To Forgive Design : Understanding Failure / Henry Petroski.
2012
TA169.5 .P48 2012eb
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Details
Title
To Forgive Design : Understanding Failure / Henry Petroski.
Author
Petroski, Henry, author.
ISBN
9780674065437
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2012]
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (432 p.) : 12 halftones
Other Standard Identifiers
10.4159/harvard.9780674065437 doi
Call Number
TA169.5 .P48 2012eb
Summary
When planes crash, bridges collapse, and automobile gas tanks explode, we are quick to blame poor design. But Henry Petroski says we must look beyond design for causes and corrections. Known for his masterly explanations of engineering successes and failures, Petroski here takes his analysis a step further, to consider the larger context in which accidents occur. In To Forgive Design he surveys some of the most infamous failures of our time, from the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse and the toppling of a massive Shanghai apartment building in 2009 to Boston's prolonged Big Dig and the 2010 Gulf oil spill. These avoidable disasters reveal the interdependency of people and machines within systems whose complex behavior was undreamt of by their designers, until it was too late. Petroski shows that even the simplest technology is embedded in cultural and socioeconomic constraints, complications, and contradictions.Failure to imagine the possibility of failure is the most profound mistake engineers can make. Software developers realized this early on and looked outside their young field, to structural engineering, as they sought a historical perspective to help them identify their own potential mistakes. By explaining the interconnectedness of technology and culture and the dangers that can emerge from complexity, Petroski demonstrates that we would all do well to follow their lead.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
In
E-BOOK GESAMTPAKET / COMPLETE PACKAGE 2012
E-BOOK PACKAGE MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, ENGINEERING 2012
E-BOOK PAKET MATHEMATIK, PHYSIK, INGENIEURWISS. 2012
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
E-BOOK PACKAGE MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, ENGINEERING 2012
E-BOOK PAKET MATHEMATIK, PHYSIK, INGENIEURWISS. 2012
HUP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013 (Canada)
Harvard University Press eBook Package Backlist 2000-2013
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
CONTENTS
PREFACE
ONE. By Way of Concrete Examples
TWO. Things Happen
THREE. Designed to Fail
FOUR. Mechanics of Failure
FIVE. A Repeating Problem
SIX. The Old and the New
SEVEN. Searching for a Cause
EIGHT. The Obligation of an Engineer
NINE. Before, during, and after the Fall
TEN. Legal Matters
ELEVEN. Back-Seat Designers
TWELVE. Houston, You Have a Problem
THIRTEEN. Without a Leg to Stand On
FOURTEEN. History and Failure
Notes
Illustrations
Index
CONTENTS
PREFACE
ONE. By Way of Concrete Examples
TWO. Things Happen
THREE. Designed to Fail
FOUR. Mechanics of Failure
FIVE. A Repeating Problem
SIX. The Old and the New
SEVEN. Searching for a Cause
EIGHT. The Obligation of an Engineer
NINE. Before, during, and after the Fall
TEN. Legal Matters
ELEVEN. Back-Seat Designers
TWELVE. Houston, You Have a Problem
THIRTEEN. Without a Leg to Stand On
FOURTEEN. History and Failure
Notes
Illustrations
Index