History done wright!
If you have a smidgen of curiosity -- if you ask, 'Why would anyone write about
such a boring subject?', or 'Why pick that title?' -- pick up this book.
As long as you have any interest in history, technology, people, blind spots,
or just excellent -- no, make that superb -- writing, you will enjoy this
book. You may even, as I di... d, put Henry Petroski on your list of favorite
authors (between Donald Norman and Geoffrey Parker, perhaps). Lenin, Thoreau,
and others appear in the pages, almost the way Hamlet does in _Rosencrantz
and Guildenstern Are Dead_; yet the motivating force behind the story remains
exactly what the title promises, in understated, wry humor that the author
shares with the reader. Even if you end up only tolerating the topic, the writing
cannot be bettered; crates of editorial blue pencils could not improve upon
Petroski's substance, style, and wit.
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