Design of Man

Wit and wisdom . . . and engineering. Engineers create models of natural processes in order to build the world we live in. Resonance, natural frequency, design, controls—no one understands the physical world like an engineer. But can engineering tell us anything about human nature? In this short and witty book, author J L Duncan explores the analogues between human behaviour and physical processes. Do individuals have a natural frequency? Can we be predicted and modified? And if Tesla thought he could make a building fall down by pushing it at just at the right intervals, can subtly timed irritations make a human being go to pieces? The quest is speculative, entertaining, and not at all meant to instruct—though it may accidentally do so, just a little.