He is apparently widely know for his indepth study of the lowly toothpick. There's an excerpt online, but since it says this at the bottom of the page:
Submitted by DifferentPointOfView on Sun, 01/17/2010 - 20:05.
Henry Petroski is also the author of To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, which should be accessible to nearly everyone. One of the failures discussed in his book is the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. YouTube has multiple videos of the bridge's destruction. Here is some newsreel footage--complete with melodramatic music and commentary--showing the bridge's collapse.
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The Role of Failure in Design
Henry Petroski is also the author of To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design, which should be accessible to nearly everyone. One of the failures discussed in his book is the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940. YouTube has multiple videos of the bridge's destruction. Here is some newsreel footage--complete with melodramatic music and commentary--showing the bridge's collapse.