{"product_id":"the-evolution-of-useful-things-isbn-9780679740391","title":"The Evolution of Useful Things","description":"\u003cp\u003e   How did the table fork acquire a fourth tine?  What advantage does the Phillips-head screw have over its single-grooved predecessor? Why does the paper clip look the way it does? What makes Scotch tape Scotch?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e   In this delightful book Henry, Petroski takes a microscopic look at artifacts that most of us count on but rarely contemplate, including such icons of the everyday as pins, Post-its, and fast-food \"clamshell\" containers.  At the same time, he offers a convincing new theory of technological innovation as a response to the perceived failures of existing products—suggesting that irritation, and not necessity, is the mother of invention.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A celebration of inventiveness...By cataloging the clutter of our desks, closets, and workbenches, and giving them a human history, Petroski makes us feel more at home in our homes.\"- \u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Petroski is a valuable resource—an engineer who examines the simplest, most ubiquitous tools in our live with an appraising eye.\"- \u003ci\u003eWashington Post Book World\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Mr. Petroski's case histories delightfully illustrate his thesis... You never know when you will turn a page and find some tiny corner of your mind enlightened.\"- \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Petroski has an eye for the mundane that distracts and delights... [His] wealth of literary and cultural references runs from Aristotle... to Russell Baker... The book has substance.\"- \u003ci\u003eNewsday\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHenry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University. The author of more than a dozen previous books, he lives in Durham, North Carolina, and Arrowsic, Maine.Author of To Engineer is Human and The Pencil","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304380846309,"sku":"NP9780679740391","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780679740391.jpg?v=1767739238","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-evolution-of-useful-things-isbn-9780679740391","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}