- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf (Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1400040507
- ISBN-13: 978-1400040506
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.7 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 949,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Henry Petroski, “America’s poet laureate of technology” (Kirkus Reviews)–author of The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things–now gives us an entertaining and perceptive study of design in everyday life, while revealing the checkered pasts, and some possible futures, of familiar objects.
Chairs, lightbulbs, cup holders, toothbrushes, doorknobs, light switches, potato peelers, paper bags, duct tape–as ubiquitous as these may be, they are still works in progress. The design of such ordinary items demonstrates the simple brilliance of human creativity, while at the same time showing the frustration of getting anything completely right. Nothing’s perfect, and so the quest for perfection continues to continue.
In this engrossing and insightful book, Petroski takes us inside the creative process by which common objects are invented and improved upon in pursuit of the ever-elusive perfect thing. He shows us, for instance, how the disposable paper cup became a popular commercial success only after the public learned that shared water glasses could carry germs; how it took years, an abundance of business panache, and many discarded models–from cups that opened like paper bags to those that came with pleats–for the inventor of the paper cup to arrive at what we now use and toss away without so much as a thought for its fascinating history.
A trenchant, surprising evaluation of why some designs succeed and others don’t, Small Things Considered is also an utterly delightful study of human nature.
Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, lives in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of ten previous books.
Chairs, lightbulbs, cup holders, toothbrushes, doorknobs, light switches, potato peelers, paper bags, duct tape–as ubiquitous as these may be, they are still works in progress. The design of such ordinary items demonstrates the simple brilliance of human creativity, while at the same time showing the frustration of getting anything completely right. Nothing’s perfect, and so the quest for perfection continues to continue.
In this engrossing and insightful book, Petroski takes us inside the creative process by which common objects are invented and improved upon in pursuit of the ever-elusive perfect thing. He shows us, for instance, how the disposable paper cup became a popular commercial success only after the public learned that shared water glasses could carry germs; how it took years, an abundance of business panache, and many discarded models–from cups that opened like paper bags to those that came with pleats–for the inventor of the paper cup to arrive at what we now use and toss away without so much as a thought for its fascinating history.
A trenchant, surprising evaluation of why some designs succeed and others don’t, Small Things Considered is also an utterly delightful study of human nature.
Henry Petroski, the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University, lives in Durham, North Carolina. He is the author of ten previous books.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Design is not simple a matter of imagination; ergonomics, previous design, surroundings, materials and anatomy all have an influence on the design of things we use. Author Petroski wanders from toothbrushes (those ergonomically comfortable handles that help you brush don't fit into the toothbrush holder on the wall anymore) to drinking glasses (stylish square-shaped old-fashioned glasses can have you dribbling like a three-year old.) He takes the most mundane items (shopping bags, doors) as illustrations for the designer, the engineer and the lay person to consider; what are the rules of design and what influences must you take into consideration.
I am a fan of Petroski's books; another book "To Engineer is Human" answers the question why that hotel walkway in Kansas City collapsed in the 1980's, killing and maiming hundreds. The designer failed to consider how the bolt holding the beam to the upright supports could actually be physically built, and the builder took the design and altered it, cutting the uprights in two and thus changing the characteristics of the beam's behavior under load stress. In "Small Things Considered", Petroski takes the most simple items and illustrates how human behavior and design go hand in hand. A delightful book to read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
20 reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
This should have been a 5-star book
25 Jan 2004
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is written by someone who has written other wonderful books about what it means to be an engineer. The topic of this book -- the design of everyday items -- should offer sufficient scope for another interesting book. And indeed, the book has lots of interesting information in it. The main thesis (that design is always imperfect, and the reasons why this is so) seems as if it ought to be sufficiently engaging to hold my attention through a book-length engagement with it.
Alas, the book is so poorly written that it fails on all levels. I gave it three stars because it was quite educational. On the other hand, given the author's track record and the inherent interest of the topic, three stars is an enormous disappointment. Finishing the book was hard, and I would not blame anyone who just gave up. Perhaps the author had a half-book worth of content and was forced to bulk it up to make the required word count? I don't know what happened, but I can't really recommend the book unless you are desperate to know how the paper cup came to be invented.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Let's learn to accept "less than perfect"
4 Oct 2003
Format:Hardcover
Advertising is based on the idea of convincing consumers that a perfect product will bring perfect happiness; Petroski offers the cold reality that since every product and service is created by humans, there is no perfect design.
Petroski is an engineer.
The first thing engineers learn, based on my ancient ordeal as an engineering student, is that nothing is perfect. Everything involves choices and compromises. Even when an engineer built "the one hoss shay" with such perfection that no single part would fail first, one flaw remained -- when it wore out, the whole thing collapsed instantly and completely.
At first, this book annoyed me. His first example of the epitome of design is the little plastic tripod that keeps the lid of a pizza box from being crushed onto the gooey surface of the hot pizza inside. There isn't even a name for that little tripod; failing anything else, you'd think someone would name it "Sam" in honor of holding up the roof. Samson, after all, was strong, useful and not quite perfect.
Yet, such is the genius of this book. He could have written about the design flaws that have caused two Space Shuttle disasters; instead, he takes everyday items we are completely familiar with and explains why these designs are less than perfect.
When an author can devote half-a-chapter to the design challenges of cup holders in a 1996 Volvo and make it interesting, you know he's onto something. Understanding why a cup holder in a car falls short of a perfect design, and why chairs, lightbulbs, door knobs, potato peelers, toothbrushes, paper bags and duct tape are still works in progress, gives you an appreciation for the design flaws in a Space Shuttle and in the human organization which launches Shuttles or even those which run the "intelligence" agencies. Only TV sitcoms and dramas offer "perfect" solutions -- which, in itself, is the major flaw of television.
Newspapers are sometimes called "a journal to expose the faults of the world and the typogarphical errors of its staff." The humour is barbed, but true. Petroski takes that idea a major leap forward, showing us in everyday terms why everything human's design is less than perfect. On that basis, he asks for an acceptance of the inevitable flaws of technology.
On the same basis, this book will give any thoughtful reader an appreciation of why everything is somewhat less than perfect, and thus all people should be ready to accept the inevitable flaws of others.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
It's OK, but that's all I can say
5 April 2005
Format:Paperback
This was one of those books that I picked up thinking "wow, this is going to be great", and it just, well, wasn't. Although it has lots of interesting tidbits information, it is really windy. You have to sift through a lot of self-indulgent nonsense to get to the good stuff.
For instance, I thought Petroski's description early in the book of the drinking glass was neat, and as the subject of a short essay, it would have been so. But after another hundred-odd pages of similar descriptions (including a very tedious chapter about home-buying which made me wonder if the author believes he's the only person who's ever gone house-shopping), the book started to seem like an excuse for a grumbling, griping brain-dump. Henry Petroski writes a lot of books about designing mundane things, but I suspect that much of it is the same book over and over. I also suspect that like many professors, he really, really loves the sound of his own voice.
The book is worth reading if you like these kinds of books (and I do), but for entertaining ranting, I'll take Bill Bryson any day.
For instance, I thought Petroski's description early in the book of the drinking glass was neat, and as the subject of a short essay, it would have been so. But after another hundred-odd pages of similar descriptions (including a very tedious chapter about home-buying which made me wonder if the author believes he's the only person who's ever gone house-shopping), the book started to seem like an excuse for a grumbling, griping brain-dump. Henry Petroski writes a lot of books about designing mundane things, but I suspect that much of it is the same book over and over. I also suspect that like many professors, he really, really loves the sound of his own voice.
The book is worth reading if you like these kinds of books (and I do), but for entertaining ranting, I'll take Bill Bryson any day.
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