A review by hilaritas
The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are. by Henry Petroski

3.0

The parts of this book where he talks about the properties and forms of everyday objects and how they developed are fascinating. Unfortunately, those parts of the book are interspersed with long sections of inside-baseball industrial design arguments (constant theme: "form follows failure, not form follows function") and weirdly grumpy personal complaints about specific products or large swaths of technology ("Push button phones! Who needs 'em!"). Coupled with the author's dry as dust delivery, this book was more of a slog than I expected. While I learned some interesting things about various objects, I would not wholeheartedly recommend this fusty little volume.