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" An over-reliance on past successes is a sure blueprint for future failures. "
Henry Petroski
Sure
Past
Future
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" There's so much written about the Titanic, and it's hard to separate what's fact and what's fiction. My understanding is that the way the Titanic was designed, the emphasis was placed on surviving a head-on collision. "
Henry Petroski
Hard
Fact
Titanic
" All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an ensemble of correct assumptions and valid calculations. "
Henry Petroski
Wisdom
Design
Assumptions
" Relying on nothing but scientific knowledge to produce an engineering solution is to invite frustration at best and failure at worst. "
Henry Petroski
Frustration
Knowledge
Failure
" It has been said, by engineers themselves, that given enough money, they can accomplish virtually anything: send men to the moon, dig a tunnel under the English Channel. There's no reason they couldn't likewise devise ways to protect infrastructure from the worst hurricanes, earthquakes and other calamities, natural and manmade. "
Henry Petroski
Money
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Enough
" Companies selling a product play down its vulnerability and emphasize its robustness. But only after technology leaves the dock is it really tested. For human operators in control of a supposedly infallible system, complacency and overconfidence can take over, and caution may be thrown to the wind. "
Henry Petroski
Wind
Technology
Complacency
" I was always told that I was good in mathematics, and I guess my grades and standardized test scores supported that. My worst subjects were those that generally involved a lot of reading - English and history. So, having good test scores in math and mediocre ones in reading, I was naturally advised to major in engineering in college. "
Henry Petroski
History
Reading
Good
" A common misconception about how things such as space shuttles come to be is that engineers simply apply the theories and equations of science. But this cannot be done until the new thing-to-be is conceived in the engineer's mind's eye. Rather than following from science, engineered things lead it. "
Henry Petroski
Science
Mind
Done
" We call the fates of the Titanic and the Concordia - as well as those of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia - 'accidents.' Foreseeing such undesirable events is what engineers are expected to do. However, design trade-offs leave technological systems open to failings once predicted, but later forgotten. "
Henry Petroski
Engineers
Design
Space
" Many of the familiar little things that we use every day have typically evolved over a period of time to a state of familiarity. They balance form and function, elegance and economy, success and failure in ways that are not only acceptable, but also admirable. "
Henry Petroski
Success
Time
Failure
" Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular crashes, which we tend to find more interesting than cars just racing around the track. The same is true of bridges, buildings, or any structure or machine. "
Henry Petroski
Think
True
People
" Although engineers want always to make everything better, they cannot make anything perfect. This basic characteristic flaw of the products of the profession's practitioners is what drives change and makes achievement a process rather than simply a goal. "
Henry Petroski
Process
Perfect
Change
" Successful design is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection. "
Henry Petroski
Imperfection
Perfection
Achievement
" The definition of 'safe' is not strictly an engineering term; it's a societal term. Does it mean absolutely no loss of life? Does it mean absolutely no contamination with radiation? What exactly does 'safe' mean? "
Henry Petroski
Loss
Safe
Engineering
" Luxury, not necessity, is the mother of invention. Every artifact is somewhat wanting in its function, and that is what drives its evolution. "
Henry Petroski
Evolution
Luxury
Invention
" Betting on the success of innovative technologies in the marketplace can carry all the uncertainty and risk that betting on the next card in the deck does at a blackjack table in Las Vegas. There is a factor of randomness that must be factored in, but precisely how to do so is anyone's guess. "
Henry Petroski
Uncertainty
Risk
Success
" Read and write with a sensitive ear. The craft of writing is very important. Practice the craft. "
Henry Petroski
Ear
Craft
Important
" Indeed, an engineer designing a structure is not unlike an artist painting one. Both start with nothing but talent, experience, and inspiration. The fresh piece of paper on the drawing board is as blank as the newly stretched piece of canvas. "
Henry Petroski
Experience
Painting
Start
" Everything we do is designed, whether we're producing a magazine, a website, or a bridge. Design is really the creative invention that designs everything. "
Henry Petroski
Design
Website
Bridge
" I'm a firm believer that no matter how small an object is, you can find interesting things out about it and its history. "
Henry Petroski
Find
History
Interesting
" For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by things large and small. I wanted to know what made my watch tick, my radio play, and my house stand. I wanted to know who invented the bottle cap and who designed the bridge. I guess from early on I wanted to be an engineer. "
Henry Petroski
Stand
Bridge
Long
" Many new technologies come with a promise to change the world, but the world refuses to cooperate. "
Henry Petroski
New
Change The World
Change
" Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure. "
Henry Petroski
Engineering
Achieving
Failure
" The paradox is that when we model future designs on past successes, we are inviting failure down the line; when we take into account past failures and anticipate potential new ways in which failure can occur, we are more likely to produce successful designs. "
Henry Petroski
Down
Failure
Future
" I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because without a failure criterion against which to measure the calculated result, it is a meaningless number. "
Henry Petroski
Engineering
Failure
Measure
" I have always been fascinated by the way things work and how they came to take the form that they did. Writing about these things satisfies my curiosity about the made world while at the same time giving me an opportunity to design a new explanation for the processes that shape it. "
Henry Petroski
Me
Time
Work
" Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is the stuff of science fiction, not of engineering fact, and so everything must be treated with respect. "
Henry Petroski
Respect
Technology
Science
" Design is nothing if not decision making. "
Henry Petroski
Decision
Nothing
Design
" Any design, whether it's for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures. "
Henry Petroski
Ship
Design
Done
" No design, no matter how common or seemingly insignificant, is without its adamant critics as well as its ardent admirers. "
Henry Petroski
Critics
Well
Matter
" Too much redesign has to do more with fad and fashion than with fitness and function. It is change for the sake of change. Such redesign is not only unnecessary, it is all too often also retrogressive, leading to things that work less effectively than those they were designed to replace. "
Henry Petroski
Fashion
Change
Work