To Engineer Is Human: The Role of
Failure in Successful Design by
Henry Petroski
Those Who Don't Learn From History Are Doomed To Repeat It!
The moral of this book is that behind every great engineering success is a
trail of often ignored (but frequently spectacular) engineering failures.
Petroski covers many of the best known examples of well-intentioned but
ultimately failed design in action -- the galloping Tacoma Narrows Bridge
(which youve probably seen tossing cars willy-nilly in the famous black-
and-white footage), the collapse of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel
walkways -- and many lesser known but equally informative examples.
The line of reasoning Petroski develops in this book were later formalized
into his quasi-Darwinian model of technological evolution in The Evolution
of Useful Things, but this book is arguably the more illuminating -- and
defintely the more enjoyable -- of these two titles. Highly recommended.
Personal Review: To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in
Successful Design by Henry Petroski

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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