Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design
Language: English
Published by New York, New York, U.S.A.: Alfred A Knopf Inc, 2003
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: The Warm Springs Book Company, Fremont, CA, U.S.A.The Warm Springs Book Company
AbeBooks seller since February 20, 2000
Condition: Used - Very good
US$ 8.95
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
A nice, very good plus copy in a near fine, mylar protected DJ, tiny dent to bottom edge of front board; corner creasing to 2-3 pages, slight wear to DJ and DJ edges, illustrated, 8vo., 288 pages., 0.0 0.0 0.0.
Seller Inventory # 17654
- Title
- Small Things Considered: Why There Is No Perfect Design
- Author
- Petroski, Henry
- Publisher
- New York, New York, U.S.A.: Alfred A Knopf Inc
- Publication year
- 2003
- Condition
- Very Good
- Dust jacket
- Fine
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1400040507
- ISBN 13
- 9781400040506
- Edition
- 1st Edition.
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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About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
The Warm Springs Book Company
Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since February 20, 2000
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The Warm Springs Book Company
CA, U.S.A.
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