The Role of Failure in Successful Design
by Henry Petroski
Recommended by Steven Sinofsky
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Recommended by 1 source and appears in Design, Technology, and Art.
"Reading Petroski's fine book is not only a delight, it is a necessity." Houston ChronicleHow did a simple design error cause one of the great disasters of the 1980s?the collapse of the walkways at the Kansas City Hyatt Regency Hotel What made the graceful and innovative Tacoma Narrows Bridge twist apart in a mild wind in 1940 How did an oversi...
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Why recommended
Recommended by 1 source and appears in Design, Technology, and Art.
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Steven Sinofsky
American businessman, former Microsoft engineer
“In his book, “To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design”, Henry Petroski tells the story of several awful failures. In doing so he connects the desire for perfection and the reality of progress. A must read.”
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Consider The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman. Recommended by 22 sources.
“Don Norman turns everyday frustrations into a detective story about flawed design. You’ll start seeing doors, switches, and software through new eyes, armed with concepts like affordances and feedback. The examples are vivid and often entertaining, but the academic prose and repetitive structures can make the book feel more like a lecture than a manual. It can sharpen your design intuition, but it won’t teach you to design anything yourself—annoying if you expected a how-to guide.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
