Argues that failures in structural engineering are not necessarily due to the physical design of the structures, but instead a misunderstanding of how cultural and socioeconomic constraints would affect the structures.

This book examines the importance of engineering design as well as society's ability to respond to design flaws.

Science/Engineering "Petroski has an inquisitive mind, and he is a fine writer. . . . [He] takes us on a lively tour of engineers, their creations and their necessary turns of mind." --Los Angeles Times From the Ferris wheel to the integrated circuit, feats of engineering have changed our environment in countless ways, big and small. In Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering, Duke University's Henry Petroski focuses on the big: Malaysia's 1,482-foot Petronas Towers as well as the Panama Canal, a cut through the continental divide that required the excavation of 311 million cubic yards of earth. Remaking the World tells the stories behind the man-made wonders of the world, from squabbles over the naming of the Hoover Dam to the effects the Titanic disaster had on the engineering community of 1912. Here, too, are the stories of the personalities behind the wonders, from the jaunty Isambard Kingdom Brunel, designer of nineteenth-century transatlantic steamships, to Charles Steinmetz, oddball genius of the General Electric Company, whose office of preference was a battered twelve-foot canoe. Spirited and absorbing, Remaking the World is a celebration of the creative instinct and of the men and women whose inspirations have immeasurably improved our world. "Petroski [is] America's poet laureate of technology. . . . Remaking the World is another fine book." --Houston Chronicle "Remaking the World really is an adventure in engineering." --San Diego Union-Tribune

The authors present a model and a case study for understanding and dealing with anger, a discussion of forgiveness, a model for increasing self-esteem, and more. Clear and readable.

“Though ours is an age of high technology, the essence of what engineering is and what engineers do is not common knowledge. Even the most elementary of principles upon which great bridges, jumbo jets, or super computers are built are alien concepts to many. This is so in part because engineering as a human endeavor is not yet integrated into our culture and intellectual tradition. And while educators are currently wrestling with the problem of introducing technology into conventional academic curricula, thus better preparing today’s students for life in a world increasingly technological, there is as yet no consensus as to how technological literacy can best be achieved. " I believe, and I argue in this essay, that the ideas of engineering are in fact in our bones and part of our human nature and experience. Furthermore, I believe that an understanding and an appreciation of engineers and engineering can be gotten without an engineering or technical education. Thus I hope that the technologically uninitiated will come to read what I have written as an introduction to technology. Indeed, this book is my answer to the questions 'What is engineering?' and 'What do engineers do?'" - Henry Petroski, To Engineer is Human

An illuminating journey through today's fascinating world of design. What can we learn from the ways great designers think-and how can it improve our lives? In CAD Monkeys, Dinosaur Babies, and T-Shaped People Warren Berger, in collaboration with celebrated designer Bruce Mau, revolutionizes our understanding of design and unlocks the secrets of the trade. Looking to the creative problem-solving work of design professionals, Berger reveals that design is a mindset, a way of looking at the world with an eye toward improving it. The practice of design-thinking opens readers to their innate capacity for reimagining the world around them.

Amber Sparks holds her crown in the canon of the weird with this fantastical collection of “eye-popping range” (John Domini, Washington Post). Boldly blending fables and myths with apocalyptic technologies, Amber Sparks has built a cultlike following with And I Do Not Forgive You. Fueled by feminism in all its colors, her surreal worlds—like Kelly Link’s and Karen Russell’s—are all-too-real. In “Mildly Happy, With Moments of Joy,” a friend is ghosted by a text message; in “Everyone’s a Winner at Meadow Park,” a teen coming-of-age in a trailer park befriends an actual ghost. Rife with “sharp wit, and an abiding tenderness” (Ilana Masad, NPR), these stories shine an interrogating light on the adage that “history likes to lie about women,” as the subjects of “You Won’t Believe What Really Happened to the Sabine Women” will attest. Written in prose that both shimmers and stings, the result is “nothing short of a raging success, a volume that points to a potentially incandescent literary future” (Kurt Baumeister, The Brooklyn Rail).

Massive Change is a modern illustrated primer on the new inventions, technologies, and events that are affecting the human race worldwide. The book is a part of a broader research project by Bruce Mau Design intended to provoke debate and discussion about the familiar objects and techniques that are transforming our lives. In essays, interviews, and provocative imagery aimed at a broad audience, Massive Change explores the changing force of design in the contemporary world, and in doing so expands the definition of design to include the built environment, transportation technologies, revolutionary materials, energy and information systems, and living organisms. The book is divided into 11 heavily illustrated sections covering major areas of change in contemporary society - such as urbanism and architecture, the military, health and living, and wealth and politics. introductory essay, extended captions, and interviews with leading thinkers, including engineers, designers, philosophers, scientists, architects, artists, and writers. Concluding the book is a graphic timeline of significant inventions and world events from 10,000 B.C. to the present. Massive Change is the umbrella name for wide-ranging research project initiated by Bruce Mau Design and the Institute Without Boundaries, a new post-graduate design program headquartered at his studio. The project will include not only this book but also a travelling exhibition, public events, an on-line forum, a documentary television project, posters, and a product line. The overall aim of the project is to explore the changing force of design in the contemporary world. The book focuses on the powerful, newly designed technologies and systems (and the failure of outmoded ones) that increasingly influence our daily lives. the debate about genetically modified foods, the race to decode human the human genome, the development and worldwide trafficking of sophisticated military weapons - even the increasingly intrusive security systems at airports: all are examples of massive changes that involve the field of design. The book presents images and text that explore the impact of these subjects, both the seemingly mundane as well as the mind-boggling and microscopic. As the text in Massive Change explains: No longer associated simply with objects and appearances, design is increasingly understood in a much wider sense as the human capacity to plan and produce desired outcomes. The book is divided into 11 sections, each focusing on a specific economy at work in the world today, both the traditional (such as manufacturing), and the often-invisible (globalization and politics). The pages combine images, extended captions, general essays, and interviews in a clean, simple design. The imagery in Massive Change is irresistible, and stands alone as a compelling reason to own this book. beautiful. For example, a photo of a smoky blue blob, as the caption explains, is really Aerogel, a material developed by NASA to collect fast-moving space dust. And a featherless, naked chicken staring at us from the page is just that: a new, genetically engineered broiler that requires no plucking and yields more meat, a boon to poultry producers yet a frightening harbinger of our future food supply. Massive Change is a well designed, intelligent, visually provocative exploration of the myriad subjects percolating through popular culture: those we read about in magazines and on Web sites but rarely understand in any meaningful way. It poses the question: Now that the human race can do almost anything, what will we do next?

Inspiring guidance for the principles of designing for humans.

This pocket edition of the bestselling design reference book contains 150 essential principles.