

    Books for Women's History Month Book Covers: We the Women 9780593727027 NIGHT FLYER 9780593491188 Undaunted 9780525659143 DEAR MISS PERKINS 9780806543178
    General

    Books for Women’s History Month

    In honor of Women’s History Month in March, we are sharing books by women who have shaped history and have fought for their communities. Our list includes books about women who fought for racial justice, abortion rights, equality in the workplace, and ranges in topics from women in politics and prominent women in history to

    Read more

    Books for Women’s History Month

    General
    Subscribe

    Penguin Random House Higher Education

    © 2026 Penguin Random House

    Back to Top
    0
    Wish List (0)