Book Log 2010 #27: The Essential Engineer by Henry Petroski
I've usually enjoyed Henry Petroski's writings on engineering and how it influences everyday life - The Evolution of Useful Things and The Pencil are classic examples of his ability to write about engineering in an engaging and accessible manner - so I was very interested in this, his newest book, as it promised (via its subtitle) to explain "[w]hy science alone will not solve our globabl problems."
Suffice it to say I'm still not sure that was every really explained. Petroski spends much of the book talking about the interaction between science and engineering, how each discipline relates to the other, and how science often builds off of engineering rather than vice versa.
From there I expected a discourse on various major problems and the ways engineering could address them where science cannot. And that kind of happened, but never very clearly, and not to the point I expected given the title. Disappointing.
11 August 2010
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