Success through Failure: The Paradox of Design
3/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Design pervades our lives. Everything from drafting a PowerPoint presentation to planning a state-of-the-art bridge embodies this universal human activity. But what makes a great design? In this compelling and wide-ranging look at the essence of invention, distinguished engineer and author Henry Petroski argues that, time and again, we have built success on the back of failure--not through easy imitation of success.
Success through Failure shows us that making something better--by carefully anticipating and thus averting failure--is what invention and design are all about. Petroski explores the nature of invention and the character of the inventor through an unprecedented range of both everyday and extraordinary examples--illustrated lectures, child-resistant packaging for drugs, national constitutions, medical devices, the world's tallest skyscrapers, long-span bridges, and more. Stressing throughout that there is no surer road to eventual failure than modeling designs solely on past successes, he sheds new light on spectacular failures, from the destruction of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 and the space shuttle disasters of recent decades, to the collapse of the World Trade Center in 2001.
Petroski also looks at the prehistoric and ancient roots of many modern designs. The historical record, especially as embodied in failures, reveals patterns of human social behavior that have implications for large structures like bridges and vast organizations like NASA. Success through Failure--which will fascinate anyone intrigued by design, including engineers, architects, and designers themselves--concludes by speculating on when we can expect the next major bridge failure to occur, and the kind of bridge most likely to be involved.
Read more from Henry Petroski
The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Success through Failure
Related ebooks
Semiconductors and the Information Revolution: Magic Crystals that made IT Happen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMade to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things Fall Together: A Guide to the New Materials Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUrban Innuendoes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper Structures: The Science of Bridges, Buildings, Dams, and Other Feats of Engineering Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Science in the Age of Computer Simulation Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Thing Knowledge: A Philosophy of Scientific Instruments Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Creativity, Problem Solving, and Aesthetics in Engineering: Today's Engineers Turning Dreams into Reality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Existential Pleasures of Engineering Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Structural Intuitions: Seeing Shapes in Art and Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat is a Department of Computer Science? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNanoCulture: Implications of the New Technoscience Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Rift: Literacy, Numeracy, and the Religion-Science Divide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Oracle Bones to Computers: The Emergence of Writing Technologies in China Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5How We Think: Digital Media and Contemporary Technogenesis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Connections Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gravity's Ghost: Scientific Discovery in the Twenty-first Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScientific American Science Desk Reference Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Expansion & Innovation: The Story of Western Engineering 1954-1999 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bit and the Pendulum: From Quantum Computing to M Theory--The New Physics of Information Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Giza Power Plant: Technologies of Ancient Egypt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay: Britain's Worst Engineering Disaster Revisited Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bold and the Brave: A History of Women in Science and Engineering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGet Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Impersonal Enunciation, or the Place of Film Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Glass Bathyscaphe: How Glass Changed the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learning About Atoms, Grades 4 - 8 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science & Mathematics For You
The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Think Critically: Question, Analyze, Reflect, Debate. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Activate Your Brain: How Understanding Your Brain Can Improve Your Work - and Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nikola Tesla: Imagination and the Man That Invented the 20th Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness, and Save the Planet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5No-Drama Discipline: the bestselling parenting guide to nurturing your child's developing mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Systems Thinker: Essential Thinking Skills For Solving Problems, Managing Chaos, Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Guide to Memory: The Science of Strengthening Your Mind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Metaphors We Live By Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential--and Endangered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Stone Unturned: The True Story of the World's Premier Forensic Investigators Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Success through Failure
12 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I was expecting an exploration of the role of failure in improving designs and how to apply the lessons we learn when we don't succeed. The amount of discussion on failure itself in this book could be condensed into a pamphlet. Instead, the author devotes the first chapter to the evolution of Powerpoint, starting with cave paintings, and numerous examples of failed structures with a paragraph or two following each example essentially saying "and they learned not to do that again". I would recommend this book for people looking for examples to support their own research into failure, but don't expect to come away from this with any new insight.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Good title, but the rest of the book was a failure for me.I had assumed it would advance a thesis with many examples about how success had emerged from failure. It's actually more about technology history and engineering, a loosely-connected set of chapters based on some talks he did.Although I'm usually interested in a lot of obscure information, the author's writing style generally didn't engage me."The evolution of a few technologies: From presentations to bridges" would have been a more accurate title.