Monday, November 15, 2010

Books'n'stuff...

Since I took all those smarts out of my head by reading a half-dozen pages of comments over at the WaPo, it's good to know that I have a way to put some back in.

Yesterday I picked up my roomie's copy of The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are and was immediately engrossed. I'm looking forward to finishing it today.

I had previously never given any thought to the optimal number of tines on a fork...

5 comments:

The Big Guy said...

Re: Tines on a fork-

Per Dr. Sheldon Cooper:

Forks have four tines. Tridents have three tines.
Forks are for eating.
Tridents are for ruling the Seven Seas.

TBG

NotClauswitz said...

A three-tine fork is Metro.

Dave said...

Love me some Uncle Henry. I haven't read all his stuff, because I'm rationing it.

T said...

I love Petroski, mainly because he explains what us engineers do in a way that makes non-engineers want to read it. I have 3 of his books on the shelf here at the office.

They cohabitat with the stuff engineers write for other engineers, which have exciting titles like Impact on Composite Structures and The Procedure Handbook of Arc Welding.

WV- cispate, as opposed to the more normal transpate

mc said...

I am going to read Petroski, it looks good.

Bryson has a new book, he is generally a very good read.

His new one is an examination of the history behind rudimentary and banal materials which I hope to find as good as his previous material:

At Home: A Short History of Private Life