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Small Things Considered: Why There is No Perfect Design
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Hardcover
Book cover for 9781400040506
 
from Alfred a Knopf Inc (September 1, 2003)
9781400040506 | details & prices | 288 pages | 6.50 × 9.50 × 0.75 in. | 1.35 lbs | List price $25.00
About: A professor of civil engineering considers ordinary objects as works in progress, taking readers inside the creative design process of such commonplace objects as chairs, light bulbs, tooth brushes, door knobs, and light switches.
Paperback
Book cover for 9781400032938
 
The price comparison is for this edition
Reprint edition from Vintage Books (September 1, 2004)
9781400032938 | details & prices | 288 pages | 5.25 × 8.00 × 0.75 in. | 0.65 lbs | List price $16.95
About: A professor of civil engineering considers ordinary objects as works in progress, taking readers inside the creative design process and revealing the fluidity that accompanies the shape of chairs, lightbulbs, toothbrushes, door knobs, and light switches, among other commonplace objects.
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Publisher Vintage Books
Publication date September 1, 2004
Pages 288
Binding Paperback
Edition Reprint
Book category Adult Non-Fiction
ISBN-13 9781400032938
ISBN-10 1400032938
Dimensions 0.75 by 5.25 by 8 in.
Weight 0.65 lbs.
Original list price $16.95
Summary
A professor of civil engineering considers ordinary objects as works in progress, taking readers inside the creative design process and revealing the fluidity that accompanies the shape of chairs, lightbulbs, toothbrushes, door knobs, and light switches, among other commonplace objects. Reprint. 17,500 first printing.
Amazon.com description: Product Description: Why has the durable paper shopping bag been largely replaced by its flimsy plastic counterpart? What circuitous chain of improvements led to such innovations as the automobile cup holder and the swiveling vegetable peeler? With the same relentless curiosity and lucid, witty prose he brought to his earlier books, Henry Petroski looks at some of our most familiar objects and reveals that they are, in fact, works in progress. For there can never be an end to the quest for the perfect design.

To illustrate his thesis, Petroski tells the story of the paper drinking cup, which owes its popularity to the discovery that water glasses could carry germs. He pays tribute to the little plastic tripod that keeps pizza from sticking to the box and analyzes the numerical layouts of telephones and handheld calculators. Small Things Considered is Petroski at his most trenchant and provocative, casting his eye not only on everyday artifacts but on their users as well.

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