To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure Book Report

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To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure Book Report
Book Written by Henry Petroski
This report is based on the book To Forgive Design, written by Henry Petroski.
This book report is based upon the book To Forgive design: understanding failure, written by Henry Petroski. The book is published by the Harvard University Press and is copyrighted 2012 by Henry Petroski.
About the Author
Henry Petroski is an American engineer born on February 6, 1942. Henry Petroski is a professor of history at Duke University and an engineering professor at Aleksandar S. Vesic. The engineer specializes in failure analysis in the field of engineering. Henry is also a prolific author. Some of his famous books include “The House with Sixteen Handmade Doors: a Tale of Architectural Choice and Craftsmanship”, “The Engineer’s Alphabet: Gleanings from the Softer Side of a Profession”, and “To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure.” Henry Petroski is a renowned lecturer; he is also one of the contributors to the magazines Prism and American Scientist.
Summary of the Book
To Forgive Design is very well written and well thought out. Most people are quick to blame poor designs whenever an accident such as the collapse of a bridge, plane crash and the explosion of gas tank occur. However, Henry Petroski proposes that people should look beyond this perception and find some causes and correction (Dean, 2012). Petroski applies his vast experiences of explaining engineering successes and failures to analyze the larger context in which accidents arise.
The book To Forgive Design looks into the most infamous failures that occurred around the globe. Commencing with the collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis in the year 2007, crashing of the huge Shanghai apartment building that occurred in 2009. The book also looks into Boston’s continued Big Dig and finally the Gulf oil spill that occurred in 2010. These disastrous accidents could have been avoided if due diligence was carried out during the construction process. Henry Petroski tries to determine the interdependence of people and machines which exists in a complex manner that was not anticipated by their designers. The main theme of the book is learning from failure, and understanding the relationship between advancement in technology with cultural and social economic constraints, contradictions, and complication.
Inability to look into the possibility of failure is one of the gravest mistakes that engineers can make without knowing. Software developers have idealized this notion and often look outside their field, to structural engineering. Software engineers often try to understand the historical perspective of their designs in the development process as a measure that can help them identify their mistakes. Petroski demonstrates that it is imperative to understand the interconnection of technology, culture, and the dangers that lurk behind complexities so as to avoid failure of engineering designs today and in future.
Main Ideas in the Book
Mr. Petroski’s primary goal in writing this book was to show how engineers can learn from failure and develop improved designs. The book is engaging the reader by reminding us the many failures that have occurred during our time. According to Matt Ridley (2012), the book is a fascinating and intermittently frightening history of engineering failures. To Forgive Design is one of the favorite for the lovers of girders and trusses. The main theme of the book is learning from failures. The book explores different engineering failure, encompassing collapsing of buildings in the Haitian earthquake, toppling of concrete in the Big Dig that occurred in Boston, falling bridges from Cambodia to Britain, the Deepwater Horizon blowout among others (Ridley, 2012). The author discusses these failures in a detailed manner so as to unearth the responsibility of an engineer to the citizens. On the same note, the book provides ways in which current engineers can avoid such pitfalls of the past engineers by learning from their failure.
The book also looks into the relationship between advancement of technology with cultural and social economic constraints, contradictions, and complication in the engineering sector. Petroski demonstrates that it is imperative to understand the interconnection of technology, culture, and the dangers that lurk behind complexities so as to avoid failure of engineering designs today and in future. Therefore, providing rich insights for engineers to understand the basic concepts of engineering and how other complexities can lead to failure of engineering design.
The book also sensitizes engineers on their responsibilities to the society. Readers of this book will learn a lot about the responsibility of engineers and ways young engineers can be helped to understand them. After the fall of a bridge under construction in the year 1997 in Quebec, Canadian engineers organized a ritual where fresh graduates from the engineering school are presented with iron rings. The rings were supposed to remind them of their responsibilities to the society at large (Tenner, 2014).
By and large, To Forgive Design also is used to sensitize people on dangers of neglect. This neglect arises in the engineering field where engineers adopt a design that worked so well and used it elsewhere without improving. For example, adoption of designs as seen in the case of the collapse of Tacoma Narrow Bridge located in Washington State in the year 1940. Recently in the year 2006, a collision resulted in Tacoma Narrows Bridge because of neglect from one of the engineers (Ridley, 2012). The engineer did not adequately do calculation because he overlooked the calculation as to whether a ship shipping deck sections of the new bridge may get under the old bridge at high tide.
Another example of neglect is seen in the Connecticut flight in the year 2008 where a Turbo prop plane crashed into a house killing the passengers and the owner of the house. Investigations indicated that the pilot was not fully experienced and has begun flying only two months prior to the accident (Petroski, 2012). This indicates the neglect in the Federal Aviation Administration for employing inexperienced pilot. On the same note, the pilot neglected Federal Aviation Administration Policies by sending text messages in the cockpit. The result is catastrophes that lead to the crashing of the plane and loss of life.
The book also illustrates how dishonesty, deception, and moral decay can lead to failures that would have otherwise been avoided. For example the Big Dig saga was occurred due to use of substandard materials in the construction. Suppliers of the moldable materials used in the construction were inferior. The management falsified the records when mixing the concrete used in the project. Brooklyn Bridge collapsed because materials were supplied by unscrupulous suppliers & inspectors who provide substandard materials (Petroski, 2012).
Conclusion
To Forgive Design is an interesting book because Petroski can make complex engineering easily understandable. The book shows the tricky relationship between the perfect safety of engineering design and challenges arising from limited resources. The book uses historic failures to pass its points and teach people about learning from our failures (Carper, 2013). It is paramount to note that, the author also tries to show the responsibilities of engineers to the society and ways in which engineers can learn from the past failures. Petroski can effectively identify and communicate the underlying reasons that led to failure in engineering designs. He also goes ahead to educate the people by sharing how such past failures have helped in shaping better engineers that ensure public safety.

References
Dean, C. (2012, July 12). ‘To Forgive Design,’ by Henry Petroski – The New York Times. Retrieved September 2, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/books/to-forgive-design-by-henry-petroski.html?_r=0
Ridley, M. (2012, April 10). Book Review: To Forgive Design – WSJ. Retrieved September 2, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304537904577277683242097386
Petroski, H. (2012). To forgive design: Understanding failure. Harvard University Press.
Carper, K. L. (2013). Review of To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure by Henry Petroski. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 27(2), 217-217.
Tenner, E. (2014). To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure by Henry Petroski (review). Technology and Culture, 55(1), 249-251.