The Evolution of Useful Things

By Henry Petroski

Sorry for the delay but after studying for work in January I spent most of my free time in February playing video games. I've started reading again so expect to see reviews come out with more regularity.

I was looking forward to this book. The subtitle is: "How everyday artifacts - from forks and pins to paperclips and zippers - came to be as they are." The history behind everyday objects? Sign me up.

I found that this book was a mix of interesting stories and scholarly discussion. Petroski tells tales through; anecdotes about the inventors, patent searches, and a thorough discussion of the thought that went into the engineering decisions. I quote from the book to let the author tell you what this one is about:

"The form of made things is always subject to change in response to their real or perceived shortcomings, their failures to function properly... Since nothing is perfect, and, indeed, since even our ideas of perfection are not static, everything is subject to change over time."

The subjects covered are silverware, paperclips, pins, staples, 3M's post it's, zippers, food cans and aluminum cans, and plastic bags. Like any book of this nature I found some chapters more engrossing than others. Unfortunately the spread between the high and low was quite large. There are pictures and patent diagrams to illustrate what is being discussed.

The silverware chapter made the book worthwhile to me. It talked about the reasons behind the subtle design differences of different forks, from the thickening of the tines, their length and curve. Imagine that by as late as 1926, some patters of silverware were being made with as many as 146 distinct kinds of utensils! Afterward this was limited to 55 and today is around 20. 146. What could you need that many spoons/forks/knives for? Well to optimize the eating of every food possible. Oyster forks, olive spoons, cheese scoops, tomato spoons. You get the picture.

There also was a look into how Europeans and Americans came about their differences in eating after cutting up food. Americans tend to transfer the fork back to the right hand after cutting. Petroski tells us this is because in Europe they started out eating with two knives so when they adopted the fork it was natural to use your left hand to bring the food to the mouth. In America it was a knife/spoon combination. The spoon being harder to manipulate with your nondominate hand lead to the transfer of utensils. What's crazy to me was that the etiquette books in the 1800's spent a lot of time discussing this. Who cares which hand you use to bring food to your mouth as long as you don't spill food everywhere.

People always find something to obsess over. Hence why there are so many designs. Every one is trying to optimize a job. In Birmingham, England they made 500 types of hammers in the 1860's! Petroski tells us that form doesn't follow function, it follows failure. As long as there are inventors who do different jobs, there will be specialized tools to help make those jobs more efficient. If you want more detail read the book. But be advised that the discussion into the design philosophy is quite extensive.