Henry
Petroski
traces the origins of the pencil back to ancient Greece and Rome,
writes factually and charmingly about its development over the centuries
and around the world, and shows what the pencil can teach us about
engineering and technology today.
Very
engaging and wonderfully informative.... The Pencil unfolds
a history of invention, craftsmanship, engineering, manufacture
and business that is also at times a history of cultural life on
both sides of the Atlantic...No reader of this book will ever be
able to pick up a pencil again without marveling.« Hilton
Kramer, Newsday
So
engrossing that I read it through in one sitting... An
utterly absorbing history«
Martin
Gardner, Raleigh News and Observer
Beguiling...
surprising, entertaining, informative. One could scarcely ask a
book to be more!... using the story of the pencil as a paradigm,
Petroski shows how the process of engineering unfolds and [how]
the pencil is the end result of process that parallels those by
which products of much greater sophistication -- computers, for
example -- are invented designed manufactured and improved.«
Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World
You
will never feel the same
about the pencil after you read this terrific book." Larry King,
USA Today
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