A review by bzzlarabzz
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 author's central argument is that failure breeds improvement rather than form following function. This seems like quite a narrow distinction to me, but perhaps that is an odd complaint from someone reading a book that details the development of the fourth tine on a fork and analyzes the comparative benefits of different rope-tying methods on now-antique bedsteads. The information in the book is interesting, however, and I have gained many more points of minutiae with which to astound my high school students.